The lawyers for the freight forwarder who dragged government to court over the West Blue contract has given indications that his client may still pursue the matter although the court dismissed the case on Friday.
Alex Afenyo-Markin who is a member of the legal team of the plaintiff, on Eyewitness News said: “The doors are still opened, we are still in our search, we are still studying the ruling, we are very grateful to the court for considering this within this short period.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”YOAWFZ86NcBlp9sLJyPvLtX5C6QCrife”]On Friday, An Accra Fast Track Court has struck out the West Blue case brought against the government.
According to the trial Judge, Justice Anthony Yeboah, the plaintiff, Michael Kweku Djan, was trying to pre-empt the project which was yet to be awarded to the West Blue.
The plaintiff wanted the court to declare that “the single-sourcing of the National Single Window and Risk Management System Project in favour of West Blue Ghana Limited is a breach of Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).”
According to Afenyo-Markin, although it appears that his client peaked before his time, “the fact is that the ruling does not close the door on my client.”
He mentioned that the ruling also does not give government the green light to proceed on sole sourcing of the single window implementation project.
Afenyo-Markin said it is expected that the government will follow a transparent procurement process where all parties with interest in the project will have equal opportunity to put in a bid.
The letter
The suit was premised on a May 12, 2015 letter from the Chief of Staff directing the Minister of Finance, Seth Terkper to solely engage the West Blue consulting for the purposes of the single window implementation project.
The plaintiff’s lawyer said it was obvious that the court sought to give attention to the said letter.
He explained saying, “the position of the court was that in as long as there was no evidence from the Public Procurement Board that they have actually initiated the process of awarding any contract to West Blue or considering West Blue for sole sourcing, an action cannot arise.”
“Again, the court held the view that letter expresses an intention and we cannot conclude that the mere directive for the Finance Minister to engage West Blue means that West Blue has been sole contracted.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana