Governor Addison must appear before Parliament – Ashaiman MP

Ernest Norgbey, a member of parliament for the Ashaiman district, has stated that the assertion made by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) that it did not violate the procurement laws in respect to the new headquarters building is untrue. The BoG has maintained that it did not violate these laws.

The legislator claims that the documents he has intercepted do not satisfy the procurement criteria in the public procurement statute. As a result, he has demanded that Governor Dr. Ernest Addison reconsider and consider the alternative given to him by the minority, which is to resign.

On Monday of last week, Dr. Addison declared, among other things, that the construction of the new head office building did not violate any rules pertaining to the acquisition of materials or services.

This, the Member of Parliament disagrees with, stating that intercepted procurement documents prove differently, pointing out that even the single source procurement for the services of the project management does not qualify as meeting the requirements of the single source procurement technique.

Do we intend to imply that there is only one project management service or manager available in Ghana? No. He added, "We have a lot, so you cannot engage under that requirement; there can be only one procurement requirement in that regard."

He went on to say that "Restricted tendering" meant that only a select few businesses were allowed to apply and submit offers.And in this particular instance, we are speaking about eighty-one million and something dollars, which places it much beyond the minimum need.... The Private Sector Advisory Council (PPA) gave its approval to the bank of Ghana's request to invite proposals from five companies. The Public Procurement Act does not operate in this manner at all.

"If 81 Million Dollars is involved, it is better to open, make an open competitive tendering for more companies to apply so that you can have value for money, make judicious use of state resources as stated in the law, section 2 of the public procurement act....so therefore, I have seen it as a blatant violation of the law." Consequently, if the governor of the Bank of Ghana claims that none of those laws were broken, then I must respectfully disagree with him.

''Once more, they proceeded to the central tender committee for review while you have started your engagement because the central tender review committee does not have the authorities for ratification under section 20 (f) under the PPA,'' you were told.

In addition, Mr. Norgbey stated that the Ghanaian people are deserving of a better explanation from the Bank of Ghana even though they are investigating other potential solutions to the problem.

''The Governor ought to reconsider and reposition himself in light of the demands for his resignation that have been made by the minority.

"We have lost a certain amount of money, and he should not still be holding the position as we speak right now," she said.

It's possible that we won't commit to going to court just yet, but there will be questions brought up on the floor of the house.

"The Governor of the BoG needs to be hauled before parliament to answer questions about the restrictions that come with holding this particular office," the author writes.