Accused of using political power to bully contractor

The Country Manager of Tullow Oil Ghana Limited, Mr. Kofi Esson has been accused of refusing to pay an amount of Gh48,148.00 owes one Acks Kenneth Nana Kessey, a contractor and is alleged to be using his powers and political links as a member of the ruling National Democratic Congress to bully his victim.

Speaking in an interview with the New Crusading Guide, Nana Kessey,(the contractor) noted that he was contacted by Mr. Kofi Esson to put up three magnificent houses which includes a modern Church for the Methodist Church at his home town at Ndasiman, a small town near anomabo in the central region of Ghana.

Nana Kessey noted that after the completion of the job contracted him, Mr Esson told him that he was not impressed with what he had done and so wouldn’t pay the remaining amount covering his workmanship and that of the other sub contractors he had employed. Instead he went on to accuse the complainant of stealing his money and some building materials.

According to the complainant, he was contracted under an agreement to build one house for the extended family of Mr Esson, another executive apartment for his use whenever he visits his hometown and a church that would be dedicated to the Ndasiman Methodist church, a community near Anomabo in the central region. Nana Kessey pegged the entire workmanship covering the three projects at GH¢48,180, which Mr Esson has rejected.

Mr Kessey noted that prior to the misunderstanding between them, Mr Esson had assigned some people secretly to ransack his temporal room at Ndasiman and seize all documents in his absence. “The intention was that after securing all the receipts, Mr Esson would then lodge a complaint with the police to arrest me for attempting to defraud him with no evidence ” he assumed.

According to him the move initiated by the Tullow boss backfired since he (Nana Kessey) had copies of most of the documents that were seized in his room to serve as evidence. “Because he could not get what he wanted, he is now quite and trying to keep his distance from the issue” Mr Kessey stressed.

Mr Kessey noted that he reported the case to the Municipal Directorate of the Commission of Human Rights and administrative Justice at Nsawam which investigated the case and summoned Mr Kessey to also explain why he had decided not to pay the money. On two occasions he was alleged to have ignored the request but made it on the third request.

According to Nana Kessey, when Mr Esson visited the CHRAJ office at Nsawam he boasted that he was a powerful figure with good links with the president of Ghana, John Atta Mills and other leading political figures and said he knew nothing about the money that the complainant was demanding ; meaning that he was not prepared to pay the money.

When contacted at his plush state of the art office opposite the vilagio vista apartment at Tetteh Kwashie in Accra, Mr Kofi Esson denied all the allegations leveled against him saying that they were all aimed at tarnishing his image.

He confirmed that he knows the complainant who he took care of for close to three years. “I catered for all his needs, gave him a place to stay, took care of his wife and sometimes gave him money into his pocket”.

Mr Esson also confirmed that he assigned the complainant to work on his three separate projects which include the family house, his personal apartment and the building for the Methodist church at Ndasiman “later on, I realized that he was stealing my materials and based on that I fired him”, he noted .

He said he did not believe he really owed the complainant that much. On the allegation that he was using his political links and power to frighten the people around him, Mr Kessie denied it outrightly, stressing that it was an attempt by this detractors to tarnish his hard won reputation.

Further investigations conducted by this reporter at the offices of the commission at Nsawam indicates that the Municipal Director, Emmanuel Kpatsi had officially written to the two parties that he could no longer continue investigating the case since it was beyond his remit.

A copy of the letter signed by Mr Emmanuel Kpatsi to the Legal Aid Board and copied to the complainant and the defendant reads that “The bearer of this letter lodged a complaint with the Nsawam office of the Commission for non payment of wages”. It has been realized that the nature of the complaint is contractual and does not fall within the remit of the commission “. I shall be very happy if your outfit would give him legal aid to enable him fight his case” When contacted on phone Mr Kpatsi confirmed that he really wrote the letter because he was advised by the regional director, Mr Hammond who is a lawyer to suspend investigation into the case since it did not fall under his remit.