Strategic Energy Forum Pummels GNPC Boss Again

By Our Reporter

Strategic Energy Forum has hit hard at the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Dr. K. K. Sarpong again, this time, alleging that he   continues to perpetrate his “reckless” leadership with zero respect for good corporate governance.

The group which has had a running attack on the GNPC  boss for allegedly hijacking procurement duties and unilaterally recruiting persons without recourse to due procedures, said Dr. K. K. Sarpong, had taken oversight role of the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) and other Senior officers of the company, hence placing procurement functions under his direct control.

In another press release issued by the group and signed by Mr. Kojo Danquah, a Research Fellow at the Forum, it stated that the CEO of GNPC, Dr. K. K. Sarpong in a memo dated 4th February 2019, took over the role of the CFO.

According Kojo Danquah, Dr. K. K. Sarpong again on 7th February 2019 unilaterally dissolved the Entity Tender Committee (ETC) of the GNPC.

This action by the CEO, the group indicated, limits the effectiveness of transparency, accountability, and introduces the possibilities of conflict of interest.

Kojo Danquah stated that per the organizational structure of GNPC, there were various levels of approval for all procurement activities and that all documents emanating from the procurement department go through levels of approvals before getting to the CEO for signing off.

He averred that the decision to dissolve the ETC was wrong and shown the hidden agenda the CEO had which the GNPC organizational structure was not allowing him to pursue.

“The establishment of an ETC is a statutory requirement sanctioned by an act of Parliament under Section 17 of Act 663 as amended. And that, there is no provision in the procurement law arrogating such powers to any head of an entity to dissolve such a statutory committee. Indeed there is no such applicable section of the law that gives the head of a procurement entity such prerogative to dissolve a mandatory body as the ETC.”

He also indicated that membership of the GNPC ETC had been clearly defined by law and that in Dr. Sarpong in his dissolution memo cited instances of adverse observation by the Public procurement authority, the central tender review committee, internal and external auditors on the performance of the Corporations procurement functions but failed to state the period over which these anomalies were discovered.

Mr. Kojo Danquah stated that “Our checks indicate that no such observations have been brought to the attention of neither the ETC nor the GNPC Board. If there had even been any determinable infractions of the procurement process of GNPC as alleged by Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong, should such contravention not be discussed with the GNPC Board or the body clothed with the responsibility under the procurement law for planning, processing and generally taking procurement decisions and ensuring compliance with the public procurement law, among others.”

According to him, the Forum is not comfortable with the fact that the CEO who is the chairperson of the ETC, which is being called to question, be the same person to refer these matters to the governing Board of GNPC for necessary actions.

The Forum is of the view that Dr. K. K. Sarpong’s hidden agenda for which he dissolved the ETC and breaking down all the governance structures within the procurement function will eventually bring the Corporation to its sudden collapse.