Here is a great post by mabenn that I agree with:
By: mabenn1
04 May 2005, 07:55 PM EDT
Msg. 36182 of 36187
(This msg. is a reply to 36123 by wire1540.)
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I agree. There will be no rebid. These guys need to hang on to the last shred of credibility they have left. Besides that, there is no reason for a rebid.
There was no fault in the bidding process. The only thing people are making noise about is the DECISION process. As SH70 said, in the very worst of cases (which I do not think will happen), they go back and reevaluate the existing bids.
I am hopeful that the report we got yesterday, that a delegation from the JDA went to Sao Tome and successfully smoothed things over is true, and that these articles are a day late.
From my reading of the Treaty, the JMC has full authority to make final decisions, but they must be by a consensus of the JMC. Apparently they were not, based on yesterdays's article. So we also heard that Menezes and Obasanjo were meeting and were in agreement over the awards.
I think it is interesting that these issues arise within a day or two of the JMC making a final decision. You can't possible convince me that someone said - "Well now that awards were made, we better go investigate the background of the JMC members." What BS. Surely these issues were not previously unknown.
My guess is that the people raising these allegations are just as deep in bed with some other company, the only problem is their team didn't win.
This whole thing sounds purely political to me. Notice the parlimentary special committee did not claim any jurisdiction over the process. This is not to say they cannot apply significant political pressure. Could the threats regarding politicians signing agreement that are not in the best interest of Sao Tome been specifically directed at Menezes?? Today's second article was all about statements made by the opposition party! This may well be politics as usuall in Africa. Of course American stockholders will freak out over such allegations.
What we really need at this point is some genuine insight from someone who really understands African political workings.
Obasanjo wants this thing done, and he wants it done now!
