Witness Caused Ghana To Lose CP Arbitration- Counsel

Mr David Ofosu-Dorte, a legal practitioner has said, a witness who knew very little in the case involving the government and Construction Pioneers (CP) is partly to be blamed for the country�s defeat at the arbitration. CP sued the government and Ministry of Roads and Highway over a dispute which arose in some of its road projects such as Assin Praso-Yamoransa, Briwa-Takoradi, Akim Oda-Nkawkaw through Akwatia and the Obuasi town roads. Appearing at the Judgement Debt Commission on Wednesday, Mr Ofosu-Dorte who was a consultant to the Attorney General�s Office in the CP arbitration case from 2001-2004, mentioned one Mr James Quarshie as one of Ghana�s witness who knew very little about the case but was chosen as a principal witness. He disclosed that, even before the arbitration could start; Mr Quarshie who was then the Director of Special Duties at the Ministry of Finance did many things to frustrate the lawyers who were helping in making Ghana provide good defence to the case. He said Quarshie played unwarranted role in the whole saga and his appointment as the principal witness for the government did not help. Mr Ofosu-Dorte said, since Quarshie was not a technocrat, all that he said at the arbitration was just based on hearsay which did not help Ghana�s defence, leading to the payment of judgement debt. He said the then immediate Director of Ghana Highways Authority should have been made to be the principal witness as he knew everything about the projects in dispute but, that was not done. He also mentioned one R.B Atta who was working with the government and was deeply involved in the whole saga but later joined CP as their legal Head during the arbitration. He said, R.B Atta provided enough document to CP to help their case, leaving the counsel for the government with very little information. �As consultants to the case, we therefore had to travel outside Accra to look for information which could help our case,� he said. He said, they however brought their consultancy to an end in 2004 even before the actual arbitration could start as they encountered much interference. When asked his opinion on why government loses such judgement debt related cases, Mr Ofosu-Darte blamed political interference, non-budgetary allocations to projects and continuous reshuffling of ministers at the Attorney General�s office. Mr Justice Yaw Appau, the Sole Commissioner at the Judgement Debt Commission advised that state institutions should be allowed to work as they have the legal backing. Mr Hamidu Adakrugu Director of Administration in charge of Legal Matters at the Ministry of Health also presented documents to the commission in a case involving one Esther Boadu and the Attorney General.