Roads Minister under fire for sole‑sourcing deal

A sharp political and academic spotlight has fallen on Roads and Highways Minister Governs Kwame Agbodza, with a prominent public policy voice demanding his exit from government over what he describes as a glaring contradiction between the Minister’s past declarations and his current conduct in office.

Dr Kwabena Bomfeh Jnr, a lecturer at the University of Professional Studies Accra, did not mince words on the JoyNews AM Show Monday morning, arguing that a minister who once stood before cameras to denounce sole sourcing as a corruption risk cannot now preside over its mass deployment in one of the country’s most expensive infrastructure programmes and expect to retain public confidence.

“One cannot approbate and reprobate. He himself held a press conference and stated that sole sourcing is an avenue for corruption, so what has changed? For the sake of credibility, Kwame Agbodza must go. He must either resign or be sacked by President Mahama,” Dr Bomfeh said.

At the heart of the controversy is a damning finding by investigative platform The Fourth Estate, which reported that 81 out of the Big Push programme’s contracts, valued at over GHS73 billion, were awarded through sole sourcing within just seven months, bypassing competitive bidding processes that procurement law reserves for exceptional circumstances. Allegations of cost inflation have further deepened the scrutiny.

Agbodza has pushed back firmly, telling Parliament on March 24 that every contract was awarded within the bounds of the Public Procurement Act, with all relevant details published openly on the Ministry’s website.

But for Dr Bomfeh, the Minister’s defence does little to resolve the credibility problem, and only a resignation or presidential dismissal, accompanied by a formal commission of inquiry, can restore the integrity that he says public procurement demands.

Source: myjoyonline