Roads and Highways Minister Alhaji Inusah Fuseini told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Thursday that Djibril Kanazoe had expressed disinterest in the contract "some weeks ago".
An investigation by Joy News' Manasseh Azure Awuni spanning three months has revealed that Djibril Kanazoe who is President and Director-General of Groupe Kanazoe gave a Ford Expedition to President Mahama in 2012 after he had won two construction contracts.
One was to build a wall around a piece of land for Ghana's Embassy in Burkina Faso at a cost of $650,000. Another was the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road worth €25.9million.
The investigations further showed that the contractor was being considered another contract to construct the Wa-Hamile road on sole-sourcing basis.
The Roads Minister, Inusah Fuseini, explained to Joy News’ Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure last Friday that the Burkinabe contractor was being considered for the 28-kilometre road project on the Wa-Hamile stretch because of his proximity to the area and his track record.
The minister said it is because of the quality of the road and the fact that Mr. Kanazoe is near the project site.
"Kanazoe did that part of the road, the extension of the road in Burkina Faso right to the border of Hamile. I even did not know at the time I saw the road that Kanazoe was working in Ghana. When I asked, they said 'the contractor is working in Ghana. He is working on the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road. This project he is doing is funded by the Saudi Fund,'" Inusah Fuseini told Manasseh Azure Awuni.
"So, I immediately instructed my officers to see whether we could engage him and also find Saudi Fund for him to continue to Ghana. Fortunately, we have come into resources by ourselves," he said.
"Kanazoe is in Burkina Faso. He has finished Dodo-Pepeso. He has demobilised and his equipment is in Burkina Faso, he will quickly mobilise and come down by reason of close proximity of the Hamile area to Burkina Faso. Two, he has a record of good work in Ghana. He knows the terrain…geographically he should be familiar…. that is why we are in discussions with him to partner us to continue to road in Hamile" he told Manasseh Azure Awuni on Friday, 10th June, 2016.
But speaking a day after the story broke on Multimedia platforms, about the contractor's gift to the president, Inusah Fuseini now says Djibril Kanazoe was invited along with other contractors to bid for the road project some "weeks ago" and the bid was opened on Wednesday June 15, 2016..
The tender for the project was opened only yesterday, he said. But Djibril Kanazoe was not part, he stressed.
Insuah Fuseini said he does not know any reason why the contractor, praised highly by President Mahama for his work, would pull out of the tender process.
He said Djibril Kanazoe is not under any obligation to give reasons for his disinterest.
Despite the expose, the Roads and Highways Minister was emphatic that Mr. Kanazoe has not in “anyway [mis]conducted himself to be blacklisted.”
Manasseh Azure’s investigations pointed out that per the reasons given by the Roads and Highways minister , it would have been illegal to consider Mr. Kanazoe for the contract on sole-sourcing basis.
He referred to Section 40, of the Public Procurement Law, which does not allow the minister to award the contracts to the Burkinabe contractor through sole-sourcing.
That portion of the law states:
(1) A procurement entity may engage in single-source procurement under section 41 with the approval of the Board,
(a)where goods, works or services are only available from a particular supplier or contractor, or if a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive rights in respect of the goods, works or services, and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists;
(b)where there is an urgent need for the goods, works or services and engaging in tender proceedings or any other method of procurement is impractical due to unforeseeable circumstances giving rise to the urgency which is not the result of dilatory conduct on the part of the procurement entity;
(c)where owing to a catastrophic event, there is an urgent need for the goods,works or technical services, making it impractical to use other methods of procurement because of the time involved in using those methods;
(d)where a procurement entity which has procured goods, equipment, technology or services from a supplier or contractor, determines that
(i) additional supplies need to be procured from that supplier or contractor because of standardisation;
(ii) there is a need for compatibility with existing goods, equipment,technology or services, taking into account the effectiveness of the original procurement in meeting the needs of the procurement entity;
(iii) the limited size of the proposed procurement in relation to the original procurement provides justification;
(e)where the procurement entity seeks to enter into contract with the supplier or contractor for research, experiment, study or development, except where the contract includes the production of goods in quantities to establish commercial viability or recover research and development costs; or
(f)where the procurement entity applies this Act for procurement that concerns national security, and determines that single-source procurement is the most appropriate method of procurement.
Source: myjoyonline
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