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Mr Asamoah-Siaw of the PPP taking his turn to address the meeting. Sitting from right: Mr Quarmyne (NDC), Mr Annang (NPP) and Mrs Aryee (NDP)
Mr Asamoah-Siaw of the PPP taking his turn to address the meeting. Sitting from right: Mr Quarmyne (NDC), Mr Annang (NPP) and Mrs Aryee (NDP)

Daily Graphic Town Hall meeting :Participants express worry over abuse of sole sourcing

Some political party representatives and participants in  the fifth Daily Graphic Town Hall meeting in Accra have expressed concern over the abuse of sole sourcing for the awards of contracts under the procurement law.

They said the continuous abuse of clauses in the procurement law on sole sourcing led to corruption in the country and must, therefore, be checked.

The issue of sole sourcing came to light when a participant, during the question and answer segment, wanted a representative of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to explain why the government preferred sole sourcing to open tender in the award of contracts. 

The parties that participated in the one-day event were the National Democratic Party (NDP), the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Accra meeting, which was on the theme: “Good Governance, Key to Development and Growth in Ghana,” is the fifth in the series of town hall meetings organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to give political parties the platform to speak on five thematic areas, namely infrastructure, energy, job creation, agriculture and education.

Government projects

Explaining, however, Mr Ametor Quarmyne, who represented the NDC at the forum, said some of the loans the government secured were linked to specific conditions and the government had no option but to purchase from the countries where the loans were procured. Besides, since some of the items would have to be procured from the suppliers or the manufacturers, it made sense to rely on those companies without going through tender.

Mr Quarmyne said notwithstanding these limitations, the government had endeavoured to prosecute most of its projects by open tender and only 10 per cent of the government’s projects had gone through sole sourcing.

He said despite the fact that sole sourcing constituted only a fraction of  government projects, there was a wrong perception that majority of the projects were through sole sourcing.

The security of the state

The NPP representative, Mr David Annang, however, disagreed that only 10 per cent of projects were through sole sourcing, declaring that the biggest source of corruption in the country came about as a result of sole sourcing which was being abused by the government.

He explained that sole sourcing could be used only when the materials being purchased had only one supplier or the security of the state was at stake if the project was awarded through open tender.

 Contributing to the debate on sole sourcing, Mr Kofi  Asamoah-Siaw, a representative of the PPP, debunked Mr Quarmyne’s claims and said the rebranding of the Metro Mass Transport (MMT)  was done through sole sourcing which was another source of  corruption.

On the importation of foreign goods, Mr Asamoah-Siaw said there ought to be a law that made it mandatory for government departments and schools to patronise made-in-Ghana goods, especially agricultural products, to encourage more people to take to farming as a business venture.

Patronage of foreign goods

He explained that the patronage of foreign goods meant Ghanaians were creating jobs for farmers outside the country, while their own farmers languished in poverty and deprivation for lack of jobs.

On the question of continuity of projects,the political parties, however, agreed on the issue of continuing projects of their predecessors  when granted the opportunity to govern the country as a hallmark of good governance.

Participants were of the view that it was not a mark of good governance for a  government to abandon the projects of its predecessors just to score political points.

For example, they were of the opinion that because of the lack of continuity in government projects and programmes, educational reforms carried out by one government had to be abandoned by the next government.

They said the educational reforms in the 1980s to equip junior high school (JHS) pupils with skills failed at the critical stage where workshops and equipment could not be provided for skills training.

Solid foundation

Mrs Peace Aryee of the NDP stated that an NDP government would create a disciplined society and work with farmers to access the export market instead of turning the country into an indisciplined society where every shoddy goods were dumped on the people.

Notwithstanding all the disagreements and convergence of views on many national issues, Mr Qyarmyne still was of the opinion that the government had laid a solid foundation for an economic flight.

Genetically modified organism

All the four political parties represented agreed unanimously on the issue of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and foods and expressed their views that there was the need for the government to thread cautiously when it came to the cultivation, importation  and sale of GMO foods in the country, since they could have hazardous effects on the lives of consumers of these products.

On the importation of chicken, the participants were of the view that the poultry farmers in the country would need the government support to reduce cost of production which was not giving farmers the competitive edge over imported chicken which was cheaper.

Good governance

The Accra Town hall meeting is the fifth in the series of town hall meetings organised by the GCGL, which is on the theme: “Good Governance, Key to Development and Growth in Ghana,”which is aimed at deepening and consolidating multi-party democracy in the country.

The Daily Graphic Town Hall meeting is an election-year platform that brings political parties face-to-face with the voters where the parties give their policy proposals and the voters seek clarification.

 

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