99.9% of all sole-sourced contract requests are approved by PPA over job security – PAC chairman

Chairman for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), James Klutse Avedzi, has revealed officials of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) are in perpetual fear of rejecting sole-sourced contract requests over fear of being sacked.

According to the Ketu North MP, about 99.9% of all such requests from state institutions are granted because of influential individuals in government behind such contracts.

In an interview with EIB Network‘s Parliamentary Affairs Correspondent Ibrahim Alhassan, Mr Avedzi revealed that many of the infractions in the Auditor General’s reports relate to procurements despite the existence of laws in the country.

According to him, officials of PPA are at times compelled to grant such irregular requests because they will lose their jobs if they dare say no to the powerful persons behind these requests.

“What they do is to write to the Procurement Authority for approval and I can tell you that if you take 100% of requests to the Public Procurement Authority, about 99.9% are approved.”

According to Avedzi, despite the abhorrence of sole sourcing by President Akufo-Addo, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and leading members of the NPP in opposition, the practice is on the ascendency now.

“It is happening now more than before. The challenge that the workers or those people who are working at the Public Procurement Authority have is that if there is pressure from high authority, that I want you to approve this request, you choose between your job security and approval of that.

“The request will not meet (requirements), because there are conditions under which you can do sole sourcing. Those conditions are not met by that request and if I don’t do it, maybe I will be sacked, maybe the one who put me there is asking me to do it, if I deny him this, what will happen? My job is at stake," he stressed.

According to him, the other challenge with the fight against corruption is the poor working conditions of the staff of the PPA.

According to Avedzi, the development makes it difficult for the authority to properly exercise its mandate in ensuring a better procurement process.

The lawmaker also called on government officials and leading members of the governing party to refrain from putting pressure on PPA to approve sole-sourced requests which do not meet the requirements of the Act.

Mr. Avedzi lamented over the lack of action on recommendations of the Public Accounts Committee relative to breaches in the Auditor General’s reports.