Sole sourcing: Roads Ministry has committed no sin - Sammy Gyamfi

Sammy Gyamfi, National Communication Officer of the National Democratic Congress, defended the government's decision to use sole-sourcing in awarding road projects under the Big Push initiative. Gyamfi stated, "The deplorable state of our roads is one of the biggest national security threats we face as a country." He argued that "resorting to the National Competitive Tendering process would have delayed the projects beyond 2028", hence the decision to use sole-sourcing.

Gyamfi said the Surveying, Designing, and Costing of the Big Push road projects took the Ministry of Roads about 7 months to complete. He cited Section 40 of the Public Procurement Law, which allows for Single Source procurement on grounds of urgency, subject to approval by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), and emphasized, "Thus, sole sourcing is lawful." Gyamfi maintained that the NDC has consistently condemned the unjustified use and abuse of sole-sourcing, not the practice itself, saying, "The unjustified use and abuse of sole sourcing is what President Mahama and the NDC have condemned." He stated, "There is not a scintilla of evidence in the Fourth Estate publication that shows that the use of sole sourcing for the said Big Push road projects was unjustified or that there were any breaches of the law or abuse of the process."

Gyamfi explained that the NDC has continued projects initiated by the previous government, including 23 road projects awarded through sole-sourcing with no dedicated funding. He said, "23 out of 84 Big Push road projects, such as Suame Interchange, Ofankor- Nsawam, Adenta- Dodowa, etc. are inherited road projects that were all awarded by the previous NPP government through sole-sourcing with no dedicated funding." Gyamfi added that "In fact, some of us cited audit findings of