MARTIN ALAMISI AMIDU v. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL & ORS
2013
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
Areas of Law
- Constitutional Law
- Contract Law
- Public Procurement Law
2013
SUPREME COURT
GHANA
AI Generated Summary
This case revolves around the Government of Ghana's agreements with Waterville for stadia rehabilitation projects in preparation for CAN 2008, which were not approved by Parliament as required under Article 181(5) of the Constitution. Despite these agreements being inoperative, the government made payments to Waterville. The Supreme Court held these agreements and related payments null and void, requiring Waterville to refund the payments. It also emphasized that constitutional requirements cannot be bypassed through restitutionary claims. Claims and issues related to the 3rd defendant were remanded to the High Court for determination.
DR DATE-BAH JSC:
The facts
To the joy of the many lovers of soccer in Ghana, Ghana won,in July 2004,the right to host the 2008 African Cup of Nations football tournament, popularly known as CAN 2008. This case is about one of the consequences of Ghana’s successful bid to host CAN 2008. As a result of winning the right to host CAN 2008, the Government of Ghana became obliged to rehabilitate football stadia and other sporting facilities in Ghana. In order to fulfill this obligation, it set in motion in January 2005 a procurement process for the award of appropriate contracts in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).
Vamed Engineering Gmbh & CO KG (referred to subsequently as ‘Vamed’) was one of the companies which submitted a tender for the award of a contract to rehabilitate the stadia specified by the Government of Ghana. Vamed became one of two companies which were shortlisted by the Government’s evaluation committee. Meanwhile, by a letter dated 1st July 2005, Vamed purported to assign all its rights and obligations in the CAN 2008 stadia tender and another specified project to the second defendant. The second defendant, by an undated letter from Andrea Orlandi, a director of the company, to Vamed accepted this purported assignment.
The relevant Entity Tender Committee recommended Vamed/Waterville to the Central Tender Review Board for the award of the contract because its tender
was in their view the most competitive. The Central Tender Review Board on 5th August 2005 gave “concurrent approval for the award of the contract to Messrs VAMED Engineering.” However, by a letter dated 22nd August 2005 addressed to the Managing-Director of Vamed, the Minister for Education,Youth and Sports purported to terminate the procurement process “due to the high commitments implied in the submissions, the inconclusive and the non-assuring nature of the financial submissions”. The second defendant made several protests to Government in respect of this purported abrogation. It entered into negotiation with Government regarding the purported abrogation which resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding between them on 30th November 2005. The MOU stated that the Government would award the Ohene Djan and El Wak stadia project on a turnkey basis to the second defendant.
On 26th April, 2006 the Government of Ghana signed two separate but similar agreements with the second defendant for the rehabilitation of the Ohene Djan and El Wak stadia in Accra and