2 institutions to face prosecution over procurement breaches

The Land Use and Spatial Planning Authority in Accra and the Kwadaso College of Agri­culture, in Kumasi are to face prosecution over pro­curement breaches, amounting to approximately GH¢759, 000.

The Public Accounts Commit­tee (PAC) of Parliament referred the two institutions to the Office of the Attorney-General last Friday when they appeared before the committee to answer queries about infractions in their ac­counts.

The procurement violation is captured in the Report of the Auditor-General on the Public Accounts of Ghana – Ministries, Departments, and Other Agencies (MDAs) for the year ended De­cember 31, 2021.

In the case of the Authority, the report said an examination of procurement records disclosed that between July 2020 and De­cember 2020, purchases totalling GH¢143,209.82 were made with­out alternative price quotations.

This was in relation to separate payment for accommodation, meals, and conference facility to Grand Favour Hotel, Tenack Beach and Resort, and Erata Ho­tel; an uncompetitive procurement contrary to Section 43 of Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663)

Sections 35 and 43 of the Pub­lic Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) require that a procurement entity shall procure goods, ser­vices or works by competitive ten­dering; and that the procurement entity shall request quotations from as many suppliers or con­tractors as practicable, but from at least three different sources.

“We recommended that the Ag. Chief Executive should investi­gate the cause of the procurement infractions and any officer found culpable should be appropriately sanctioned,” the report said.

For the college, the report said it violated the same sections of the Act in 61 procurement totaling GH¢ 615,717.00 without obtaining alternative price quota­tions from other dealers in similar goods and services.

It thus recommended that the heads of the institutions should investigate the cause of the procurement infractions and any officer found culpable should be appropriately sanctioned, failing which the heads should be sanc­tioned by the ministry.

Appearing before the PAC, the management of the college attempted to explain the circum­stances surrounding the procure­ment but the Chairman of the PAC, Dr. James Klutse Avedzi asked them to explain to the At­torney-General or the judge that would hear the case.

“If you have any explanation, give that to the judge. I can listen to you, but it will not change anything,” and instructed the clerk of the committee to add the name of the institution to the list to be sent to the Attorney-General.

Earlier last week at the sitting Dr Avedzi explained that in clear cases of procurement breaches, the committee would refer institu­tions which violated the procure­ment laws to the Attorney-Gen­eral’s office for action to be taken against them.