Govt denies breach of GCNet contract
The government has stated that it has not breached any contract with Ghana Community Service Network (GCNet) when it signed an agreement with West Blue Ghana Limited.
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A statement signed by the Deputy Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Dominic Ayine, said it came to that conclusion based on the fact that the notice that GCNet served on the government specifically related to the single window and thus it was important to ascertain the scope and meaning of the provision contained in that expression.
It said the review of the documents was also to determine the extent to which the implementation of the National Single Window would constitute a breach of the agreements.
The statement said the concept of a single window was introduced for the first time in the supplemental agreement in relation to the TradeNet regime and that that agreement did not define the term ‘Single Window.’
“But it’s clear from a reading of the Agreement that the term ‘Single Window’ is used in the context of the deployment of the TradeNet and its implementation is, therefore, inextricably tied to the TradeNet,” it said.
It added that the language of article 4.2 of the Supplemental Agreement was revealing in that respect, which referred to the ‘Single Window’ concept that was being implemented as an integral part of the TradeNet and in 4.2.4 to the obligation of GCNet to arrange the purchase, financing and installation of the necessary hardware and application software to ensure that the implementation of the single window concept was quickly deployed under the TradeNet.
Disagreements
The statement further described the position taken by GCNet as commercially absurd for the fact that taken to its logical conclusion, its effect was that the government had granted GCNet an unfettered contractual discretion to do whatever it took to implement an undefined contractual undertaking.
“If GCNet claims that the ‘Single Window’ is being implemented, then it must be able to point to specific contractual terms and conditions within the four corners of the Supplemental Agreement, read in tandem with the original agreement relating to the implementation of the ‘Single Window’,” it added.
The statement indicated that from a public policy view point, the government had never expressed an intention to grant GCNet exclusive rights to take over all the activities being undertaken by service providers within the international trade sector such as the Destination Inspection Companies and that given that policy background it could not have been the intention of the government to give GCNet an exclusive right to undertake an open-ended single window concept.
“Finally, it is important to state that the National Single Window programme being undertaken by the government is definitely wider in scope and content than that which GCNet claims to be implementing as an integral part of the TradeNet,” the statement said.
According to the statement, in the government’s review of the said agreements it was noted that West Blue Ghana Limited qualified as international economic or business transactions within the meaning of article 181 (5) of the Constitution.
“We have rendered this opinion based entirely on the documentation presented to us and we do not express or purport to express an opinion on any documents that may form part of the full complement of documents relating to this project,” the statement concluded.