GHS contravenes Public Procurement Act by purchasing condoms through sole sourcing
The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has procured male condoms worth GH¢1,450,000 and laboratory consumables worth GH¢378,000 through sole sourcing, in contravention of the Public Procurement Act.
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According to the 2011 Auditor-General’s report, the GHS procured the items in 2009 from Global Unilink, without approval from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
It said the procurement contravened Section 40 (1) of the Public Procurement Act 2003, Act 663, which states that a procurement entity may, for reasons of economy and efficiency and subject to the PPA, engage in procurement by means of single sourcing under specified conditions.
The report said the irregularities were due to the GHS's non-compliance with the provisions of the Procurement Act, coupled with ineffective functioning of the various procurement structures within the procurement entity.
These were disclosed at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) sitting yesterday when GHS officials were answering questions on the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Auditor-General’s reports.
PAC on contracts
The PAC also condemned variations in existing contracts, some as high as more than 200 per cent.
For instance, the committee said any additional work to an existing contract which required 10 per cent additional cost must be referred to the procurement committee for approval.
It said if the additional cost was above 15 per cent, a new contract had to be awarded.
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It said the contracts and procurement engaged in by the GHS bordered on criminality.
Per the law, the conviction for such an offence could be up to five years’ prison sentence.
Acceptance of guilt
Speaking on behalf of the GHS, the Minister of Health, Mr Alex Segbefia, accepted that the service had breached the Public Procurement Act by not opening the contracts to the bidding process.
He said the GHS had come up with a mechanism to ensure due process in the award of contracts.
However, the Deputy Procurement Director at the GHS, Mrs Araba Kudiabor, told the committee that the contract on condoms and consumables were awarded through a competitive tender process.
She said the GHS could not secure the contract documents during the auditing process, noting that it found them only recently from its institutional archive.
Chairman
The Chairman of the PAC, Mr Kweku Agyeman Manu, reminded the GHS of the severity and frequency of occurrence of the violation of the Public Procurement Act in the service.
He urged it to refrain from such infractions to get better reports.
Advanced salaries
In another development, the 2011 Auditor-General's report indicated that as of December 31, 2010, overdue advances totalling GH¢127,285 that the Korle Bu Teaching
Hospital paid had not been recovered from defaulters.
The report said GH¢48,452 had since been recovered.
Responding, the Chief Executive of the hospital, Dr Gilbert Buckle, said some of the staff had left the service but indicated the hospital had recovered a lot of the money.
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He said the GH¢127,285 had been reduced to GH¢10,700.
Dr Buckle said the hospital had reported the 17 people who were yet to pay to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).