Contracts Sourcing: Meet PPA CEO who replaced A.B Adjei but also 'under fire'

The Approvals of various contracts under the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) have come under scrutiny by members of the Public with Frank Mante, Public Procurement Authority CEO under fire.

It will be recalled that following the resignation of his predecessor Mr. A.B. Adjei under dubious circumstances that is still in court, Frank Mante was appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of the PPA in July 2019 before he was confirmed by President Akufo-Addo in November 2021.

Mr. Frank Mante has largely stayed out of the public view despite his outfit’s approval of colossal single and sole-sourcing contracts for State companies who have all come under attack and criticism during the recent #OccupyJulorbiHouse protest.

The latest report indicates nearly 80 percent of contract approvals submitted by Ministries, Departments and Agencies to the PPA were either sole Sourced or single Sourced.

Data analysis by activist Ketze Soze based on a report on the website of the PPA with a breakdown of various contracts awarded indicated that out of Ghs55billion worth of contracts through the PPA for approvals, over Ghs43billion was sole Sourced.

According to the data which covers the procurement activities of state and state-owned companies, most of the sole Sourced requests came from COCOBOD, the Electoral Commission of Ghana, the Middle Belt Development Authority and the Ghana Revenue Authority all of which were approved by the PPA.

These revelations come at a time when Ghanaians are angry about the abuse of taxpayers’ money through procurement.

In 2016 when he was campaigning for President, Nana Akufo-Addo said that when he comes to power, he will ensure that government projects and contracts are not awarded through sole sourcing. According to Akufo-Addo, “the era of sole sourcing will come to an end.”

Prior to his appointment, the now under-fire CEO served as a Deputy Chief Executive -Technical/ Operations at the PPA.

Prior to joining PPA, Mante served as the Procurement Director at the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), Ghana and he was responsible for all the procurement and contract administration activities under the Power Compact (Compact II) with total procurement estimated at US$ 535million.

Per a CV sighted by MyNewsGh.com, Frank Mante also worked with Crown Agents Ghana Limited between 2012-2017 as the Project Procurement Manager, Team Leader and eventually Country Manager during which period, he provided procurement support to DFID, USAID, JSI, AfDB, Ecobank Group and many public institutions in Ghana.