The Board of Trustees did not follow due process when it awarded the multimillion dollar National Cathedral contract to Ribade Company Limited, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has found.
In awarding the contract, the commission said the board, all of whom are clergymen disregarded the country’s procurement laws, subjecting the country to possible global humiliation.
“The Contract was awarded by the Board of Trustees to the Contractor without recourse to the concurrent approval by the Central Tender Review Committee, a key requirement of the Procurement Act having regards to the contract sum.
“The Commission further recommends for further investigation and prosecution of the Board of Trustees of the National Cathedral who superintended over the award of the contract to Ribade company in disregard to Act 663 as ammended,” CHRAJ said in a lengthy report.
The constitutional body held that the breaches had the “potential of courting international embarrassment to the country considering its international status”.
It also recommended that capacity building on good corporate governance be organized to educate members of the Board of Trustees in the discharge of their duties as public officials.
The CHRAJ report follows months of investigations initiated the constitutional body after it was petitioned by the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, to look into “state funds paid to JNS Talent Centre Limited by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department and the National Cathedral of Ghana pursuant to Article 218 of the 1992 Constitution”.
In a five-point relief contained in the petition, Mr. Ablakwa asked the commission to recommend sanctions for any acts that flouted the law.
The lawmaker who presented his complaint in January last year also called for an investigation into the circumstances leading to the appointment of contractors for the National Cathedral project.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/Mitchell Asare Amoamah
