Contractors of Ghana First Company Limited who have recently abrogated their contract with the company under the Clean Ghana Toilet Facility Project will soon be served will all surcharges and liquidated damages for fundamental breaches of the contract.
The contractors who claimed to have been scammed by Ghana First and its Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr. Frank Akuley as far as honoring the agreement is concerned, has written to the company abrogating their contracts.
This paper has gathered from checks that, Ghana First Company Limited had never breached any fundamental terms of the said contract it had with the contractors to have warranted their cancellation of the contract.
In view of this, the Company which is the Contract Owner, according to our information will soon exercise its right to terminate the contract with the contractors and hence, have ordered the contractors to comply with Clause 52.5 of the contract and leave the project site secured.
Documents available to this paper have it that per the agreement between Ghana First Company Limited and the contractors, the contractors are expected to execute the projects within 90 days as specified in Clause 5 (ii); which the contractors have breached.
The majority of the contractors, according to investigations, have abandoned the project for more than 28 continuous days without any prior notice to the Project Owner, Ghana First Company Limited.
According to the Contract, the contractors are not to abandon the project for the first 28 days and their schedule of work which the contractors themselves prepared did not permit break in construction.
Clause 5xii of the contract stated that “In the event of the Contractor abandoning the project for any period of 28 continuous days without prior notice to the Employer, the contract shall stand abrogated and the cost of the abandonment including any delay occasioned to the project thereby shall be surcharged the Contractor.”
Also, Clause 5 subsection xi, also pointed out clearly that on the occurrence of either the said abandonment and or delay arising from the Contractor leaving some skeletal workers not being its full capacity of workers required for the project within the said 28 days period, the contract shall not only stand abrogated but any investment made by the Contractor within this period shall be forfeited.
The contractors according to insider information, were relying on Clause 52(2)(a) of the Agreement but failed to recognize the fact that there has not been any provision in the Contract Agreement between both parties for a Mid-term payment and for that matter, their reliance on Clause 52(2)(a) to terminate the contract is not in the spirit of the contract.
Meanwhile, in setting the records straight regarding some non-payment claims raised by the Contractors, Ghana First indicated that the Contract it had with the Contractors stated clearly that, “The total sum shall be paid to the contractor 3 months after completion of works and certificate of completion upon recommendation by the project manager and approved by the Chief Executive Officer,” and that Ghana First Company Limited is guided by the contractual agreement between it and the Contractors and does respect the same.
The Company, this paper has established, had notified the Contractors of their breach of contract and that it will soon serve the contractors with all the expenses that came along with their actions.
More to come