A Corruption Watch investigation has uncovered that the Zongo Development Fund (ZoDF) has engaged in alleged procurement malpractices in the purchase of goods, services and works worth ¢5 million.
The management of ZoDF allegedly superintended procurement breaches such as inflation of contract figures and breaching of entity head’s threshold. Corruption Watch established that ¢200,000 of the ¢5 million was spent on a contract for Covid-19 PPEs.
In addition, ZoDF was alleged to have spent more than ¢4.8 million to procure office cabinets and ICT equipment and accessories; recruit contractors for the installation of streetlights and drilling of mechanized boreholes; and the engagement of consultants for various services.
Chief Executive Officer of the Fund, Arafat Sulemana Abdulai conceded in an interview with Corruption Watch that he “went beyond” his threshold in the approval of the ¢200,000 contract for Covid-19 PPEs.
Sulemana Abdulai, as the “head of entity” of ZoDF, per the Public Procurement Amendment Act, 2016 (Act 914) is permitted to approve procurements that are worth ¢100,000 and below. Sulemana Abdulai was appointed in September 2019 as ZoDF CEO following the death of the then CEO, Mohammed Baba Alhassan in August 2019.
He was previously the technical advisor to the late CEO.
The procurement of the Covid-19 related items, namely bottles of sanitizer, bottles of liquid soap and bundles of nose masks is one of the major transactions he has overseen.
The contract was awarded to Focus Women Network on March 25, for ¢200,000 after which Sulemana Abdulai wrote to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to request for ratification of the contract because he had breached his permissible threshold as head of entity.
According to our sources, Sulemana Abdulai sidestepped ZoDF’s entity tender committee (ETC) in the award of the contract even though the transaction was beyond the permissible threshold of the head of entity. Section 18 (3f) of the Public Procurement law stipulates that the head of entity “shall” refer to the entity tender committee for approval, a procurement above the approval threshold of the head of entity.
According to our sources, the transaction raised eyebrows because of the manner in which the contract was executed.
They allege that the purchase, which was not preplanned started off under the price quotation method of procurement but eventually ended up as a single sourced contract.
Source:Fiilafmonline/JoyNews
