Kufuor's "awam" award
—£1.5 million laundered money involved?
—Is there another Kufuor scandal in the offing?

“The European Commission has disassociated itself from activities carried out by the “Climate Change Award Foundation” in Ghana, an organisation which is said to have honoured President J.A. Kufuor recently.

A statement issued by the Commission said on March 16, 2007, the Daily Graphic carried a story with the headline “Jury Honours President J.A. Kufuor” in which the Commission said neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission was responsible for any activities related to the Foundation.

It said the Foundation was using the visual identity and logo of the European Commission Climate Change campaign on their website without its approval.

The statement also said the Commission’s headquarters in Brussels’, on February 13, 2007, wrote to advise the organisation to refrain from using the identity but to date they had not obliged.

“While this organisation claims to be a “European Union foundation, it is not in fact connected to or acting on behalf of any institution of the European Union”.

(Culled from the Daily Graphic of Friday, April 13, 2007, at page 34)

Do you remember when the dubious IFC (International Finance Consortium) nearly duped the NPP Government with a US$1 billion hoax loan and the real IFC (International Finance Corporation) of the World Bank came out to deny any knowledge of the dubious IFC?

Well, there seems to be another scandal on the horizon, hence the European Commission’s anxiety to distance itself from the “Climate Change Award Foundation” which uses the visual identity and the logo of the European Commission on its website which the real European Commission is denouncing in the above story.

The story behind the story

The story behind the above story, as we have heard it, is as follows, though it is as yet unverified.

There was serious confusion over the so-called “Climate Change Award” bestowed on President Kufuor. In the original press release, the Climate Change Award Foundation made no mention of a £1million price money. However, the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and the Daily Graphic claimed the award included such an amount.

The Foundation website (link) indicated that the official ceremony of handing-over of the trophy would be ‘held in Accra on 9 March in front of a delegation of international personalities and media”. Two distinct websites backed by different organisations claimed to award such an award: galadesnations.com and climatechangefoundation.eu.

According to the GNA and the Daily Graphic, the Climate Change Award Foundation is a European Union (EU) Foundation. According to the Foundation’s website “THE PERFUME FOUNDATION (an NGO) initiated the CLIMATE CHANGE AWARD to award a country that has shown outstanding endeavour to fight pollution and paid exceptional effort to protect the environment, and to encourage other countries to increase their efforts as well.”

Below are the three different publications on the Climate Change Award:

From Ghana News Agency

· London, March 15, GNA – “The International Jury of the Climate Change Award Foundation, a European Union (EU) Foundation, has bestowed its 2007 Climate Change Award, which comes with a Trophy and an amount of One Million Euros, on President John Agyekum Kufuor.

A statement from the Ghana Embassy, Brussels, said the Award would be presented to President Kufuor at a date of his choice.”

This was what was substantially carried by the Daily Graphic on March 16, 2007.

From the Climate Change Award website – in French

· “Le jury international d’admission de la fondation du climate change vient d’emettre un avis favorable pour l’attribution officielle de son prix a la republique du Ghana et a son president John Agyekum Kufuor en homage aux efforts pour promouvoir un development durable au respect et a la protection de sa bio-diversite a sa politique de reforestation a l’essor de son eco-tourisme. La ceremonie officielle de remise du trophee se deroulera a Accra le 9 MARS prochain devant une delegation de personalites international et des media.”

From the Daily Graphic, Friday March 16, 2007 page 14.

· “Jury honours Prez

THE International Jury of the Climate Change Award Foundation has conferred the Climate Change Award for 2007 on Ghana and President J.A. Kufuor.

The award carries a cash prize of one million Euros and is in recognition of Ghana’s efforts at sustainable re-afforestation and eco-tourism.

A statement issued by the Ghana Embassy in Brussels and Mission to the European Union and made available to the Daily Graphic in London by the Office of the Press Secretary at the Presidency said negotiations between Ghana and the European Union on forest law enforcement, governance and trade had enhanced Ghana’s image in the international community.

It said Ghana was at the moment perceived and touted by the European Commission as a promising African country determined to extend the practice of good governance in all sectors of government.

Now to the real story as recounted to the Ghana Palaver by a ‘Deep Throat’ at the Ghana Embassy in Brussels.

The embassy in Brussels had a large sum of money they needed to be laundered into Ghana. For a fee that was paid for by the agents of the Ghana government, a Shell Foundation was set up to do a bogus award to President Kufuor. The ‘Climate Change Foundation”, was set up in Brussels for this purpose, and one Andrews working with the Foundation confirmed to the Ghana Palaver on phone the Environmental Award to President Kufuor with one million euros attached to it.

The plan was to give the money to Kufuor right after Independence Day in Accra!

The whole thing almost came unhinged when a payment was not made to the web hosting site in Virginia, USA! They shut down the website that was key to the deception at the last moment! The money launderers then started another website from Brussels, which was when the announcement of the fake award to President Kufuor was made, and which was the story published in the Daily Graphic on February 13, 2007.

The Foundation will have to account to the authorities in Brussels on how they got 1.5 million Euros. That is why they can never publish or show any evidence that they gave anyone that kind of money! The said Andrew of the Climate Change Foundation with whom the Ghana Palaver spoke claimed at the time that he was leaving for the airport. We have since not been able to re-establish contact with him.