The Minister nominee for Trade and Industry, Kobina Tahiru Hammond, has said that he deserves a national award for saving Ghana some millions of dollars in the controversial drill ship saga during the erstwhile John Kufuor administration.
Mr. K.T Hammond believes his efforts resulted in Ghana paying US19.5 million dollars instead of the 47 million debt the country was supposed to pay.
“Of the 47 million, following my arrangement and going around and the compromises which the special commissioner states over, they (debtors) decided instead of 47 million dollars we had accumulated to charge 19.5million dollars in place of the 47 million; I think I deserve a national award for that” he emphasized.
Appearing before the appointments committee of parliament on Monday, February 20, 2023, the Member of Parliament for Adansi Asokwa constituency explained at the time Kufuor led New Patriotic Party government took over the governance of Ghana, the Ghana National Petroleum Commission (GNPC) was insolvent and saddled with a debt of US47 million dollars.
According to K.T Hammond, the government after realizing the financial atrocities caused at GNPC during the erstwhile Rawlings led National Democratic Congress administration had to take pragmatic steps to rectify the situation they met in government in 2002.
“What happens was that 2001, June thereabout, the Ministry of Energy was informed that from the activities I have just described, there was a debt of 47 million dollars that GNPC had created and what that had come about is this – they had entered into an arrangement with a company called Société Générale in France and in the process the famous drill ship D511 had been collateralize before we came into office; this collateralization was done somewhere in 1998 to Société Générale” he explained.
The outspoken nominee disclosed that the worst of it all was that the ship was impounded in Arma, revealing it had gone not working for Ghana but working for a company in India.
He said the government was informed about the development and the fact that the matter was pending in a court in London.
“At cabinet, my Minister put up this issue, the Attorney General at the time had all considered the issues and they were clear in their minds that the position of Ghana was hopeless, we had gone and taken this loan, we had collateralize the ship, we had GNPC had defaulted which brought the debt, there was nowhere of pleading the case but to settle” he pointed out.
The lawmaker added, “This is where I entered the fray, I was informed that since I was a practicing barrister at the bar of England and Wales, and this matter was pending at the court of England in London and was of course related to the Ministry of Energy, it was suggested that I should go and find out what we could do. What to do was simply find out how much we could pay – they were asking for 47 million – I went to Paris to the offices of Société Générale, back to London, to and from; Mr. Speaker I was three months in place as deputy Minister, you can well imagine that a matter of this magnitude will not be taken at my level.”
He emphasized this was done with frequent consultations back in Ghana stating, “I was given my executive instrument, some of them signed by the Attorney General, some of them signed by the then Chief Executive of GNPC.”
Meanwhile, the Adansi Asokwa MP further refuted there has never been any adverse findings established against him by the Commission of Enquiry as speculated over the years by the NDC.
