By
William Yaw Owusu
Thursday,
September 06, 2017
More revelations are
emerging about the alleged rot at the Electoral Commission (EC) as the Chairperson,
Charlotte Osei, is said to have single-handedly awarded contracts running into
millions of Ghana cedis without tenders.
According to the
petitioners, who are calling for her removal from office, she awarded contracts
to private firms without going through tendering.
The petitioners are
claiming that the chairperson had awarded contracts to the tune of GH¢1,823,625
to two private companies contrary to the Public Procurement Act.
IT Market Limited
and Ideyas Design Agency were the companies that were given GH¢1,803,825 and
GH¢19,800 worth of contracts respectively for the supply of equipment for the
Election Results Management System (ERMS), as well as the production of Revision
Educational Posters during the preparation for Election 2016.
Documents available
to DAILY
GUIDE show that IT Market Limited was given six different contracts
under the ERMS project and in each case, the EC boss reportedly sent copies of
the notification of the contracts to the Chief Accountant, Internal Auditor,
Senior Supply Office, Procurement File and the Director of Finance, although
the petitioners are insisting that she did not seek approval from the Public
Procurement Authority.
The petitioners
assert that the Procurement Act requires that contracts that exceed GH¢10,000 are
mandated to go through competitive tendering.
In the first
contract, IT Market Limited was asked to supply supplementary hardware for ERMS
at the cost of GH¢272,000 and was to provide performance guarantee of 5% of the
contract sum as security, in case of default of the execution of the contract.
The contract was
signed on November 7, 2016.
The private company
was also given a contract for the supply of network switches and cables for
ERMS project at a total cost of GH¢234,305 and another contract worth GH¢240,850
for the same network switches and cables for the ERMS project - both signed on
November 18, 2016.
The contract for the
supply of Webcams for the ERMS was also given to IT Market Limited at the cost
of GH¢522,500 on 18th November, and on 22nd November, the
company was asked to supply HDMI Video Switches for the ERMS project at the
cost of GH¢346,500, as well as another contract for the supply of Supplementary
Hardware for GH¢188,670 in respect of the ERMS, signed on November 7, 2016.
In the case of
Ideyas Design Agency, the EC contracted it to produce educational posters in
the category of General, Disabled and Gender at the total cost of GH¢19,800.
Even where contracts
were referred to the Public Procurement Authority, the (contract) sums were
varied by the EC boss without recourse to the PPA.
Some of the contracts awarded to private
companies for the construction of pre-fabricated (PreFAB) offices in some
districts throughout the country have come under scrutiny.
The petitioners
claimed that the EC boss awarded contracts worth over $14 million without
recourse to the commission. The PPA had approved only half of it.
The petitioners
accused Charlotte Osei of “engaging in cronyism by awarding contracts to the
tune of $14,310,961 to her cronies for the construction of Pre-fabricated
District offices without recourse to the commission.”
CJ Directive
Already, the Chief
Justice has written to Mrs. Osei and her two deputy commissioners - Georgina
Opoku-Amankwa in-charge of Corporate Service and Amadu Sulley in-charge of
Operations - who are also facing impeachment proceedings until September 5 to
file their official responses to the allegations of corruption and abuse of
office.
There are currently
two petitions brought against the embattled EC boss and a counter petition
against the two deputies.
The first petition
was filed by unnamed EC staff, who are being led by Lawyer Maxwell
Opoku-Agyemang, against Mrs. Osei, who has since sued the lawyer for
defamation.
A litany of allegations have been leveled
against her, including spending GH¢3.9 million to partition an office, receipt
of a Toyota Land Cruiser from the erstwhile Mahama-led NDC government, spending
about $14 million when the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) had authorized
her to use only $7.5 million, as well as attending Cabinet meetings during the
tenure of President John Dramani Mahama, among other issues.
Second Petition
The second was filed
by a lawyer called Douglass Seidu, who is claiming that Mrs Osei was in breach
of public procurement practices and provisions of the Public Procurement Act
2003 (Act 663), as well as gross financial mismanagement.
He accused the EC
boss of awarding contracts amounting to GH¢249,081,895.03 and $71,406,388.80
respectively without following the required procurement processes and laws.
Fights Back
Mrs Charlotte Osei,
through her lawyers - Sory@Law - who are also the commission’s external
solicitors, hit back at her accusers, insisting that she had not been corrupt
or abused her office and rather accused her two deputies of deliberately
scheming to frustrate her stay in office.
The chairperson, in
her initial response, openly accused Ms. Opoku-Amankwaa of signing contracts
worth over $40 million without her knowledge and authorization between May and
September 2015.
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