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Angry contractors in the Northern Region have launched a scathing attack on some construction firms in the area, alleging that such firms have been awarded all contracts in the region.

The contractors allege that these firms are awarded the contracts on the basis that they are either owned by two cabinet ministers, who are also Members of Parliament and hail from the region, or their family members.

The angry contractors alleged that the action of these two politicians is not only keeping them out of business but also affecting development and productivity in the region.

The contractors, who made this revelation in an interview with The Finder in Tamale, expressed concern that the rate at which politicians are now turning themselves into contractors,, through the use of surrogate construction firms, is alarming and needs to be checked.

According to Alhaji Hamza Dauda, Director of Wunzalgu Construction Works, “Politicians have now monopolised everything, especially road projects, including those that go with mobilisation component, and as a result, it is very difficult, if not impossible, for contractors like us who do not have links or want to be surrogates for the politicians to win bids.”

He added that sometimes the politicians also frustrate them when they want to buy tender documents, saying, “When we want to buy tender documents, we are often told the documents have finished and that we should wait for new ones to be printed at a latter day. But this does not happen as we end up being denied the opportunity to bid for contracts.”

The Managing Director of Nuru Zaman Construction Limited, Alhaji Iddrisu Dasana, who also spoke to this paper, claimed politicians were increasingly making it impossible for them to work due to the rate at which they churn out surrogate companies.

“Road contracts such as reshaping and opening ups are no-go areas for ordinary contractors like us; they are meant for the political contractors,” he stated.

Some of the alleged political contractors are said to be using more than five companies and are undertaking as many contracts as possible, especially in Tamale.

The aggrieved contractors mentioned SIMTEX, KASMIDA, KASHARA, BENEJI, MIGHT Construction and J and H Construction as some of the companies that are benefiting from the development.

The angry contractors alleged that directives from Accra dictate which companies contracts are awarded to.

A source at the Department of Urban Roads in the region told The Finder that tender processes are disregarded in order to allow for the corrupt nomination of one of the construction firms belonging to the politicians to win the contracts.

The aggrieved contractors also alleged that the top politicians, who are serving in government as Ministers of State, also leak privilege information to their companies to enable them win bids.

The aggrieved contractors also allege that in order to ensure maximum benefit, the bids are structured in such a way that when companies belonging to the politicians win by offering the lowest price, it would still be significantly higher than if there had been genuine open competition.

“This arrangement can be difficult to detect, particularly where the minister is aware of how to pitch a bid to ensure that it is not so excessively high as to arouse undue suspicion,” said the source at Urban Roads.

The source said his outfit cannot insist that the Minister’s companies execute the project according to the terms of the contract because “if you insist, you will be penalised.”

The sources also alleged that there were instances where the department was pressurised to falsify the Minister’s company’s certificate before the contracts are even executed and the certificate of any of the Minister’s companies is not scrutinised and they are given priority in payment by the Ghana Road Fund.

At the district level, the tendering process has been turned into a good business venture by some local politicians at the district to settle their economic problems.

They allegedly put pressure on evaluation teams to select particular contractors whom they are associated with.

A civil engineer with one of the assemblies in the region, who has worked on several construction projects, said the development is not just about financial corruption, but administrative corruption and circumvention of the law as well.

“Officials are resorting to their relatives and friends by registering companies in their names for form’s sake when these companies do not have skilled technicians or mechanisms.

“With the help of officials, [the companies] sign a contract to rebuild a school, for example, and they carry out the projects either by selling it to another contractor or by recruiting workers and developing mechanisms. “This accounts for shoddy jobs and failed projects in the districts,” the civil engineer said.
One of the traditional contractors in Tamale said the politicians-turned-contractors have taken over the construction industry from the traditional contractors rendering them jobless.

He noted that those of them who want to be in business have no option but to buy the contracts from these politicians.

A contractor described the politicians-turned-contractors as “road mafias” who conspire to keep prices on road contracts above market rates, making the nexus of politicians, contractors and bureaucrats very strong.

“They instruct the technocrats not to inspect their projects into details, and if they did not go along, these politicians will witch-hunt them” the source said.

However, when the paper spoke to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Might Group of Companies, Mr Abdul Jelil Ibrahim, one of the accused companies, he described the allegations of the contractors as false, and added that Might Group of Companies has never been a surrogate company of any politician.

According to him, as a good corporate citizen, they are guided by the laws regulating commerce and businesses in the country.

“Might Group of Companies is not a surrogate company of any politician, we do our business in broad-day light, and everything we do is to ensure higher standards and as well work strictly within the confines of the law.”

Mr Farouk Imoro, CEO of SIMTEX, another accused company, rubbished the allegations.

Mr Imoro, who is a brother to one of the politicians, declined to comment on the issue when asked about the owner of KASMIDA, KASHARA and BENEJI.