The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) does not need the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to engage the services of McDan Shipping Company Limited,” a deputy Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said.
His comments were in reaction to allegations by the Minority in Parliament that COCOBOD awarded the shipping company a clearing contract without following the procurement process.
Addressing a news conference Tuesday, the Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu alleged among other things that Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta issued a letter to the Managing Director of ADB to grant GH¢10million loan to the shipping company to finance a contract with COCOBOD.
This, he said, was in breach of the country’s financial laws.
He said, “Serious question arise that seem to be whether they have demonstrated respect to our procurement processes. The breach is an affront to corporate governance processes and procedures in our country.”
In his reaction, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said, “COCOBOD has a pool of clearing agents that it uses to clear its items that arrive at the port. That is the transactions that was involved in this particular instance. And I am asking a specific question…since when has COCOBOD allocations to any of its clearing agents viewed as a contract that goes for tender? It has never happened. It is not today. This is years gone by that you have a pool and you assign each of them to list or evacuate these or to clear from the port.
“This process is something COCOBOD has been doing for decades now because there is a framework within which they do it. It is not viewed as contract that goes to PPA for approval…it is not today. This is a normal standard transaction.”