Real decision-making regarding COVID-19 procurement contracts was opaque — GII

Mrs Mary A. Addah, Programmes Manager Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has stated that Corruption Risk Assessment (CRA) survey conducted has revealed that although Government was transparent and disseminated information through weekly press conferences and presentation of appropriation accounts to Parliament as well as creating the illusion of citizen involvement, the real decision-making regarding COVID-19 procurement contracts was opaque.

She said the survey captured that the decision making and transparency regarding the COVID-19 vaccine procurement process have been opaque.

The GII CRA survey was conducted with the aim to assess the susceptibility of the government's COVID-19 socio-economic interventions to corruption and provide appropriate policy recommendations to relevant state agencies on ensuring the integrity of social interventions with support from the Centre for International Private Enterprises (CIPE).

Quoting from the report during a discussion with the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema Mrs Addah said according to the government, GHȼ280 million thus $44,613.00 was used to provide hot meals for the vulnerable and free water for all Ghanaians for nine months which was from April to December 2020 under the Coronavirus Alleviation Programme to support households and businesses.

“This line item is perhaps the biggest red flag in the procurement of interventions under the Corona Virus alleviation programme, with very little evidence provided to support the 400,000 people they fed, the period of the intervention, the way caterers were contracted and the unit cost of the food packages,” she added.

Mrs Addah stated that there was no record of any tendering for caterers or food suppliers noted that branding of some food items in partisan colours also presents a corruption risk as parties supporters could have been targeted as recipients over the vulnerable to promote their political agenda for the prospective candidate.

She said the report also revealed that about 67.90 per cent of the general populace and targeted institutions thus Public sector institutions that were directly involved in the implementation of the interventions were not aware of any arrangements in place to ensure compliance with the Procurement Act, 2003 (ACT 663).

The GII Programme Manager stated that the situation was further compounded by the inadequate publication and accessibility of procurement contracts by the public sector agencies responsible.

Mrs Addah mentioned that the overall governance risk was medium, however, there was a high risk in integrity mechanisms which indicated that rules, regulations and standards had not been adequately complied with.

She also stated that no readily available audit report of the COVID-19 interventions had been conducted or published for public accessibility which contradicted Article 187 (2-5) of the Constitution while Section 21(2, 3) of the COVID-19 Trust Fund supports the conduct of an audit after the financial year.