Corruption Watch: PPA does not have a list of subcontractors

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Here is the problem: 70% of Ghana's roads are in a deplorable state. Of these, more than half are not paved. Most are littered with potholes and deep ridges that lead to careless driving and, in the worst case, death.

To solve the problem, governments hire contractors to repair them. But many contractors abandon projects or execute contracts in a poor way.

According to a report studied and compiled by "Corruption Watch", many entrepreneurs do not respect the conditions negotiated in their contracts. The end result is that the government blackballs the entrepreneur, preventing him from doing business in Ghana.

This is where the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) comes in. The fundamental work of the Authority is to monitor and improve the management of contracts in the country. However, the report reveals that the Authority can not deliver its documents.

According to the report, the app does not follow the country's excluded contractors, even though it posts them on its website.

Instead of accumulating its own list, the PPA website directs users to a list of blacklisted businesses of the World Bank and its collaborators. On the World Bank list, there is only one Ghanaian company and one Ghanaian person.

In an evaluation report, the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) wrote that "it was difficult to badess this commitment. The Public Investment Division of the Ministry of Finance does not deal directly with contractors and, as such, can not blacklist and exclude contractors, "reads the report. "The institution capable of blacklisting contractors is the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), which is responsible for all procurement for state institutions."

In Section 3 (q) of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663), it is stated that the Authority must "investigate the procurement practices under this Act, as well as suppliers, contractors and consultants who have seriously neglected their obligations under a contract, provided false information on their qualifications or offered incentives of the type referred to in Article 32. "

In 2017, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr. Kwasi Amoako-Atta, threatened to blacklist entrepreneurs, but Corruption Watch found that no action had been taken since.

The Sarah Adwoa Safo, Minister Responsible for Government Procurement, said last year that the ministry was create a database for contractors, consultants and bidding providers for procurement, as well as develop software to badess the performance of all these contractors. No database of this type exists.

"I think there are a lot of problems to be solved, "said Judge Nyigmah Bawole, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Public Administration and Health Services Management, Business School of the 39, University of Ghana. "They are trying to make the most of what they have. If you have to blacklist contractors, let's make sure the government respects their commitment. "

According to Charles Adams, director of the Center for Transport Research at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, another problem is the constant change of government.

"Government after government, I saw a party create a [road] project and then the next party stops him, "said Charles Adams, director of the Center for Transport Research at the University of Science and Technology Kwame Nkrumah. "The entrepreneurs then take their equipment and the project is abandoned."

Read more: Agitation in Tarkwa on terrible roads

Adams advises the government to call on the private sector.

"We need to find the money and encourage private sector capital to help. I do not think the government can really rely solely on the road fund to fund it. We need to introduce the private sector.

the Road Fund is a pipeline channeled by the government to finance the maintenance and rehabilitation of all public roads in the country.

The fund is fueled by government taxes on fuel, road tolls, vehicle inspection fees, among others.

In addition, Ghana receives funding from the World Bank under its road contract based on results and results. The international financial institution has created the contract because it understands that "rural access is one of the most important infrastructure elements to stimulate economic growth in rural and urban areas. isolated. "

But to get to the bottom of things, Adams reaffirms and insists that "it is necessary to set up public and private partnerships to repair the roads".