West Blue Ghana, a reputable ICT consultancy company, has finally dragged the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Attorney General to court to get paid arrears the government owes it for works the company did on the National Single Window (NSW) project.
The company, in a writ filed in an Accra High Court, said although its NSW contract with the government stated that the company would be paid an amount equivalent to 0.35percent of the final invoice value of import consignments entering Ghana through the seaports, airports, and land borders, the same government deliberately reduced the figure to 0.28percent.
West Blue, explained that though it made its lawyers write several letters to the government to explain the discrepancy and to seek that the anomaly be regularized, all the letters fell on deaf ears as the GRA blatantly refused to comply.
The writ filed by Ebow Brew Hammond of African Legal Associates, broke down how it arrived at the amount of GH¢28 million:
“Recovery of the sum of One Hundred and Forty-Nine Million, Three Hundred and Fifty-Seven Thousand, Six Hundred and Ninety-Two Ghana Cedis, Seventy-One Pesewas (GHS149,357,692.71), being the outstanding fees payable to the Plaintiff (West Blue) for services rendered to the Ministry of Finance and the 2nd Defendant (GRA) under the contract dated 4th August 2015 for the provision of the National Single Window and Integrated Risk Management System (“NSW Contract”) from September 2015 to September 2017, at an applicable rate of 0.35% of the final invoice CIF value of import consignments entering into Ghana through the seaports, airports and land borders.
“Recovery of the sum of Seventy-Six Million, Ninety-Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred and Seventeen Ghana Cedis, Fifty-Eight Pesewas (GHS76,097,917.58), being the outstanding fees payable to the Plaintiff for services rendered to the Ministry of Finance and the 2nd Defendant under the NSW Contract from October 2017 to 31st December 2018, at an applicable rate of 0.28% of the final invoice CIF value of import consignments entering into Ghana through the seaports, airports and land borders.
“Recovery of the sum of Sixty-Four Million, Ninety-Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Fifteen Ghana Cedis, Seven Pesewas (GHS64,092,215.07),being the outstanding fees payable to the Plaintiff for services rendered to the Ministry of Finance and the 2nd Defendant from 1st January 2019 to May 2020 at an applicable rate of 0.28% of the final invoice CIF value of import consignments entering into Ghana through the seaports, airports and land borders”.
