Parliament did not approve $179m Kelni GVG Deal – Dr. Donkor

Dr Kwabena Donkor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Pru East Constituency, has criticised the Ministry of Communications for awarding a $179million contract to KelniGVG without parliamentary approval.

IMANI Africa President, Franklin Cudjoe, has raised red flags about the deal indicating that millions of taxpayers’ money is going to waste for no work done, but the ministry has refuted the claims.

Commenting on the issue, Dr Donkor questioned why the contract was not sent to parliament for assessment in the first place, but the ministry went ahead to execute the deal with the Haitian firm.

“If a foreign company is being contracted by the National Communications Authority (NCA), then there is the issue of a foreign contract. Did it go through parliamentary approval?” he queried.

Dr Donkor, who was a guest on Accra-based Multi TV’s News File programme on Saturday, 26 May 2018, indicated that: “If there is a foreign element in this, my ideal would have been this coming before parliament, we could have avoided this whole hullabaloo if this had come before the appropriate committee of parliament. The ministry, NCA would have had the opportunity to tender documents and dispel whatever it is that has to be dispelled. Other stakeholders would have also had the opportunity to come before the appropriate committee”.

He expressed worry that such issues continue to come up and emphasised that it seems “the country has not learnt” from past experiences where contracts were awarded without relevant authorities’ approval.

Meanwhile, Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful and the Director-General of the NCA, Joe Anokye, have been summoned by parliament to brief the House on the controversial contract.

Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful is expected to brief the Communications Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, 29 May 2018.