Anti-corruption campaigner Vitus Azeem has criticized as unfortunate the justification by the Public Procurement Authority that there is nothing wrong in awarding government contracts to cronies of the ruling government.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Authority Dr. Agyenim Boateng-Agyei parried off claims of wrongdoing and procurement breaches in the award of contract to the wife of NPP firebrand Kennedy Agyepong Tuesday in a Morning Starr interview.
Government is reported to have awarded contracts to Mrs. Agyapong’s company to the tune of one million Ghana cedis through sole sourcing.
The Daily Post Newspaper which broke the story claimed documents in its possession reveals, Stella Wilson’s Imperial World Ventures, landed the GH¢100,260,000.00 contract through sole sourcing at the Ministry of Energy to supply 150W LED streetlights.
The Assin Central MP who denies that due processes were sidestepped in the award of the contract argues that his wife deserved commendation instead of criticisms.
“If your wife is doing business and you join politics, must her business stop working? I believe strong that Kennedy Agyapong is not a minister of state and does not hold any public office so if his wife has won a contract, what is the beef about that. We don’t have the capacity to know whose family member is tending in a bid for a contract,” Dr. Boateng-Agyei told Morning Starr host Francis Abban to the chagrin of the former boss of the Ghana Integrity Initiative who posited that the justification is incomprehensible.
“It is disappointing because he [Dr. Boateng-Agyei] is supposed to ensure that we go by the provisions of the procurement act,” said Mr. Azeem in a Starr News interview.
He added, “If he [Dr. Boateng Agyei] is defending…it’s not even his body that actually awarded the contract it is very unfortunate because this NPP government promised that they were going to make sure that the business of sole-sourcing [ends]”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
