There was contract for Galloper vehicles – Prof Ahwoi
A Minister of Local Government and Rural Development in the Rawlings administration, Prof Kwamena Ahwoi, has stated that there was a contract between the government and Africa Automobile Limited (AAL) for the supply of 110 Galloper vehicles to the ministry for use by district assemblies.
He has also confirmed that the company is currently making a claim amount in excess of $1 billion, which the government is disputing in its effort to reach an out-of-court settlement with the company.
In a four-page press statement issued Thursday to set the records straight, Prof Ahwoi said, “I am aware that this matter is in court, Africa Automobile, having sued the government as far back as October 2005 for damages for breach of contract. I, therefore, restricted myself to the facts as I know them and refrain from making any comments on the matter.”
Recounting the transaction between the government and the company, Prof Ahwoi said AAL supplied 110 short-chassis Pajero vehicles to the ministry in 1994 for use by the district assemblies.
He said in 1999, in accordance with the ministry’s policy of replacing the assemblies’ vehicles every five years, it invited the AAL to quote for a replacement of the short-chassis Pajero vehicles supplied in 1994, “this time with long-chassis Galloper II”.
“Payment for the replacement vehicles was to be made partly from trade-in of the Pajero vehicles whose values were to be determined by the State Transport Company (STC). The main payment was to be effected out of the Reserve Fund of the District Assemblies Common Fund, following Cabinet approval of the memorandum on the ‘Formula for Sharing 1999 District Assemblies Common Fund’ containing this proposal,” he said.
According to Prof Ahwoi, “after several meetings and discussions between the ministry and the company, the terms of the transaction were agreed and submitted to the Cabinet, which gave its approval and go-ahead”.
Thereafter, he said, the ministry entered into a contract through an exchange of offer and acceptance letters to purchase the vehicles on the terms approved by the Cabinet.
He explained that upon two instalment payments by the ministry in 2000, 23 of the Gallopers were delivered to the ministry in the same year and those were allocated to the assemblies.
He said at the time the NDC was leaving office on January 6, 2001, “there was a binding contract between the ministry and the company for the supply of 110 Gallopers, with a total value of $3,322,000, which worked out to $30,200 each”.
Prof Ahwoi said the total value of the trade-in Pajero was $396,000 and that the used Pajeros, which were valued by the STC in May 1999, were each to be inspected and revalued by the STC as and when they were delivered to the STC by the assemblies to be replaced by the Gallopers.
He said an amount of ¢8 billion was paid against the value $3,322,000 (or ¢17.3 billion at the 2000 exchange rate of ¢5,200 to $1) for the 110 Gallopers.
On events which occurred after the NDC left, which he became aware of through documentation, he said the remaining 87 Galloper vehicles arrived in 2001.
He said for reasons best known to him, the Auditor-General (and not the Attorney-General), in September 2001, wrote to demand an abrogation of the contract, a refund of the payment made and the prosecution of the Administrator of the District Assemblies Common Fund, the former Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and AAL.
Prof Ahwoi said the reasons the Auditor-General gave for the purported abrogation at the time were that there was a delay in the delivery of the 87 vehicles and also that the company had not given a required guarantee.
“The then Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, the late Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, subsequently, in the same month, wrote to abrogate the contract,” he said.
“If there was no contract, as alleged by Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, who succeeded Baah-Wiredu as Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, as published in the Daily Graphic of Thursday, June 28, 2012, then what contract did the Auditor-General recommend to be abrogated and what contract was abrogated by Baah-Wiredu?” he asked.
He said the claim by Mr Adjei-Darko was clearly made out of ignorance because he was not the responsible minister at the time and it was most likely that the documentation was with the BNI investigation panel.
Source: Daily Graphic