Four individuals have been charged by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) for their respective violations of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) while working at the Northern Development Authority (NDA).
Mr. Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, who heads up the Northern Development Authority, is one of the four; Mr. Stephen Yir-eru Engmen, who serves as the NDA's Deputy Chief Executive (Operations); Mr. Patrick Seidu, the Deputy Chief Executive (Finance & Administration) of the NDA, and Mr. Andrew Kuundaari, the CEO of A&QS Consortium Limited.
The findings are the culmination of a six-month investigation that was sparked by a written complaint from Mr. Martin Luther Kpebu, a private attorney, dated June 15, 2022, in which he requested an investigation into the NDA's operations and the actions of its Chief Executive Officer and Board Chairman.
As part of the investigation, the OSP conducted interviews with twenty people over the course of four months.
According to the OSP's investigation report, which was released on January 24, 2023, Mr. Abdul-Rahman, Mr. Engmen, Mr. Seidu, and Mr. Kuundaari influenced the procurement process in order to gain an unfair advantage over A&QS in the NDA's procurement of consultants for the Infrastructure for Poverty (IPEP) by increasing the approved procurement total contract sum of GH5,720,000.00 by an amount of GH4,680,000.00 to an amount
It also found that Mr. Kuundaari intentionally submitted invoices for the inflated contract amount of GH10,400,000.00. According to the report, he knowingly submitted invoices on A&QS's behalf that exceeded the approved procurement total contract sum of GH5,720,000.00) by GH4,680,000.00.
In addition, he was able to obtain approval for the payment of GH8,328,840.00, which was in excess of the approved procurement total contract sum by GH2,608,840.00 and still owed GH2,071,160.00.
It stated that the invoices were "the building blocks of a carefully staged design to directly and indirectly influence the public procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract by NDA to A&QS under the IPEP." This was the statement that was made in the document.
According to the report, "Mr. Abdul-Rahman, Mr. Engmen, and Mr. Seidu intended their actions to, and their actions did in fact, directly or indirectly influence the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage to A&QS in the procurement for consultants by NDA under the IPEP by pushing through and/or approving and/or contributing to approve and/or contributing to cause the approval for payment to A&QS two (2) invoices totaling Eight Million Three Hundred And TwentyEight
"Mr. Engmen intended his actions to, and in fact, influence the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage to A&QS in the procurement for consultants by NDA for consultants under the IPEP by purporting, without lawful authority, to accept an offer from A&QS for consultancy services for the design and supervision of construction infrastructure works and engineering services under the IPEP at a time when he was fully aware that NDA had not applied for PPA approval for the procurement of A&QS and PPA had
In addition, the Special Prosecutor, Mr. Kissi Agyebeng, praised the complainant, Mr. Martin Kpebu, for his generosity and sense of duty in the report.
It should be recalled that on July 1 of last year, the Special Prosecutor issued a directive to the Controller and Accountant General instructing them to immediately freeze payments to A&QS in accordance with the IPEP implemented by the NDA until the investigation was concluded.
The Special Prosecutor advised all public officers in the approval chain to consider the tenor of a January 16, 2020, PPA approval for the procurement of A&QS by NDA and to ensure value for money, despite lifting that directive in principle, according to the report. The tenor stated that GHC5,720,000.00 was the prescribed full contract price for the acquisition of A&QS.
Regarding IPEP and the NDA, the ruling New Patriotic Party established the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (hereinafter referred to as IPEP) in 2017 to fulfill a campaign promise to reduce poverty, particularly in rural and disadvantaged communities, by allocating the cedi equivalent of one million US dollars to each electoral constituency.
The government established three development authorities, the Coastal Belt Development Authority, the Middle Belt Development Authority, and the Northern Development Authority, to replace the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority, in accordance with the IPEP.
The Northern Development Authority was established by the Northern Development Authority Act, 2017 (Act 963) to raise funds for the accelerated economic and social development of the Northern Development Zone, which includes fifty-seven (57) electoral constituencies and is made up of the Northern, Savannah, North East, Upper West, and Upper East Regions. The Northern Region's Tamale serves as its headquarters.
