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Statesman and industrialist Dr. Tony Oteng-Gyasi has called for an end to fees and commissions paid to people and institutions parading as brokers for national projects, explaining that the practice fuels procurement fraud, drains the public purse and undermines the execution of strategic national infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Delivering the University of Ghana\u2019s 2023 Alumni Lecture in Accra, the Founder and Chairman of Tropical Cable and Conductor Limited (TCCL) said such agents are only after their personal gain at the expense of the state and its development.<\/p>\n
It also undermines state organisations independence and functionality, as the agent system interfers with their ability to independently conceive and execute projects, Dr. Oteng-Gyasi said, urging that: \u201cVested interests and economic rent-seekers should not be allowed anywhere near the process\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many of our very well-educated and knowledgeable people seek to make immediate fortunes as commission agents and project promoters, even though they only offer contacts and introductions to high places.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey call themselves businessmen and hover around decision-makers, seeking to influence decisions in favour of whoever will pay them. They are the economic rent-seekers of our time, just like the import licence purveyors of the early 1960s,\u201d said the former Chairman-University of Ghana.<\/p>\n
He said such practices have made it difficult to execute financially feasible projects across the country, resulting in underdevelopment. He said it is obvious that the western railway line from Sekondi Takoradi to Kumasi should be financially feasible, given the volumes of bauxite, manganese and cocoa available to be freighted; but he wonders why the line has been so difficult to build.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be useful to remind ourselves that during colonial times, when the line was originally built, the extension of that line from Tarkwa to Obuasi was made possible because of revenue guarantees in the form of promissory notes given by the then Ashanti Goldfields of \u00a330,000 per annum \u2013 which would be about \u00a36million per year today. That made it possible to raise the funds and construct the railway,\u201d the former President-Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) said, quoting Ayowa Afrifa Taylor.<\/p>\n
Akosombo Dam<\/strong><\/p>\n Using the circumstances around construction of the Akosombo Dam to strengthen his case, the Chairman-Ghana Revenue Authority said Ghana\u2019s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, had to ignore the ill-advice of his negotiating team to accept the ridiculously low price that Kaiser Aluminum insisted on to make construction of the dam possible. \u201cWith the benefit of hindsight, the wisdom in that decision is obvious. Why are we finding it so difficult to deliver such game-changing projects in our time?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cMy proposal is that these national projects should not have commission agents, representatives of foreign companies and project brokers walking the corridors of power seeking their fortunes. Such projects should be open to international competitive bidding, and have the best national teams \u2013 made up of seasoned public servants aided by salaried consultants \u2013 negotiating best terms for the nation. Period!\u201d Dr. Oteng-Gyasi said.<\/p>\n Dr. Oteng-Gyasi also chairs the Ghana Integrated Aluminum Development Corporation (GIADEC), and said the Ghana Public Service has some of the best-educated people in the country \u2013 some of whom are better educated and more experienced than those in the private sector.<\/p>\n He said such talents, together with project-specific salaried consultants \u2013 local and foreign \u2013 can help the country to structure and execute these transactions in a timely and cost-effective manner. He bemoaned the rising incidence of procurement fraud in the public sector, noting it\u2019s sad that the inadequate value for money in government procurement is a recurrent theme in national discourse.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is amazing that a people so used to bargaining in our everyday lives cannot use this skill in service of our nation. All measures from the centralised purchasing days of the Ghana Supply Commission through the Ghana National Procurement Agency, which was used to purchase essential commodities, to the current Public Procurement Authority seem to have failed to protect the public from ravaging private businessmen and their \u2018public businessmen\u2019 accomplices.<\/p>\n \u201cWho should we blame for this sad state of public procurement?\u201d he asked. \u201cIt is time for behavioural scientists and sociologists to join forces with procurement professionals and our lawmakers, to review the public procurement law and fashion a new one that will better serve our purposes. Game theory and optimisation techniques can help design a more efficient public procurement system and Law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Dr. Oteng-Gyasi recalled the days when market women in particular, and traders in general, were accused of being selfish and greedy \u2013 leading to coining the word \u2018kalabule\u2019 to describe their conduct.<\/p>\n He said after public whippings failed to change their behaviour, a quiet economic liberalisation and floating exchange rate were what it took to end \u2018kalabule\u2019 and restore sanity in the markets. \u201cA similar solution may be waiting to bring sanity to public procurement,\u201d the industrialist said.<\/p>\n Source: B&FT<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n
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