Executive Director for the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has called for the institutionalisation of a template that will strictly guide public procurements in the country.
Dr Henry Kwesi Prempeh said this will provide grounds for prosecution in cases of corruption.
He made the comments during an interview on JoyNews’ Newsfile where he noted that, findings of the Special Prosecutor cannot be enough grounds for prosecution.
“I would love to see a proper template developed and disaggregated into various parts explaining exactly how this corruption risk assessment will look like, how it’s going to be done so that there is clarity in advance on how the process works,” he said.
During the discourse, Dr. Kwesi Prempeh touched on other matters including how the Special Prosecutor named former President Mahama as Government Official 1.
According to Dr. Prempeh, there was no need for Martin Amidu to lump findings on both the Agyapa Royalties Agreement and the Airbus Scandal into one corruption risk assessment report.
“The Special Prosecutor could’ve done a separate assessment on both deals,” he said.
He added that the Office of the Special Prosecutor should have provided evidence for the conclusions drawn in the processes and procedures of the two cases.
His comment follows a corruption risk assessment conducted by the Special Prosecutor on the Agyapa Royalties Agreement.
In the report, the Special Prosecutor established that, there was reasonable suspicion of bid-rigging and corruption activity in the selection process of the deal.
He added that, upon analysing the transaction document, he discovered that the arrangements lacked transparency.
Meanwhile, President Akufo-Addo has directed Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta to send the deal back to Parliament for review.
The President said the order is “in the best interest of transparency and accountability.”
Coordinator for the Third World Network (TWN-Africa) has also described as bizarre a directive by President Akufo-Addo for the Agyapa Royalties Agreement to be sent back to Parliament for approval.
Dr Yao Graham said the deal is flawed in many aspects, therefore, does not serve the best interest of the public.
“The proposal doesn’t stand up in the face of the consensus that the Office of the Special Prosecutor’s report finds; (in connection) with all the technical, economic processes and the criticisms that have been made of the Agyapa deal,” he said.
As a result, Dr Graham who said the deal was bad from the onset, added that, he finds attempts by President Akufo-Addo to make the agreement work, bizarre.
“If the President is acting in the interest of the beneficiary owners of the resource, why does he want to persist with something which has been found to be flawed,” he added.
Source: Mypublisher24