Probe Auditor-General’s Procurement Misdeeds-AFAG Charges

By Raymond Quarchie

Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG), a political pressure group, has challenged the Attorney General, to, within one week, commence investigations into the procurement breaches of the Auditor General.

The group flung the challenge at a press briefing held at the SSNIT Guest House yesterday, in Accra.

Addressing the media, the Vice President of AFAG, Henry Haruna Asante observed that President Akudo Addo’s bid to clean the system of abuses, breaches and corruption, the Auditor General brought to the fore firmly rooted procurement breaches.

For instance, he alleged “Investigations have revealed that as far back as 3^rd January, 2019, the Board of the Public Procurement Authority, in a letter authored by the Board Secretary informed the Auditor-General of breaches of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended by the Public Procurement (Amendment) Act, 2016 (Act 914). AFAG has gathered that a letter has been delivered to the Auditor-General in January 2019, deplored the conduct of the Auditor-General in the procurement breaches and referred the Report of the PPA to the Attorney General for the appropriate action. AFAG is surprised why the Attorney General has not taken?”

The Vice President of AFAG revealed that the PPA, pursuant to sections 3(d) and 89(1) of Act 663, caused an investigation into the procurement and other related records of the procurement of goods, works and services by the Ghana Audit Service for the period January 1, 2018 to August 31, 2018.

He said a report which was dated 20^th December, 2018, and submitted to the 8^th Board Meeting of the PPA in December, 2018, cited the Audit Service for various breaches of the Public Procurement law relating to failure to establish Entity Tender Committee in the manner set out in the First Schedule of Act 663 and in accordance with the categories set out in Schedule 1B of Act 663, the use of the unlawful composition of the Entity Tender Committee set up by the Auditor-General, Daniel Domolevo, to carry out procurement contrary to Act 663.

“What exists at the Auditor General’s office looks like family and friends entity tender committee”, he opined.

He further disclosed that the PPA faulted and held as unlawful a contract by the Ghana Audit Service for the purchase of Toyota vehicles at an estimated contract sum of GH¢6, 183,559.20.

“This is because the PPA determined that the evaluation panel, which carried out the procurement activity by the Audit Service did not have the competence or capacity to discharge the exercise. The evaluation panel also failed to use the predetermined evaluation criteria published in the invitation to tender and the tender documents as required under section 20(e)(2 of Act 663,” he said.

He said AFAG has learnt that the Auditor-General had approached the PPA with the view to obtaining a ratification of the breaches, adding that, the board of the PPA flatly refused in view of the severity of the breaches.

He, therefore, stated that in the coming days, AFAG would present a petition to the president concerning these breaches if the Attorney General failed to execute her duties.