We won’t stop sole sourcing – Adwoa Safo

The Procurement Minister nominee, Sara Adwoa Safo, has said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will resort to sole sourcing once the conditions are met.

She said the method is permitted in law but “it is an exception to the rule”, rather than being the rule.

The deputy Minority leader, James Kludze Avedzi has warned the Akufo-Addo government against totally forgoing the use of sole sourcing in the award of government contracts.

The NPP during electioneering accused the former Mahama administration of having insatiable love for sole sourcing of contracts leading to inflation of the total amount involved in the execution of those contracts.

As a result, the NPP government pledged to shun situations whereby contracts are awarded through sole-sourcing, arguing that it does not encourage quality and competition.

“I don’t know why Ghana should be an exception. The regimes make sole-sourcing an exception not the norm. Governments everywhere go through competitive bidding and it doesn’t delay the process and programmes of governments everywhere so I don’t know why Ghana should be an exception,” said the Minister of Monitoring and Evaluation, Anthony Akoto Osei.

“We don’t give value for money and that is why it is only an exception. When it becomes the norm then you know government is being cheated and that is why we go for competitive bidding. Good governance requires competition” he added in a recent interview.

Addressing a question regarding sole-sourcing before the Appointments Committee, Ms Safo called for the need to “place emphasis on procurement to prevent our money from going down the drain.”

She said her role as the country’s Procurement Minister will be to advise the government on procurement and make sure that the right procedures are followed.

She assured the committee that she would ensure that there is “transparency, fairness and integrity in the procurement process.”