Produce the supposed contract I signed without PPA approval - Ursula dares Ablakwa

The Minister of Communication and Digitalisation, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful has challenged the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa to manufacture the contract she's purported to have signed without the necessary approval.

The communication minister implies that she has no idea about the said contract she is being accused of signing without the approval of the Public Procurement Authority.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful added that the only Rural Telephony Project (RTP) she has endorsed was a commercial contract agreement between the government of Ghana, Huawei Technologies and China National Technical Import and Export Corporation.

In a tweet daring Ablakwa to provide evidence, Ursula wrote; "Ablakwa, please produce the contract you claim I signed without PPA approval. This is the only RTP contract I have signed, approved by Parliament."

In a July 6, 2023 post on his social media handles, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa with correspondence between himself and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), announced that Ursula Owusu-Ekuful awarded a US$48million contract without the necessary approval.

Ablakwa’s request dated 8th June was titled; “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION,” and read in part: “Respectfully, can you confirm if the Public Procurement Authority has granted procurement approval as required per the Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended with (Act 914) to Ascend Digital Solutions under a US$48 million Rural Telephony Project contract purportedly for Engineering, Design, Build, Rollout and Managed Services which is being executed by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalization since the year 2020.”

The PPA in its response dated June 30, 2023, and signed by Deputy Chief Executive Kwame Prempeh read: “We wish to inform you that our records do not reflect any information of the above-mentioned project.”

Ablakwa, please produce the contract you claim I signed without PPA approval. This is the only RTP contract I have signed, approved by Parliament pic.twitter.com/KS1cfFxafz

— Ursula Owusu (@UrsulaOw) July 7, 2023