Gov’t hit with GH¢95m judgement debt

 Government is set to pay GH¢95 million in judgment debt to business and In­formation Technology (IT) con­sultancy service provider, West Blue Ghana Limit­ed, over the termination of its contract with the State.

The amount is a fraction of the GH¢287 million West Blue sought in arbitration following the cancel­lation of its contract in 2018.

Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ms Julie Essiam, who con­firmed the award of the cost against the State at the hearing of the Public Accounts Committee in Accra on Tuesday said the Authority has reached an agree­ment with the Court to pay the amount in three tranches.

“The judgement debt is GH¢ 95 million but we will not be able to pay all (at a go) so there is an agreement with the court to pay this in instalments,” she told the Committee.

She was responding to audit findings contained in the Audi­tor-General’s report on Ministries, Departments and Agencies under consideration before the commit­tee.

Ms Essiam explained that following the termination of West Blue’s contract in 2018 and a subsequent instruction for it to cease operation in 2020, the IT firm proceeded to court in 2023 for redress.

West Blue provided technical and support services to the Ghana Revenue Authority between 2015 and 2020 and renewable for not more than five more years.

The contract, entered with the Ministry of Finance and the GRA, was for the provision of the National Single Window and Integrated Risk Management by West Blue.

The IT firm was to execute government’s policy of adopt­ing a national electronic single window as a means to, among others, increase efficiency through time and cost savings for traders in their dealing with government authorities for complying with the commercial, financial, regulatory, transport and logistics require­ments for moving cargoes across national or economic borders.

In a writ filed at the Commer­cial Division of the High Court in Accra, West Blue argued that the GRA was mandated to pay it a contract price, a fee equivalent to 0.35 per cent of final invoice cost, insurance and freight value of import consignments entering Ghana through the land, sea and air borders.

According to West Blue, the defendants – Ministry of Finance and GRA – failed to make full pay­ment of the fees due it under the clauses agreed upon.

“Defendants have also failed and/or refused to make full payment of the fees payable to plaintiff for the services of plain­tiff, as engaged by the Ministry of Finance and GRA to provide from January 1, 2019, to May 2020,” West Blue added in its suit.