Ghanaian businessman Alfred Agbesi Woyome has criticized journalist and lawyer Sampson Lardy Anyenini, accusing him of hypocrisy over the contract between the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and Strategic Mobilisation Ghana Ltd (SML)
Woyome’s criticism comes after Samson Lardy Anyenini reportedly expressed sympathy towards Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML), which had its revenue assurance contract with the government scaled down due to allegations of a corrupt deal.
Woyome argued that the legal grounds for canceling the SML contract are similar to the technicalities used against him by the government.
He accused Anyenini of siding with the government against him but showing sympathy towards SML.
“I heard, @Samson Lardy Anyenini, on Joy 99.7 FM say Government not sending the SML Contract to Parliament for Approval is not the FAULT of SML. In essence he is saying SML and its Directors have no constitutional mandate or obligation to send contracts to Parliament for Approval (even before executing same).
“I must state that I agree with him 100 percent, because I have always argued that no Contractor or Businessman has the power to perform any Constitutional, Legal or Regulatory duties/functions of Ministers or Public Officials.
According to him, “My concern is the shameless hypocrisy, double standard, dishonesty, shallowness and unprincipled mature of people like Samson Lardy Anyenini,” Mr Woyome wrote in a post on social media.
He added, “The hypocrisy stem from the fact that, Samson Lardy and his likes, made all the noise, and publicly crucified Waterville BVI and Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, because a certain CAN 2008 Contract between Government of Ghana and Waterville BVI was not sent to Parliament for Approval.”
Between 2017 and 2020, the Akufo-Addo government pursued Alfred Agbesi Woyome for the refund of a Gh¢51 million judgment debt paid to him by the State over the abrogation of a contract with Waterville BVI, a construction company. Woyome had provided financial engineering services for Waterville, which had won a contract to build stadia for Ghana to host the CAN 2008 football tournament.
The government’s pursuit of Woyome was based on a 2014 Supreme Court judgment that declared him not entitled to the money because the Waterville contract, through which he claimed payment for his services, was illegal as it had not been approved by Parliament.
In his defense, Woyome and his legal team argued that the responsibility for seeking parliamentary approval lay with the government and not with him or Waterville. However, the court dismissed this argument.
Regarding the recent controversy over the revenue assurance contract awarded to Strategic Mobilization Limited (SML), which reportedly has connections to individuals within the government, lawyer Sampson Lardy Anyenini commented that SML should not be blamed for the lack of parliamentary approval for the contract.
“How come Samson Lardy Anyenini believe and blame Waterville/Woyome for not seeking Parliamentary Approval, but accepts that SML cannot be faulted or blamed for their contract not going to Parliament for Approval?” Mr. Woyome asked.
According to him, “It was on the basis of the said void contract (as determined by the Supreme Court) that the Supreme Court ordered Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome to the State even though he was in no form of shape linked to the 2006 Contract between GoG and Waterville BVI. In fact, Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome’s claim for which he got a default judgment was for services he rendered to GoG in 2005, and NOTHING in relation to the supppsed 2006 Contract.”
