IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe has questioned the basis of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s touting of his government’s reduced reliance on sole sourcing during his State of the Nation Address.
“When I heard the comparison between the NDC and the NPP in terms of procurement figures, I wasn’t particularly sure what the basis of the comparison was,” Mr. Cudjoe noted on The Big Issue.
[contextly_sidebar id=”XyWePxz0zDTNEddLGnWiTfQJAPTydjsp”]He also downplayed the significance of the reduction in sole-sourced contracts because there was still a lack of transparency as far as citizens were concerned.
President Nana Akufo-Addo, speaking to the Media in January, first revealed that his government had saved about GHc 782 million from sole sourcing and restricted tendering processes within its first year in government.
He was keen to note that this was in sharp contrast to the zero savings made from sole sourcing in 2016 under the National Democratic Congress.
The drop in sole-sourced contracts is noted to be 37 percent from 2016.
He reiterated this point during his State of the Nation address where he outlined that 394 sole sourcing requests were made in 2017, out of which 223, representing 56.6 percent, were approved, and 171, representing 43.4 percent, were rejected.
No change from NDC era
Despite President Akufo-Addo’s assertions, Mr. Cudjoe expressed some misgivings with the fact that goods were still being sole-sourced as he asked “whether we would ever do anything significantly different from what we have seen in the past.”
“Even if there was 90 percent approval of sole sourcing under NDC and we now have 50 percent approval under the NPP, the point I am trying to make is that there is no basis for this kind of comparison because, first of all, we don’t even get to see, as ordinary people, what exactly is being procured,” he said.
Per the IMANI Africa President’s understanding, sole sourcing “must be rare” thus, leading him to wonder whether the over 200 approved sole-sourcing requests were “from Mars.”
“If you look at the functions of various public agencies, those that are executing projects, what are they buying? Roofing sheets, cement, branding buses? What is so special about the [agreements sole sourced]?”
–
By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana