Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly completes review of contracts

The general assembly of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has completed the re-examination of all outsourced revenue collection contracts entered into by the assembly and has come out with sweeping recommendations to close identified leakages that have resulted in the assembly losing millions of cedis in revenue.

Among the recommendations were termination of contracts, re-drafting of agreements and enforcement of compliance of contract agreements.

At the general assembly meeting of the KMA on June 3, 2013, members decided to set up a committee to re-examine all outsourced revenue collection contracts and other agreements,­ including Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) entered into by the assembly.

The 12-member committee that undertook the task met 16 contractors and also went on a  fact-finding mission to projects sites, after which an executive summary of the findings and recommendations was issued by the general assembly.

On outsourced revenue contracts, the general assembly mentioned one of the companies as Skymount Consult Limited, which the report alleged operated without any formal agreement with the KMA.

The executive summary said, “The company had no physical location in Kumasi but operated from the KMA office facility.”

Besides, the company did not have any tenancy agreement with the KMA on the use of its facilities.

The report recommended the constitution of a team to work out charges for rent for the use of the KMA facilities, and a tenancy agreement reached with the company.

Another company, Gold Street Real Estate Consult Limited that operated the central business district car parking project was also examined and it was recommended that the contract should be reviewed “to reflect the current situation on the ground.”

On the management of the Sokoban Wood Village, the general assembly found out that the contract expired in January 2013 and called for steps to be taken to arrange for a new contract.

The controversial Kejetia Terminal management also came up in the findings, with the general assembly coming out with some recommendations including taking steps to avoid entering into contracts of such nature in future.

It further said, “The KMA may terminate the contract with Freko FD Enterprise Limited, the operators of the facility by invoking the termination clause, or may choose to renew the contract based on a whole new agreement with different terms of conditions.”

The general assembly stated that henceforth, all contract agreements should pass through the legal department of the assembly or the services of a private legal firm could be engaged to review all agreements before they were executed.

Again, the assembly should ensure that the procurement process was adhered to in the award of contracts.