Ghana Water Boss Fumbles

 • At Judgement Debt Hearing 

By Esther Awuah

Kweku Godwin Dovlo, Acting MD Ghana Water Company Limited

THE ACTING Managing Director of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), Kweku Godwin Dovlo, yesterday could not produce evidence to the Judgement Debt Commission to justify compensations paid to land owners of Barekese after acquiring their property.

When he appeared before the commission, Mr Dovlo tendered a letter to support his claim that his company had compensated the land owners.

It turned out that the letter was a copy of a correspondence, which the solicitor of the land owners had sent to GWCL to show that payments had been made.

Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, after reading out the content of the letter pointed out to the GWCL Managing Director that it was not a proof of receipt of any money paid.

“This is a letter not a receipt. You have not given us any documents which show that the money was paid and was received in three different installments. So what you told us is different from the documentation you have presented to us,” Justice Apau, emphasised.

The Managing Director of GWCL was not able to furnish the commission with the receipts showing that monies had been paid to the solicitor of the claimants.

He, however, pleaded with the Commission to give him some time to look for the receipts, since he only took office about two months ago.

Background

GWCL over four decades ago secured a land at Barekese in the Ashanti Region, for the construction of a dam, to provide potable drinking water for residents in and around Kumasi.

An agreement was reached with the 12 stool lands and 16 communities whose lands were taken, to the effect that various compensations to cover for the land and in some cases crops and structures on the land.

Payments By BoG

Led in evidence by Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the Judgement Debt Commission, Leslie Akrong, Assistant Director and Head of Domestic Banking at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), stated that an amount of GH¢4,301,562.89 was agreed as total compensation to be paid to the land owners.

He acknowledged that these payments were made in three installments which were supposed to have been paid through GWCL to the Land Valuation Board (LVB) which subsequently pays the land owners.

He noted that 50 per cent of the said amount, which was GH¢2, 150,781.43 was paid to GWCL on February 15, 2008 as first installment.

However, the subsequent GH¢1,150,781.46 and the final GH¢1,000,000.00 paid on January 6, 2009 and March 24, 2009 respectively were not paid through the LVB as expected, but was paid straight to the solicitor of the claimants by GWCL.

Kwesi Bentsi-Enchill the Chief Valuer from the LVB, who also appeared before the commission, confirmed that his outfit only received confirmation for the first payment which was 50 per cent of the full amount, but was not informed about the last two. 

Sitting has been adjourned till Monday, June 24, 2012.

Latex Foam Justifies Judgement Debt

By Esther Awuah 

Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau,

Management of Latex Foam have justified an amount of GH¢207,356.62 paid to it as judgment debt after the Ghana @ 50 Planning Committee had failed to settle arrears for supplies the company had made.

The foam manufacturing company was asked by the Ghana @ 50 Planning Committee to supply mattresses which were used to furnish the AU Village apartments, where dignitaries attending the independence golden jubilee celebration were housed on March 6, 2007.

Stephen Ackuaku Acheampong, an accountant with Latex Foam, told the Judgement Debt Commission yesterday that the Ghana @ 50 committee failed to make payments on some of the supplies made, hence the court action which awarded the judgement debt.

Mr. Acheampong, who was led in evidence by Dometi Kofi Sorkpor, counsel for the Judgement Debt Commission, admitted that there was no contract document between his company and the Ghana @ 50 committee, except for a letter requesting Latex Foam to supply the committee with mattresses.

“There was no contract document between the two entities, but a letter requesting us to supply mattresses not later than February 15, 2007, after we had submitted our quotation upon request,” he stated.

He indicated that Latex Foam wrote to the committee that it would not be able to meet the deadline for the supply of the products and requested for an extension, which the committee agreed to without giving a specific date or deadline.

He noted that the first supply was made between February and March 2007, while the final supply was made in July 2007, after the celebration of the anniversary had ended.

Mr. Acheampong explained that the delay was because “the Ghana @ 50 Planning Committee brought in some beds from China and the specification they asked us to manufacture could not fit into the beds so we had to go back and manufacture according to the beds they brought”.

He stated that his company went to court in 2009 after the Ghana @ 50 Planning Committee had failed to pay the full amount of the cost of the product supplied.

A judgement debt of GH¢207,356.62 was then delivered in October 26, 2009.

There was, however, no contest from the Attorney General’s Department which was a representative of government at that time.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning failed to pay the said amount on time. But just when it did, Latex Foam went back to court to request for an interest of GH¢12,000 to be paid to it since the judgement debt was not paid on time; a request the court granted.

The Sole Commissioner, Justice Yaw Apau, was concerned that “there was no competitive bidding for the supply of the products and the fact that all the mattresses were not supplied till after the function”.

The witness tendered documents of invoices and waybills covering the supply of the goods, as well as other relevant documents stating the request for the supply of the products.

Mr. Sorkpor requested the witness to later furnish the Commission with documents on the writ of summons in respect of their claim before the court.