Ashaiman MP sues over Zipline drone deal
The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Ernest Norgbey, has sued the government for sole sourcing the $12.5 million medical deliveries via drone agreement to Fly Zipline Ghana Limited.
Fly Zipline has also been joined to the suit.
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Mr. Norgbey in his writ insisted that per the Public Procurement Act, there was no justification for the government to sole-source the contract to Fly Zipline.
According to him, the $12.5 million contract did not satisfy laid down procedures in the Public Procurement Act.
He is, therefore, seeking a declaration that, “the Government of Ghana erred in using single sourcing method of procurement in engaging Fly Zipline Ghana Ltd for the implementation of Zipline RPAS for the delivery of blood products.”
He also wants a declaration that the service agreement was “illegal and therefore void” and an order “invalidating the service agreement.”
One of Mr. Norgbey’s points of contention is that other options were not assessed before the government settled on Fly Zipline for the implementation of the project.
Read also: How the Zipline medical drones will work in Ghana (VIDEO)
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He further argues in the writ that the government “did not do due diligence or survey the market before embarking on single sourcing method of procurement.”
The MP maintains further that “the government has an obligation to do due diligence and survey the market to ascertain that a company [Fly Zipline] is the only supplier or service provider before using the single sourcing method of procurement.”
The $12.5 million contract is to enable the government to fly blood and other health essentials to deprived areas.
Fly Zipline launched a similar service in Rwanda in 2006 to improve public health delivery in that country.
When at full operations, Fly Zipline expects to be running over 150 flights per day from each of its four distribution centres.
The company has targeted the second quarter of 2019 to begin operations.
The first facility has been built at Omenako, a town in the Suhum municipality within the Eastern Region.
The company has already begun testing its equipment from its first distribution center.
The Minority Members of Parliament had earlier kicked against the approval of the agreement when it was tabled before Parliament.
Credit: Citinewsroom.com