We Never Said Sole-sourcing Was a Sin or Unlawful While in Opposition- Sammy Gyamfi

The National Communication Officer of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Sammy Gyamfi, has reacted to criticisms over the government’s use of sole sourcing in the Big Push project after condemning the act in opposition.

In a statement, he affirmed that the NDC never said sole-sourcing was a sin or unlawful.

“We only preached against the unjustified use and abuse of sole-sourcing in the award of government projects, some of which were established by the Auditor General to be inflated.”

According to him, the condemnation of the act by the previous government was founded on audit findings of the Auditor General to show that sole-sourced cocoa road projects, some of which were awarded to the former Vice President’s brother, were inflated.

Meanwhile, he justified the government’s decision to resort to sole sourcing, saying competitive tendering would delay the commencement as well as the completion of the projects.

In addition, he cited legal frameworks backing the government’s use of sole sourcing, arguing that there was no proof for any breaches of the law, abuse of the process or inflation of cost.

“Section 40 of the Public Procurement Law provides for the single-source procurement method on grounds of urgency, among others, subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). Thus, sole sourcing is lawful. The unjustified use and abuse of sole sourcing is what President Mahama and the NDC have condemned.”

Stoey by Hajara Fuseini

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