Outspoken NPP communicator, Ellen Ama Daaku, has pointed out that Ghana could have avoided the controversial $170 judgment debt if the intermediaries were a bit tactful in their approach during their negotiations at the court of arbitration in London.
She said the reasons the nation gave for walking out of the energy contract with GPGC was flimsy, it was not guided by the right counselors, and the government’s decision to abrogate among considering other important factors could be a major contributor to the loss.
Ghana was slapped with a judgment debt of $170m by the London Commercial Court of international arbitration. for canceling an energy contract between the state and the independent body.
Commenting on the matter on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana on Monday, June 28, 2021, Ms. Ellen Ama Daaku noted that it is normal for the opposition NDC to defend the deal but insisted that Ghana did not make a good case in London.
“Of course, I’m expecting that all other NDC communicators will go on that line because,. I feel with the little law that I have done, our arbitration did not go well. Privately, that’s what I feel,” she added.
Ellen Daaku indicated that the financial predicament the nation finds itself in now was anticipated emphasizing.
“You [Ghana] knew exactly what was going to happen. You actually employed lawyers who could work for you in the UK because we couldn’t do it. So we employed people. What sort of advice did they give us?” she quizzed.
She stressed time was of crucial essence in such negotiations expressing disappointment that Ghana could not meet the time demands and also argued wrongly.
“How come we got things mixed up and we did not show up at the time and then we go with this excuse of covid. For me, the little international law that I have studied simply didn’t go well with the arbitration” she added.
Ms. Daaku noted if the nation could have prevented the financial ordeal or gets herself at a much safer place depended largely on the decisions of government:
“Now whether we could have made more money negotiating with the company or we could have saved ourselves some money by abrogating the contract or still continue with the contract, it all boils down to what the managers of the whole thing thought off when they took over. That should be the NPP government when they took over in 2017 and therefore the energy minister brought this up that those contracts have to be abrogated,” she concluded.
By: Ernest Tetteh Kabu | Metrotvonline.com | Ghana
