General News of Monday, 1 April 2013

Source: Joy FM

Asongtaba group is credible - Akomea

A former Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South and Director of Communications for New Patriotic Party (NPP) Campaign 2012, Nana Akomea, has put to rest questions surrounding the competence, capacity and the credibility of the Asongtaba group to effectively partner the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to produce guinea fowl in commercial quantity.

Speaking on Joy FM’s current affairs program, Newsfile, last Saturday, the former legislator and leading member of the NPP stated “I know about that company, I have worked with them before and have no reason to doubt the integrity of that company”.

The Asongtaba Group recently hit the headlines when the NPP minority in Parliament led by the member for Effutu, Alex Markin raised some questions on a joint venture arrangement the company had entered into with the Government of Ghana, under the SADA to produce guinea fowl in commercial quantity.

While the management of SADA insists that the GHC15 million spent represents a 40% stake in the venture, the opposition without a detailed statement of account, have not ceased in crying foul and castigating the parties for a venture most people including Nana Akomea considers as economically viable.

However, in sharp contrast, to the position of Nana Akomea and the NPP minority in parliament for full disclosure on the partnership agreement between Asongtaba Group and SADA, Mr. Ernest Thompson, a renowned legal practitioner, posited that full disclosure would amount to a breach in confidentiality which in turn undermines the rules of corporate governance.

He noted that, although the oversight responsibility of Parliament is not in doubt the country ought to be extremely careful on which disclosures we make since that in itself has the tendency to scare foreign investors away.

He slammed the NPP Member of Parliament for Effutu as being responsible for the ongoing wrong perception on the viability of the project. This according to him has led to calls from the general public for full disclosure which in his view is unwarranted.