With just about seven months to go for the general election this December and with possibly a new government to be sworn-in soon after that, dubious contracts worth millions of dollars are being awarded by the Akufo-Addo/ Bawumia government to their relatives and cronies. One of such dubious contracts is the award of the Ghana Gas Company Phase 2 project to a son of the Nana Asante Bediatuo.
Nana Asante Bediatuo is the Executive Secretary to President Akufo-Addo. He is also a cousin of the President. This means the dubious Ghana Gas Phase 2 project contract is being awarded to President Akufo-Addo’s nephew
Now, this is what makes the contract estimated at US$812,397,389.00 dubious; it was awarded to M/s Phoenix based on an ealier proposal submitted by Sinopec, a Chinese firm. The Chinese firm’s proposal was copied verbatim by a cabal at Ghana Gas and given to M/s Phoenix to present as theirs for evaluation. It was based on this stolen proposal that the contract was awarded to M/s Phoenix. Interestingly, the local partner of M/s Phoenix is Integrated Logistics Bureau Ghana which is headed by the son of Nana Asante Bediatuo.
He leads the discussion on all matters for the company.
The dubious nature of the contract goes even further; realising that the contract has to undergo parliamentary scrutiny because M/s Phoenix is a foreign company, a plan was cooked and out of it born a new company, Gas Gathering Limited, which has now taken over the contract.
Thus, this company, which did not exit at the time of bidding and thus never bided for the contract, was formed only to circumvent parliamentary scrutiny. M/s Phoenix, who the contract was awarded to based on stolen proposals, is now positioned as the Technical Advisors to Gas Gathering Limited.
In coming editions, this paper will bring to readers details of how the dubious contract was cooked, the role played by the CEO, Ben Asante and the General Manager in Charge of operations, Robert Kofi Lartey all under the supervision of the Minister for Energy, Hon Mathew Opoku Prempeh.
Story by: Appiah Kubi/Ahotoronline.com
