The Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, has said there was no breach of law in the loan granted to McDan Shipping Company Limited by the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB).
The Minority in Parliament had accused the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of blatant disregard for the procurement laws of the country in the award of contracts and loans.
This follows the alleged approval of a GHS10,459,500 million loan from the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to the McDan Shipping Company by Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, September 5, Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said the action of the Finance Minister is a breach of the procurement processes and rules since most of the boards and Council of State institutions have not been constituted, including the ADB Board.
“Serious questions arise as to whether they have demonstrated respect to our procurement processes. Was the contract awarded using the sole-sourcing process? If the answer is yes, then the law requires the approval by the Public Procurement Authority. Where is the board of the Public Procurement Authority? We are not aware that it has been constituted,” he stated.
But speaking on on Class FM on Wednesday, September 6, Mr Hamid said: “The point is that every organisation has its own laws and procedure therefore, I will reckon that in the ADB, in the absence of a board, their practice is that if a board does not exist the one in whom is invested the majority shareholding will have to act, so in this sense, perhaps as a journalist, you should ask the ADB themselves whether they have a procedure, I will reckon that they do.”
He added: “The substance of the Minority’s press statement is on the loan matter and I am saying that as far as the loan matter is concerned, I do not think that there were any fundamental breaches in law.
“But quite frankly, I don’t like to do political equalisation but it is quite instructive that the apostles of sole-sourcing have become such converts to tendering processes. It is good for our country if we all convert and change from our bad ways to good, so if my understanding is that the NDC has abandoned its belief in sole-sourcing and is now an advocate for tendering processes, it is good for our country.”
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