Speaking at the launch in Accra on Tuesday, the President f the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply (GIPS), Collins Agyeman, said there is the need for a legislative backing of the code to ensure strict adherence.

[contextly_sidebar id=”VuRCUxaKwPsmy5RFZxiJuc8wJZVJNRmT”]He expressed worry over the increasing incidence of procurement malpractices that resulted in the state loss of huge sums of money.

He cited the state’s loss of GH¢ 100 million through various MMDAs unethical procurement practices in 2015.

“There is an immediate need to have a legislation backing the practice to minimize corruption practices. This will help weed out persons who see procurement as an avenue to selfishly enrich themselves. We are in the era where developing economies are going through unprecedented changes. The complexities of businesses and economic environments are a reality, and therefore demands a robust support from a well-structured and strategic procurement and supply chain to help grow our economy and businesses,” he said.

According to Mr. Agyeman, the mere creation of a Procurement Ministry will not solve the rampant issues of corruption associated with public procurement, but that efforts must be made to ensure that professionals within the industry act responsibly.

He said, “having a fully-fledged public procurement authority and a dedicated minister for public procurement cannot be successful and achieve the desired benefits without the formidable local procurement and supply institute.”

Mr. Agyeman further said he believes the code of ethics will streamline the conduct of procurement professionals to restore the fading confidence in public procurement.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The contracts were eventually approved retroactively by the Authority.

[contextly_sidebar id=”FeEDNuLW2W5505B6snb02VtgW0nqjc1W”]He said the threat of the armyworms required that the Ministry had to act with urgency, which explains why they had to bypass the Procurement Authority processes.

“We were under an emergency situation so everybody was running helter-skelter to ensure that we were not threatened by the fall armyworms the way it was going. So that is why the ministry engaged all the chemical sellers,” he stated on Eyewitness News.

Dr. Bambangi reiterated the defense he made in Parliament when the Ashaiman Member of Parliament, Ernest Norgbey, questioned the legality of the retrospective approval.

“We have a legal adviser in the ministry, and if it is not founded in law, he wouldn’t have advised the ministry to go that way… we applied to the Public Procurement Authority and if it was not founded in law, they wouldn’t have approved it.”

Sole-sourcing has been noted as a conduit for corruption, which the governing New Patriotic Party has criticized vehemently in the past, and even put in place a Minister of Procurement for the first time.

Dr. Bambangi however assured that, there was nothing shady underneath the deal for the chemicals.

He noted that “everybody agreed it [the armyworms] was a threat to food security if we didn’t control it well… It is not as if we purchased from one chemical dealer. We purchased from 12 chemical dealers.”

In all, 12 companies were assembled by the government to supply the insecticides to fight the armyworms, but without a competitive bidding process.

Legality or retrospective approval

A lecturer at the University of Education, B.B. Bingab, indicated that there was no aspect of the law that allowed for retrospective approval.

The closest aspect of the law, which Dr. Bambangi alluded to in his defense, is section 40(1) (c) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).

It states that “a procurement entity may engage in single source procurement under section 41 with the approval of the board… where owing to a catastrophic event, there is an urgent need for the goods, works or technical services, making it impractical to use any other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using those methods.”

Dr. Bingab admitted the lack of any lawful avenue for retrospective action, but noted that “there are certain instances where a decision has to be made bearing in mind the repercussions of not taking that decision.”

In this instance, where a state of emergency was called over the impact and threat of armyworms, the lecturer noted that retrospective approval may have been justified.

“In the event that if you don’t take that decision [immediately], it makes no meaning to eventually get the approval you need, then you have got to act… to wait till the final decision will suggest that even the request you are making will be in vain.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Responding to questions on the matter, a Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Sagre Bambangi, disclosed that the Ministry only roped in the Public Procurement Authority after the GHc 9 million arrangements for the insecticides had been made.

[contextly_sidebar id=”stfDiP3UIPEW5Ow4LBTBvhoqtErKc21q”]”The Ministry having secured the above facility, consequently requested for a retrospective approval from the Public Procurement Authority, for an emergency supply of insecticides to control the fall armyworms.”

“The Public Procurement Authority granted the request of the use of Single Source Procurement Method, to engage various supplies to undertake the procurement of insecticide in accordance with section 40(1) (c) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663),” Dr. Bambangi said.

The section in question, however says nothing about retrospective approval as it notes that: “a procurement entity may engage in single source procurement under section 41 with the approval of the board… where owing to a catastrophic event, there is an urgent need for the goods, works or technical services, making it impractical to use any other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using those methods.”

The Ashaiman Member of Parliament, Ernest Norgbey, highlighted this fact, as he questioned the legality of the retrospective approval.

But the Deputy Minister responded by saying that “if it were wrong, the Public Procurement Authority would not have done same.”

The Ministry of Agriculture collaborated with UN Food an Agriculture Organisation and Centre for Agriculture Biosciences International, for the recommended insecticides registered in Ghana, and also registered for the control of fall armyworms in Brazil, USA and other African countries.

After the recommendations, the Minister invited companies which had registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and appealed to them to supply on credit.

In all, 12 companies were assembled by the government, but not in a competitive bidding process, to supply the insecticides to fight the armyworms, due to the urgent nature of the situation.

The NPP administration  has repeatedly criticized the previous administration for engaging in all forms of sole-sourcing contracts which did not ensure value for money, and in most cases breached Public Procurement regulations.

They have thus pledged to ensure that such reckless sole-sourcing contracts are not the order of the day.

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By: Duke Mensah Opoku & Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Darryl Wharton-Rigby’s screenplay will centre on a courier tasked with bringing $3m (£1.76m) across the Atlantic to Brazil in an effort to stop the Ghanaian football team quitting the competition in protest at lack of pay. It is based on a real-life impasse which affected the west African team prior to their exit at the group stage last week, though fictional elements will be incorporated to further spice up the proposed movie.

The plot sees the $3m stolen after the courier is ambushed. He then has fewer than 12 hours to recover the money or face the wrath of his employers (and presumably the Ghanaian footballers).

“The world has soccer fever and Hollywood has caught it,” said Wharton-Rigby, a former staff writer for Homicide: Life on the Street, the celebrated Emmy-winning TV series from producer David Simon which predated the even more successful The Wire.

The screenplay has been optioned by US production company Bugeater, whose founders Dan Mirvish and Barry Hennessey will produce the film. Hennessy, an Emmy winner for reality TV show The Amazing Race, told the Wrap: “I’ve shot extensively in both Ghana and Brazil, and this is a perfect project to capture the raw energy that both countries have to offer.”

Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama, was forced to send a plane containing $3m to Brasília for the players to share after a row over appearance fees threatened to see the team go on strike. Ghana, who at one point refused to train due to lack of renumeration, subsequently lost their final group match 2-1 to Portugal and exited the competition.

Wharton-Rigby’s 1998 film Detention won the best director prize at the Urbanworld film festival. The thriller is the second football-related project to emerge in the past few weeks, following news that Hollywood studio Warner Bros plans to capitalise on US World Cup fever with a remake of cult classic Michael Caine tale Escape to Victory.
Credit: The Guardian

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