The Herald, has obtained further details of a controversial US$80 million contract for the supply of 19 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) awarded by the Akufo-Addo administration to Israeli defence firm, ELBIT Systems Land Ltd, raising fresh fears that Ghana could lose at least US$40 million in public funds.
Findings indicate that Ghana has already lost US$40 million advanced under a credit facility, with the remaining US$40 million also at risk unless the Mahama administration urgently renegotiates the deal signed under the tenure of then Defence Minister, Dominic Nitiwul.
The role of local intermediaries has also raised serious questions as they are demanding an extra US$10 million to help the Mahama government salvage the situation.
An Ashanti chief, Oheneba Akwasi Abeyie, the Akomfohene of Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, who recently announced Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings’s death, has been named as having attended key meetings, along with an Israeli national long resident in Ghana who presented himself as ELBIT’s local agent.
However, ELBIT reportedly denied that the chief was its agent, and the written contract itself makes no reference to any local intermediary, describing the deal as a direct government-to-company agreement. This has deepened suspicions about who truly brokered the contract.
Under the agreement, Ghana was to receive 19 APCs, financed through a credit arrangement with an Israeli export bank. The bank reportedly advanced US$40 million to ELBIT, with the debt transferred to the Government of Ghana. Despite this, not a single vehicle has been delivered.
Investigations show that the structure of the contract was highly unusual. Rather than producing and delivering vehicles in phases, the agreement required ELBIT and its subcontractors to manufacture all platforms and components simultaneously. This meant that Ghana could not take delivery of any completed vehicles until the full contract sum was paid.
Insiders familiar with the negotiations said the arrangement denied Ghana the option of receiving partial deliveries tied to milestone payments, a standard practice in defence procurement. “Even if the state paid half of the money, it could not take delivery of half of the vehicles,” one official said.
Further complicating matters, ELBIT did not manufacture the vehicles directly. Instead, production of components was reportedly spread across several countries, including Germany and France, with ELBIT acting primarily as an intermediary coordinating suppliers. Critics argue that Ghana could have dealt directly with manufacturers instead of using a middleman.
When Ghana defaulted on payments following the country’s debt exchange programme, ELBIT claimed it had incurred debts to its own suppliers and sold off some of the platforms initially intended for Ghana.
In October this year, a high-level meeting was held between Ghanaian officials and representatives of ELBIT, alongside Finance Minister Dr Cassiel Ato Forson, to explore options for salvaging the contract. At the meeting, ELBIT claimed that only eight or nine platforms remained available, while the rest had been disposed of due to Ghana’s payment defaults.
Government sources say the Armed Forces have now advised a reduction in the number of vehicles, and officials are awaiting a formal addendum proposal from ELBIT. However, there are concerns that the company may demand additional payments running into more than US$10 million above the original contract price.
Sources at the Defence Ministry insist that the agreement could not have been executed without the knowledge of the minister at the time, noting that all major defence contracts pass through ministerial-level approval.
In addition to the US$40 million already at risk, officials disclosed that Ghana has locked up a further US$2 million in advance payments on other defence contracts, also without receiving a single vehicle.
Government officials now plan to travel to Europe, particularly Germany, to physically inspect the claimed platforms, rather than visiting Israel, where no manufacturing reportedly took place.
Security analysts warn that the deal bears similarities to earlier controversial military vehicle procurements, including contracts involving refurbished, decades-old armoured vehicles that were merely repainted and resold at inflated prices.
“This could have been a good deal in terms of technical specifications,” a defence source said. “But the contract was structured in a way that exposed Ghana to maximum financial risk and minimum protection.”
The Mahama administration is now under pressure to renegotiate or terminate the contract to prevent further financial losses, as questions mount over accountability, due diligence and the role of politically connected intermediaries in national security procurements.
As officials await ELBIT’s proposed addendum, the fate of millions of dollars in public funds and the accountability of those who approved the deal remains unresolved.
The Minister for Finance, Dr Cassiel Ato Baah Forson, who also serves as Acting Minister for Defence, recently laid bare a staggering US$40 million financial loss to the state under former Defence Minister, Mr Nitiwul, a scandal he revealed, has left Ghana with nothing to show for a colossal outlay to the Israeli defence contractor.
Dr Forson revealed that on 13 August 2020, the Akufo-Addo administration signed a US$80 million supplier’s credit agreement with ELBIT Systems Land Ltd for the supply of 19 APCs.
But in a damning disclosure before Parliament on Thursday, 13 November 2025, the Finance Minister announced that half of the contract sum, US$40 million, had already been paid out, yet not a single APC has been delivered to the Ghana Army.
“Mr. Speaker, on 13th August, 2020, the Government of Ghana entered into a supplier’s credit agreement of US$80 million with Messrs. ELBIT Systems Land Ltd for the procurement of nineteen (19) Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and related defence systems”, he said.
Dr Forson went on, “Mr Speaker, sadly, despite the disbursement of US$40 million to the supplier, the Ghana Army has not received a single APC”.
“In light of the significant payment already made and to prevent financial loss to the State, Government has taken steps to renegotiate the existing agreement with the supplier, and it will be re-presented to parliament for consideration”.
Dr Forson told Parliament as he presented the 2026 Budget and Economic Policy of the Mahama administration.
He said the government has now been forced to renegotiate the deal in order to salvage public funds and prevent further financial haemorrhage, adding that the revised agreement will be sent back to Parliament.
“In light of the significant payment already made and to prevent financial loss to the State, the Government has taken steps to renegotiate the existing agreement with the supplier, and it will be re-presented to Parliament for consideration”.
Dominic Nitiwul, current MP for Bimbilla and Defence Minister throughout President Akufo-Addo’s two terms (2017–2025), oversaw the aborted APC contract.
The revelations deepen concerns about procurement mismanagement at the Ministry of Defence during his tenure.
The botched US$40 million APC payment is entirely separate from the controversial purchase of twenty (20) BTR-70 armoured vehicles, Soviet-era equipment sourced from a military scrapyard in Azerbaijan for US$10.5 million.
Those vehicles, linked to Akanni Logistics and Ramelsco Company Ltd, owned by Alhaji Tafiq and associates, have been widely condemned by military experts as “unserviceable”, with some describing them as glorified museum relics. The vehicles are 53 years old.
ELBIT Systems Land Ltd is a globally recognised defence manufacturer supplying advanced technology to over 50 countries.
The issue, the Finance Minister implied, was not the supplier’s credibility but the recklessness of the procurement process and the terms agreed with the company by the Akufo-Addo government, which allowed such a large payment without any delivery guarantee.
