McDan, Jospong, Nick Danso, other top CEOs NDC govt may prosecute

Under an NDC government, certain CEOs, six in number, could potentially face prosecution for engaging in some transactions that are alleged to be unlawful.

If found guilty, they could be prosecuted according to the law. These personalities are business mogul Daniel McKorley, known well as McDan, the founder and CEO of Jospong Group, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Kwaku Bediako; Group Executive Chairman of the CH Group of Companies, Nick Danso; Executive Chairman of Ghana Link Network Services Limited, Joseph Boahen Aidoo; Chief Executive of COCOBOD, and Dr Ernest Addison, the Bank of Ghana Governor.

Jospong – Sanitation contracts

In order to deal with filth in the country, the Akufo-Addo administration imposed 10 pesewas tax on each litre of fuel as a Sanitation and Pollution Levy. The levy came into effect in 2021, and the government made over GH¢264 million as revenue from it.

A right to information (RTI) request filed by The Fourth Estate to the Ministry of Finance on the disbursements of funds collected from this levy revealed that the ministry disbursed GH¢156 million out of the amount to only one company.

All the money disbursed went to only one company, Sewerage Systems GH. Ltd, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group.

The Auditor-General, in its 2020 report, had directed Sewerage Systems GH. Ltd (SSGL) to refund GH¢95 million, which the company had received from the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) to the state.

It is not clear whether the government took any steps to recover the illegal payments to the company.

McDan – Terminal 2 takeover, Trade fair

In February 2022, information emerged about the operations of McDan Aviation at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with revelations that, although the company does not have a certificate to operate as a private jet hiring service, the company has been doing so on the blindside of the Ghanaian authorities.

Management of Ghana Airport Company (GACL) shut down the newly launched private jet terminal belonging to McDan Aviation Company following the refusal of the company to halt the inauguration of the terminal as directed by MD of Ghana Airport Company Yaw Kwakwa over security and safety breaches.

According to The Herald, there have been fears by the government that the private jet company could become a sources of Money laundering, narcotic drugs smuggling, as well as the activities of terrorists.     

Also, in 2020, the Board of the Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited headed by Daniel McKorley (McDan), demolished office structures of businesses at the Trade Fair.

The demolitions had happened in spite of the fact that businesses at the Trade Fair at the time had a case in court against the GTFCL.

Mr Raymond Archer, whose company, Universal Labels and Packaging Co. Ltd (UNIPACK) was also affected, said at the time of the 2020 demolitions that he had sunk some US$10million into the business before the demolition.

Two years down the line, the Trade Fair remains a pile of debris with several hundreds of Ghanaians who used to be employed there now out of work.

Kwaku Bediako – New BoG headquarters contractor

Kwaku Bediako is the Founder and Group Executive Chairman of the CH Group of Companies, located in Accra Ghana. He is a multi-millionaire and senior biological brother of the leader of the New Force, Nana Kwame Bediako alias Cheddar, or Fredom Jacob Caesar.

One of these companies, Goldkey Properties, a real estate company, won the contract to construct the controversial $250 million Bank of Ghana new headquarters.

After the evaluation of tenders was received, the Entity Tender Committee (ETC) of the Bank at its meeting held on 6th August 2020 considered Tender Evaluation Panel’s recommendation and approved the award of contract for the project to Messrs Goldkey Properties Limited at the cost of $121,078,517.94, the least cost evaluated bid, under Turnkey (Design and Build) contract arrangements.

On the matter, NDC member and Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, alleged that a construction firm, selected through a single-source Public Procurement Authority (PPA) process for the project, is not even a registered entity within the country.

“From the intercepted documents, the BoG handpicked the following companies: i) Messrs. WBHO Ghana Limited, ii) Messrs. Man Enterprise, iii) Messrs. DeSimone Limited, iv) Messrs. Ronesans Holdings and v) Messrs. Goldkey Properties;

“It is not clear what criteria the BoG used in selecting its preferred 5 companies when Ghana’s built environment can boast of many established and celebrated construction firms such as Consar, Berock, Maripoma, Mawums, M. Barbisotti, First Sky, Antartic, Ussuya, Regimanuel, and so on and so forth;

“None of the BoG’s shortlisted companies can lay claim to any patent or exclusive capacity which other construction firms in that category do not possess and therefore warranting or justifying the use of restricted tendering;” he wrote.

