The leaked report from the Attorney General’s Department following its investigations into the controversial bus branding scandal, has revealed that three reliable local automobile firms, would have each charged nearly half of the Ghc3.6 million cedis that was offered to Smarttys for the re-branding of 116 Metro Mass Transit Buses.
A copy of the report, which the government had been holding onto available to Citi News, also revealed that the manufacturers of the Chinese Buses, Huanghai Automobile, had also offered to re-brand the buses, albeit at a higher cost than what Smarttys charged.
The highly confidential report says Huanghai Automobile, had quoted $1,103,000.00 as the total cost for re-branding the buses.
[contextly_sidebar id=”5V08NpoA6zEMSF7r3FuQWkf6QrlEpZh4″]Its equivalent in cedis at the time at an exchange rate of Ghc3.83 to the dollar, was Four Million Two Hundred and Twenty-Four Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety Ghana Cedis (Ghc4, 224,490.00)
This clearly is higher than the Smarttyrs charge of Ghc3.6 million.
The report did not state whether this quotation from Huanghai was rejected or accepted by the Ministry of Transport. However the report further noted that subsequent events clearly showed that it was rejected.
But in an effort to determine whether Government had received value for the money paid to Smarttys, the report in a nutshell concluded that, government opted for a rather higher cost by choosing Smarttys when it could have gotten a much cheaper quotation for the same service.
The committee’s conclusion is borne out of investigations carried out from three reliable local automobile companies namely Mechanical Lloyd Company, Japan Motors and Svani Limited.
The committee says it requested quotes from the companies on December 18th 2015, to know how much they would have charged in case they were contracted to execute the job.
The ten-page report said “These automobile companies also inspected the buses to determine the kind of material used for the spraying and re-branding the buses.”
According to the report “ Mechanical Lloyd’s response dated 21st December 2015, stated that, the total cost of spraying and re-branding buses plus VAT & NHIL if Mechanical Lloyd had provided the service, would not be more than Ghc1,700,120.49.
The breakdown is as follows:
Ghc11, 794.80 x 91 (12 meter bus) = Ghc1, 073, 326.80
Ghc14, 940.00 x25 (18 meter bus) = Ghc373, 500.80
Total = Ghc1, 446, 826.80
VAT & NHIL 17.5% = Ghc 253, 194.69
Grand Total = Ghc 1,700, 120.49
Japan Motor’s response to the committee’s request dated December 21st 2015, according to the report “stated that the total cost of paint works and re-branding would not be more than Ghc1, 553, 276.32 (inclusive of VAT & NHIL).
The breakdown is as follows:
Cost of spraying of 12 meter buses
Ghc11, 479.19 x 91 = Ghc 1,044,605.93
Cost of spraying 18 meter buses
Ghc13, 711.62 x 25 = Ghc 342,790.39
Cost of branding 116 buses = Ghc165, 880.00
Grand Total = 1,553, 276.32
The report added that the third local automobile firm, Svani Limited in responding to the committee’s request for price quotations said “the cost of preparing, spraying and branding an 18 meter bus could not be more than Ghc12, 800.00 and the 12 meter bus could not be more than Ghc11, 200.00. These figures exclude VAT & NHIL of 17.5%. The Total cost of the spraying and rebranding by Svani Limited inclusive of VAT & NHIL, would not have been more than Ghc1, 573,500.00.”
The report as available to Citi News does not have a breakdown of the quotes from Svani Limited.
The committee thus concluded that “Having regard to the above findings, we are of the view that Smarttys charged and was paid more than it should have for the service it provided. This situation would not have arisen if proper procurement processes had been observed and a value for money audit conducted. In our view, judging from the quotes received from the local automobile companies, government should not have paid more than Ghc1, 700, 120.49 for re-branding and spraying of the buses (this sum includes VAT & NHIL).”
The report added “The pro-forma invoices submitted by Smarttys indicated that the cost if inclusive of Development and Production of Artwork. No value was placed on this in the said pro-forma invoices. It is highly doubtful that the amount of GHc1, 949,124.26 could be the cost of development and production of artwork,” the report said.
Other revelations
The report cited by Citi News further suggests that the presidency has been rather lenient in its handling of the bus branding scandal, since state officials both at the Transport and Finance Ministries broke a number of national laws in their supervision of the 3.6 million Ghana cedis contract.
“An analysis of the documents clearly shows that several public officers were involved in the procurement and payment process. We therefore recommend that all officers who handled any aspect of these processes flouted the laid down legislation should investigated the Economic and Organised Crime Office [EOCO].” It also added that after review of the state’s contract with Smarttys, the Attorney General found that the state should not have paid Smarttys more than 1.7 million Ghana cedis for the branding project.
Background
Government’s decision to spend GHc3.6 million of Ghana’s oil revenue on branding some 116 Metro Mass Transit (MMT) buses has been widely criticized and described as reckless.
The scandal compelled the Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor to resign after a massive public outcry.
The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah subsequently ordered the Attorney General to investigate the matter after which Smarttys has been ordered to refund the excess payments made.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie.citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie