<<Print>>

The managers of Waterville, the company mentioned in the controversial Alfred Woyome judgment debt scandal, have officially spoken on the never-ending case, saying the embattled businessman Woyome cannot front for them in any claim. The managers in a press statement clarified its relationship with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) financier in securing a contract for the construction and rehabilitation of some stadia in Ghana ahead of the CAN 2008 tournament. It said: �M-Powpack, a firm represented by Mr. Alfred Woyome, was hired for a fee by Waterville to provide financial advisory and consulting services for a limited period to assist in Waterville financing the stadia contract. Waterville made full payment to M-Powpack and Mr. Woyome for their services. �Waterville terminated their services and the end of the period as far back as 2006. Mr. Woyome had no role in the claims Waterville made to the government for reimbursement or compensation against loss.� �Mr. Alfred Woyome, separately and independently of Waterville made a claim against the government. Waterville has no role, nor interest in Mr. Woyome�s claim,� the statement added. Waterville avers that it did no wrong in what has now been known as the Woyome affair. The statement said: �Waterville, through an open, fair and international bidding process and in compliance with Ghana�s public procurement law won a contract to construct two (2) new stadia, rehabilitate two (2) more. The construction of a third stadium was added to the scope. �In spite of Waterville being given approval for the award of all five stadia the government decided to award two out of the five stadia already awarded to Waterville to Shanghai Construction (Group) General Corporation. The procurement process for the two (2) stadia awarded to Shanghai Construction (Group) General Corporation was not done in compliance with Ghana�s public procurement law.� �On the strength of MoU�s signed with the government in November 2005 and subsequent contracts signed on 26th April 2006, and given the very tight time frames to complete the stadia in time for the CAN 2008 Football games, Waterville proceeded to prefinance and start the rehabilitation of the three stadia.� It noted: �After the majority of the procurement process of materials and equipment was completed by Waterville and substantial progress made by Waterville in progressing the rehabilitation of the three stadia, the government decided to cancel its contract obligations with Waterville, on August 2006. �As a consequence of expenditure already made by Waterville at the time of the government�s cancellation of the contract, Waterville made an immediate claim for reimbursement of the amounts it had already spent towards its execution of the contract. It has to be noted that the Government�s Consultant verified and certified the value of works provided by Waterville to be a total of euros 21,569,946.71� On the issue of the double payment, Waterville said: �Part payment of Waterville certificate was paid directly to the sub-contractors to enable them continue with the contract to achieve the target of October 2007 with no delay. Waterville has pursued the government of the Republic of Ghana since 2006 for the outstanding balance which had remained unpaid. Waterville has also asserted that the settlement was a result of mediation and not from a court judgment. �There have been speculation and media accusations that Government terminated Waterville�s contracts, how can one terminate a contract if there was no contract? �And it is also unfortunate that there seems to be confusion in people�s mind bearing on the relationship between Mr. Woyome�s case and that of Waterville. Please not that the matters are separate and distinct,� it pointed out.