It said it will restrain itself from rushing to speak on the matter although it has held various meetings on the subject.

[contextly_sidebar id=”W0S16UKH5MZPZJhDJq8HW3ZyS0Dce2bd”]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 under the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

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. SSNIT’s General Manager  MIS, Caleb Afaglo, who was employed in 2015, has been dismissed by SSNIT after it emerged he got the job with fake degrees.

Several days after the news broke; the Minority, which has developed the penchant of hurriedly holding press conferences to comment on trending national issues, is surprisingly yet to make a formal public statement on the matter.

But speaking at a press conference in Accra to address a separate matter, the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said “We don’t just want to talk as a Minority, I need expert advice. We are studying; we don’t want to be a Minority that just rushes to say.”

“In fact last week, there was a meeting on the particular subject. There are many issues including free SHS.… Don’t forget that myself I was the Minister who oversaw pensions and I do have a position on the prudent management of pension resources. At the appropriate time, when I’m satisfied with the details, we would address the public on this and many issues,” Haruna Iddrisu said.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We need expert advice to comment on SSNIT rot – Minority appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

A statement from SSNIT said it will ensure that all suspects who are found culpable in the deal are punished according to law.

The Trust, after a meeting of its board and management on Tuesday, said one of its senior officers, the General Manager of Management Information Systems (MIS), Mr. Caleb Afaglo, has been relieved of his position for securing the job with fake degrees.

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.

In a 4-point statement released on Tuesday, “SSNIT said it expects the names of the people associated with the I.T (OBS) contracts to be released in the near future.”

SSNIT further assured that it will publish findings from the audit by PricewaterhouoesCoopers into the matter.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post We’ll assist EOCO to probe $72m OBS deal – SSNIT 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.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, he said the board of SSNIT at the time the infamous contract was signed must be questioned over the role in approving the deal and agreeing to the variations that led to the cost increasing from the original price of $34 million.

[contextly_sidebar id=”2FDNNUAaPO3MNMGSiBATl81VkG1aUIca”]Dr. Bingab told Richard Sky that subsequent boards who inherited the deal should have thoroughly examined it and stopped the projects implementation.

He said there was no acceptable excuse that the board that inherited the contract could not review it or completely halt its implementation.

According to him, the board, being the highest decision making body of the company could have exerted its power to ensure a prudent use of pensioners’ funds by the company.

Dr. Bingab noted that the manager directly in charge of providing the project’s scope and supervision of the activities of the company that implemented the project, should be questioned over the development.

“The manager did have powers to vary the contract. [But] They needed to present that to the board…Whoever determined the scope that was advertised did a poor job and that person should be held responsible. You want to overhaul your system and in doing so, ensure that the right thing is done,” he said.

It emerged last week that SSNIT had undertaken a project meant to network all of its branches across the country to enable them to receive real-time data directly from the headquarters in Accra and enhance efficiency at a cost of $66m which later increase to $72m.

The amount was ballooned from an initial contract sum of $34m.

Many have suspected that the deal was overpriced and has generated a lot of backlash from the public.

5 persons are currently under investigations by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post SSNIT scandal: Blame successive boards for mess – Lecturer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.