Even though the SSNIT Board has caused a forensic investigation into the scandal which has been a subject of public discussions in the last two weeks, the Ghana Federation of Labour maintains that labour must get competent people to represent its interest on the SSNIT Board.

The General Secretary of the Federation, Abraham Koomson, told Citi News that, “as organized labour, we cannot defend what has happened because it is very embarrassing to us. Going forward, we must make sure that we nominate qualified people, knowledgeable people not necessarily the Secretary General to be part of the board of Trustees. We have to make them understand that periodically we have to revert to the labour structures for us to understand what goes on there.”

The board of Trustees of the SSNIT includes representatives of Organized Labour.

SSNIT is being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for blowing $72 million on procuring and installing a software and other hardware systems known as the Operational Business Suite (OBS) in a bid to digitize the Trust.

The cost, which was originally $34 million, later ballooned to $66 million and then to $72 million due to maintenance and additional infrastructure, and the variation was approved by the Trust’s board.

The new Board Chairman of SSNIT, Kwame Addo Kufuor, in an earlier interview with Citi News, said about 15 people had already appeared before EOCO as witnesses in the matter.

SSNIT has also contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit into the contract.

The Ghana Federation of Labour is calling for a complete restructuring of the Trust to avert any such scandals in the future.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’re embarrassed by SSNIT scandal – Labour Federation appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The procurement unit is to ensure regular auditing of state entities to ensure that there is value for monies spent.

This is according the Chief Executive Officer of the Public Procurement Authority, Agyenim Boateng Agyei.

[contextly_sidebar id=”tmMdxqBiJO6RhjkjtibGTXD5zm2a0ToR”]He said the creation of the two units are innovations he is introducing to the Authority to ensure that it effectively delivers on its mandate.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said “the procurement audit unit is not going to wait for such matters to come into the media landscape before we take action. We are going to conduct regular procurement audits from entity to entity and our concentration is going to be on the high-end entity.”

“It is going to be on regular basis so that most of these things will be detected far earlier than it has been completed before we go for assessment.”

He added that the due diligence unit will be dedicated to subjecting applications for sole sourcing and restrictive tendering to thorough scrutiny.

“All applications that are brought to PPA for consideration and approval for sole-sourced and restrictive tendering will be subjected to extensive due diligence to establish the relevance of the application in relation to the appropriate provisions of the law and established price reasonableness,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Public Procurement Authority is launching an independent audit into the $72 million SSNIT scandal.

Mr. Boateng Adjei said his outfit is awaiting the report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) before commencing its own audit which will look at document trails about the controversial OBS project.

According to him, the report will serve as a guide in ascertaining the procurement processes that led to the company pumping millions of dollars into the project.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ll now audit state institutions regularly – Procurement Authority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Tuesday, Mr Boateng Agyei said the Authority’s audit will cover every aspect of the deal and will reconcile all documents related to the contract as well as collect whatinformation from officers linked to the contract.

[contextly_sidebar id=”OJGStqWquuFYt1NF0PLGSa0t5euuVEgF”]“The most important thing in the audit we are conducting is to look out for the possible infraction to the provisions of the law. So if we come out with a report where there has been a contravention to any portion of the law we will then invoke section 92 which prescribes punishments for offences. Anyone that is found to have contravened any section of the act will be summarily subjected to 5-year imprisonment and 500 penalty units,” he said.

SSNIT is being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for blowing $72 million on procuring and installing a software and other hardware systems known as the Operational Business Suite (OBS) in a bid to digitize the Trust.

The cost, which was originally $34 million, later ballooned to $66 million and then to $72 million due to maintenance and additional infrastructure.

The Board Chairman of SSNIT, Kwame Addo Kufuor in an earlier interview with Citi News said about 15 people had already appeared before EOCO as witnesses in the matter.

SSNIT has also contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit into the contract.

But the head of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) said the various investigations looking into the deal will not deter the PPA from undertaking its independent audit.

He said the report from its audit will be forwarded to an appropriate prosecution agency to apply the necessary convictions on those found culpable.

“We will then forward the report to any of the prosecution agencies for them to follow it up and prescribe the necessary conviction because we don’t the mandate on our own,” he said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post SSNIT scandal: Guilty officials to face 5-year jail term – PPA boss appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.