Inflated Contracts: NDC Dares Akufo-Addo To Bring Evidence

The Minority in Parliament has dared President Akufo-Addo to disclose details of all non-existent and inflated contracts approved under the Mahama administration.

The President indicated that significant savings have been made following a review of previous contracts that were suspected to have been inflated.

President Akufo-Addo, during his media encounter on Wednesday, said his government had saved some GHc5.7 billion from road contracts that were awarded under the Mahama administration.

“We are resisting the temptation to award contracts when funds are not available to pay for the certificates as they come up. Those who conduct business with the government will find that things are being done differently. We've had to subject Ghc8billion cedis of arrears bequeathed to us at the beginning of 2017, to a process of audit review and validation. The Audit Service has certified payments of Ghc5.5billion, and rejected about Ghc5.7billion, representing a potential savings of 51% on these outstanding commitments,” the President said.

The President said this confirms their long held assertion that the Mahama administration inflated contracts and allowed corruption to thrive.

“This shows the validity of our criticism, that so much of contracts awarded in the Mahama era were inflated and apparently in some cases non-existent. I have promised to protect the public purse and I am doing just that. Those who have done honest work and have honest rates for the government will get paid and paid on time, so their profits do not get swallowed up in bank interest and thereby threatening the collapse of their businesses” the President stated.

But the Minority Spokesperson on Roads and Transport, Kwame Agbodza, said he doubts the President’s claims considering that, he did not provide any details or evidence to back them.

Speaking to Citi News, the Adaklu MP said the Akufo-Addo government should “come up with evidence… I find this continuous statement very unfortunate and of course, some of them are total lies. They are not true.”

“I thought the media would have pushed for him to just cite one example immediately so that it will bring some kind of clarity to the situation,” the MP added.

GHc 782 million saved from sole-sourcing
Mr. Agbodza also responded to the revelation that the Akufo-Addo administration saved about GHc 782 million from sole sourcing and restricted tendering processes within its first year in government.

He said it was erroneous for the government to tie reduced sole-sourced contracts, which dropped by 37 percent, to the savings made, although the President did not categorically link the two.

“I can say for a fact that just by having less sole-sourced contracts doesn't mean that you have saved any money. In any case, he added the difference between 2016 and 2017 sole source contracts, and considered it as savings. Anybody who knows anything about procurement knows that is completely untrue.”