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Former Member of Parliament for Akwatia Constituency, Hon. Baba Jamal, has commended the Akufo-Addo government for its decision to take over the Great Consolidated Diamonds, formerly Ghana Consolidated Diamond Limited (GCDL) from the JOSPONG Group of Companies.

He even accuses the management of the defunct diamond company of selling off assets of the mine as scraps.

Government, over the weekend, announced the take over of the GCDL, the country's only commercial diamond company which owns the Akwatia Diamond Mines that has produced more than a 100 million carats of diamond since its inception of commercial operations in 1924.

This came to light when the Acting Director-General of State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), Stephen Asamoah Boateng and his entourage toured the company to have first-hand information on activities there.

Background

The GCDL was closed almost a decade ago when Sapper and Associates, who had won the rights to operate the mine, failed to inject the necessary funds.

This resulted in the then NDC government, which came to power in 2009, opening bids for the operations of  the GCDL. A Ghanaian-owned company won the bid in 2011 ahead of international firms that had shown interest, and renamed it Great Consolidated Diamonds (GCD).

However, the Company, after winning the bid, failed to fulfill the contract obligations, thus prompting the current administration under SIGA, to use the Mining Law Clause (13) which stipulated that when such a thing occured, government should take back the company and manage it.

Government, through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, subsequently abrogated the contract accusing the company of failing to fufill its core mandate to enhance production.

Mr Asamoah Boateng later appointed a nine-member interim management committee made up of experts from the fields of law, mining, surveying, finance and security, to steer the affairs of the company.

"Illegal...& Regrettable"

But the management of JOSPONG Group which acquired the GCDL (and changed it to GCD) through the Ghana Government Diverstiture Implementation Committee (DIC) in June 2011, described the shutdown over contract breaches as unlawful.

According to the company, the reasons for government's actions are a misrepresentation of the agreed terms between the two parties.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the company said the action by the State Interest and Governance Authority was "illegal, unconstitutional and regrettable in a nation that is governed by the tenets of democracy."

"We emphasize our position that the conduct of SIGA amounts to total disregard for rule of law and good governance," the statement added.

Core Mandate Failed!

Commenting on Okay FM’s Ade Akye Abia Morning Show, Hon. Baba Jamal insisted that even though Great Consolidated Diamonds went through the bidding to win the company genuinely, the agreed plans upon which the Akwatia Mines were given out were not followed to the latter.

“Initially as part of the contract, the company had to give $17 million fiscal cash to the government and also in the agreed proposal with the government; the company had to invest $100 million over 5 years into the business. It was to create 50,000 indirect jobs and 5,000 direct jobs and all these are parts of the proposal”, he disclosed.