News:
January 25, 2016
Male condoms worth GH₵1,450,000 were bought in 2009 by the Ghana Health Service with blatant disregard to the Public Procurement Act, the 2011 report of the Auditor-General has revealed.
Although the products were delivered and the amount paid, the procurement process used in procuring the items, according to the Auditor-General, was flawed.
Consequently, the purchase of some laboratory consumables worth GH₵378,000 from Global Unilink was also done without following the Public Procurement Act.
The purchases, Kasapafmonline.com learnt, were done through sole sourcing, with the processes used, contravening with the Public Procurement Act.
Similarly, 13 Great Wall Hovers at a total value of GH¢546,000 were single sourced from Auto World without prior approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
Additionally, the Ghana Health Service was cited to have engaged various insurance brokers through single source selection without prior approval from the PPA.
The Insurance Brokers, according to the Auditor-General committed the Ghana Health Service to annual insurance premium payment of GH¢321,867.00 for 325 vehicles insured without prior approvals by the authorized body.
“The procurements contravened Section 40(1) of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) which states that a procurement entity may for reasons of economy and efficiency and subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) engage in procurement by means of single sourcing under specified conditions.”
“The irregularities were due to management’s non compliance with the provisions of the Procurement Act coupled with ineffective functioning of the various procurement structures within the procurement entity”, the report in part stated.
These came to the fore when officials of the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament (PAC) to respond to queries raised by the Auditor-General.
The PAC had met to consider the 2011, 2012 and 2013 audited reports of the Accountant-General on the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and was specially, considering some irregularities cited in the reports against the Ministry of Health and its Agencies.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Ebenezer Appiah Denkyira responding to the issues conceded that the Service erred in the processes in the single sourcing of the products, he was quick to add that the matter was being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO).
“Mr. Chairman, there were no vehicles in the system at that time. The then administration thought they could present a proposal to the Ministry to see if they could get some companies that do hire purchase to come to their aid. But the procedure they used was wrong so EOCO has picked and is investigating it”, he noted in his submission to the Kwaku Agyeman-Manu chaired PAC.
When asked why sanctions should not be brought against him, Dr. Denkyira told the Committee that he could not be held accountable for that since the incident did not happen under his care.
The PAC not enthused with the response given by Dr. Denkyira has recommended sanctions against the Management of the Service in accordance with Article 92 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).