{"id":216506,"date":"2016-05-23T15:08:45","date_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=216506"},"modified":"2016-05-23T15:08:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T15:08:45","slug":"5-laws-were-deliberately-broken-in-smarttys-deal-ace-ankomah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=216506","title":{"rendered":"5 laws were deliberately broken in Smartty’s deal – Ace Ankomah"},"content":{"rendered":"

Private Legal Practitioner and member of pressure group, Occupy Ghana, Ace Ankomah, \u00a0has revealed\u00a0that every applicable law was broken to ensure that Smartty\u2019s Management and Productions Limited – the company at the centre of the bus branding saga, was awarded the contract.<\/p>\n

Speaking on e.tv Ghana\u2019s State of the Nation with Kwame Gyan, Ace Ankomah said there was no properly written contract<\/a><\/strong><\/span> or proper public procurement approval for\u00a0 Smartty\u2019s to go head and brand the 116 buses at a cost of Ghc3.6m.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”TsXcQJg90oLeG5J8CJBuPTl796ZyDNIa”]\u201cEverything was done to breach every possible applicable law just so that the contract was given to that entity. There was no document which contained the conditions of contract. If you are going to steal our money at least give it to a first year lawyer to draft a proper contract for you. That sham of a contract is the basis for paying GHC 3.6million of our money? This is a joke,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

Ace Ankomah stressed that at least five laws including the Petroleum Management Law, the Procurement Act and Government Contracts Protection Act among other laws, were broken to ensure that Smartty\u2019s won that contract.<\/p>\n

On April 13, a Human Rights Court gave its ruling<\/a><\/strong><\/span> in a controversial case brought by some members of OccupyGhana asking for full disclosure of government\u2019s contract with Smarttys Production over the 116 branded Metro Mass buses.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0revelation that the\u00a0re-branding of 116 buses cost\u00a0the\u00a0country the sum of\u00a0GHC 3.6 million sparked a lot of controversy and\u00a0\u00a0 public outrage, compelling the government to supposedly retrieve GHC 1.5 million from Smarttys Management and Productions Limited.<\/p>\n

According to Ace Ankomah, the whole sole sourcing and procurement process to award Smartty\u2019s the contract involving the Office of the President, Public Procurement Authority (PPA), the Transport Ministry and the Finance Ministry was a sham.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf indeed the office of the President had a hand in all of this, why would the office of the President order the Attorney General to investigate the matter? Was it why they were refusing to release the AG\u2019s report?\u201d Ace Ankomah quizzed.<\/p>\n

He called for a full investigation into the PPA and its connection to the Smartty\u2019s bus branding scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PPA ought to explain more to Ghanaians. How can they either by being asleep or being complacent, allow this to pass through their hands when it took the AG less than a week to determine that we were being duped on this contract. The PPA itself massaged and breached its own law to allow the payment,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n

Ace Ankomah disclosed that both the Legal and Audit team of OccupyGhana would continue to work tirelessly to until they get to the bottom of the matter.<\/p>\n

Watch below the full interview with Ace Ankomah:
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