Nick Danso – UNIPASS contract at ports

In 2018, sources in government revealed that Nick Danso, a renowned Ghanaian industrialist and Executive Chairman of Ghana Link Network Services Limited, and the Ministry of Trade did not follow the right procurement process to sign the 10-year UNIPASS contract which has infuriated the President.

Currently, the paper has it that the deal has hit a dead end after an investigation was conducted into the process that led to the signing of the contract.

According to the sources, only few government officials from the Ministry of Trade (names withheld for now) sat down to pen the 10-year sole-sourced deal without recourse to due process.

Those government officials signed the whole deal with Nick Danso on behalf of UNIPASS ignoring the Ministry of Finance, Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Customs Division and other relevant stakeholders.

Again, the sources said there was no need for the deal when GCNet and West Blue consulting, a Customs World company are already operating the single window in Ghana, hence the cancelation of the whole contract.

But it was reported that Some top officials in President Nana Addo’s NPP government have helped Nick Danso rewrite the whole UNIPASS contract again for tender.

In 2020, MESSRS GHANA Link Network Services Limited indicated its readiness to launch UNIPASS, a total customs administration solution for Ghana, in February of that year.

Joseph Boahen Aidoo – COCOBOD loans

In September 2020, the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) signed an agreement for a US$1.3 billion syndicated loan facility for the 2020/2021 cocoa crop season.

The facility, which is the largest soft commodity deal in sub-Saharan Africa, will be used to finance cocoa purchases and related operational activities in the crop season.

The signing ceremony which took place on Tuesday, 29th September at the Marriot Hotel in Accra, was attended in-person by officials from COCOBOD, the government and representatives of the local financial institutions who participated in this year’s syndication.

Officials from the foreign banks, including the lead arrangers, attended the ceremony via video conferencing.

Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, Joseph Bindustry,doo expressed his gratitude to the banks for their trust in Ghana’s cocoa industry for which reason they are willing to fund the operations of the industry.

But Member of Parliament for Juaboso, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, asserted that COCOBOD failed to give a tangible explanation about the whereabouts of the fund, which was to be used to purchase about 900,000 tonnes of cocoa beans in the 2020/2021 crop season.

But the Board, in a statement, clarified that it has “met all its statutory requirements and agreements with its financial partners in accounting for the syndicated loan for the crop season which closed in September 2021”.

Ernest Addison – Printing of money illegal, GHC60bn loss, new head office

In August last year, the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), accused the Bank of Ghana of engaging in illegal money printing, which they claim has led to the depletion of the country’s external reserves.

This alleged misconduct is said to have contributed to the significant depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi and hyperinflation during 2022.

At a press conference led by Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson, the NDC’s parliamentary leader, the party accused the Central Bank’s governor, Dr. Ernest Addison, of violating both Section 30 (7) of the Bank of Ghana Act, 2012 (Act 612) and Section 60 of the Bank of Ghana Amendment Act, 2016 (Act 918).

According to the NDC, the hyperinflation experienced in 2022 led to an estimated 850,000 individuals falling below the poverty line. The party believes that this economic turmoil could potentially result in more members of the ruling Akufo-Addo government accumulating significant amounts of money privately for the purpose of influencing electoral outcomes, both in party primaries and the general elections scheduled for December 2024.

Also, in the 2022 financial year, the Central Bank reported losses amounting to GHC60.81 billion, in contrast to a profit of GHC1.23 billion recorded in 2021.

These losses were primarily due to the government’s domestic debt restructuring efforts and the depreciation of the cedi, among other factors.

Member of Parliament for Builsa South, Dr. Clement Apaak has stated that the Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr. Ernest Addison will have to account to the people of Ghana.

According to him, there are inconsistencies with the figures the Governor keeps throwing at Ghanaians.

“You criminally make losses of GH60 billion, and expect us to accept the idiotic excuse that BOG was not set up to make profit? Was BOG set up to make losses? Didn’t you say you started the $250M project because you made profits in 2019, 2020 and 2021? You won’t escape accountability!,” Dr. Apaak stated.