The Minority Chief Whip, Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza, has indicated that the Education Minister’s argument that the Ministry of Education sole sourced the procurement of past questions photocopies based on the suggestion of the Ghana Education Service (GES) is not substantive enough to excuse the act.
He specified that the GES may have recommended the publication (Aki-Ola) however, it did not detect the procurement procedure for the photocopies of these textbooks and past questions. He argued that the procurement laws of Ghana do not justify sole sourcing even for photocopies of past questions.
“The entity [Ministry of Education] may engage in single-source procurement under Section 41 [of the procurement act] with the approval of the board. It did not ask you to consult WAEC, it did not ask you to consult the Ministry of Education in the process of determining the procurement source. Why are you repeating you took the advice of WAEC?”
Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza
Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza further stated that the contract price of GH₵ 33.6 million, is exorbitant for making just photocopies of past questions. He disclosed that a photocopy of a single question paper costs an alarming GH₵ 59.10.
The Member of Parliament for the Ashaiman constituency, Hon. Ernest Henry Norgbey, also debated that there are numerous companies that the Ministry of Education could have procured from instead of procuring from a single source. He maintained that the Aki-Ola publication or the Kingdom Books and Stationary are not mandated to solely provide such services.
He also argued that the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) could have done the photocopies of these past questions without engaging a third party (Kingdom Books and Stationary). “But…the Ministry of Education procured an amount of GH₵ 33.6 million of taxpayers’ money in 2020 and in 2021, they did the same by using an amount of over GH₵ 34 million at a cost price of GH 78.00” he stated.
Furthermore, the Ashaiman Legislator stated the government spent GH 68.5 million in two years to produce photocopies of past questions for Senior High Schools.
Procurement Irregularities In Government
The Ministry of Education is only the latest to be added to the numerous unlawful procurement practices in the incumbent government. Notable on the long list of government institutions that have committed gross procurement breaches is the Ghana Cocobod.
During the recently held Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting, the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board was cited for sole-sourcing a large portion (87%) of its Cocoa Roads project to individuals close to the incumbent government.
The Auditor General’s report stated that the Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board however failed to provide a tangible reason for awarding these contracts through sole sourcing while it cost the institution more than a competitive tendering could have.
The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Member of Parliament for the Ketu North constituency, Hon. James Klutse Avedzi, recently disclosed that officials of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) are petrified of denying sole sourcing contract requests made by public institutions, though they do not meet the requirements, over fear of being dismissed.
Accordingly, the Ketu North Legislator noted that about 99.9% of all such requests from state institutions are granted because of influential individuals in government behind such contracts.
“The request will not meet, because there are conditions under which you can do sole sourcing. Those conditions are not met by that request and if I don’t do it maybe I will be sacked, maybe the one who put me there is asking me to do it, if I deny him this, what will happen? My job is at stake”.
Hon. James Klutse Avedzi
The Procurement Act of Ghana, Section 38 of Act 663 (as amended), states that a sole source procurement is allowed under the premise that: complex and specialized goods, works or services are available only from a limited number of suppliers or contractors; the time and cost required to examine; and evaluate a large number of tenders is disproportionate to the value of the goods, works or services to be procured and if an offer for competitive tendering fails to receive any response after it been announced.
Regardless of the clear-cut instructions given in the Procurement acts of the country, governments over the years continue to resort to the practice of single-sourcing of goods and services in the delivery of their duties although this practice causes substantial loss to the state.
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