The management of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GECL) has stated that its Board Chairman, Alexander Afenyo Markin, was never involved in the sole sourcing contract awarded to Messrs. Intermec Gh. Limited in March, 2017.

In a statement issued in Accra on October 1, 2019, and signed by Stanley Martey, Chief Manager in charge of Public Relations, it said the current Board Chairman was appointed into office in September 2017, whilst the contract for the sole-sourcing was awarded in March the same year. The following is the full statement.

The attention of the Board and Management of GWCL has been drawn to a media publication titled, “GWCL Board Chairman Afenyo-Markin Dragged to Amidu over Contract Breaches”, purported to be a petition to the Special Prosecutor for investigation and prosecution.

An edited version of this same article was published in the 30th August, 2018 edition of the Daily Dispatch Newspaper, which was subsequently retracted with an apology to the parties mentioned in the said article.

Some allegations have been made in these articles against the Board Chairman, Hon. Alexander Afenyo-Markin, and considering the chronology of events, Mr. Markin, as at then, had not assumed his position as Board Chairman, and, therefore, could not have been in any way, involved, so as to cause the alleged breaches raised by the petitioner. The Management of GWCL deems it necessary to set the record straight, educate and inform the petitioner, Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawa, that the Ghana Water Company Limited operates an open door policy and is willing to assist any individual in a quest to unravel any misconceptions about GWCL and its operations.

GWCL is a Limited Liability Company under the Companies Act, 2019 (Act 992), originally established as Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation under the now repealed Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation Act, 1965 Act 310). All contracts are awarded in accordance with the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663). The 5th schedule of the Amendment Act stipulates the use of international competitive tender for goods above GH¢10 million, Works above GH¢15 million and Technical Services above GH¢5 million. For National Competitive Tender, the threshold for Goods is between GH¢100,000 and GH¢10 million, for Works GH¢200,000 to GH¢5 million, and Technical Services between GH¢200,000 to GH¢5 million. In respect of Price Quotation, it is up to GH¢100,000 for Goods, GH¢200,000 for Works and GH¢50,000 for Technical Services. It is pertinent to note that the default method for all public procurement is through competitive tendering. The law, however, allows for certain exceptions where entities could engage in restrictive tendering and/or single source procurement pursuant to the provisions and stipulated procedures of the Public Procurement Authority Act. GWCL as a public entity ensures that its procurement of Goods, Services and Works are done in strict conformity with the law.

The procurement issue in question, that is, “Supply and Installation of Transport pump, control Panel and additional items for Takoradi Pump House at Inchaban Treatment Plant”, was procured through single sourcing and the justification for that option is in line with section 40 of Act 663. Emphasis on subsections 1(a) & (d)(i) which states;

“A procurement entity may engage in single-source procurement under section (1) with the approval of the Board.

(a) Where goods, works or services are only available from a particular supplier or contractor, or if a particular supplier or contractor has exclusive rights in respect of the goods, works or services, and no reasonable alternative exists or per the substitution of paragraph (d) of the Amendment Act.

(d) Where the procurement entity having procured goods, equipment etc. determines the additional supplies must be procured from the supplier … Because of standardisation or compatibility with existing goods, equipment etc taking into account.

(i) The effectiveness of the original procurement in meeting the needs of the procurement entity.

The Western Regional Office of the GWCL wrote to the Head Office to procure 23 No. Eletro-mechanical equipments and spares for the replacement of the existing defective ones, to enable the region improve on production and supply of potable water to the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Area.

Due to the exigency of the request, and the fact that, the Electro-mechanical equipment requested for, were to be used for replacement, there was the need for standardisation and compatibility with the existing equipment. Hence, the justification given by GWCL to the PPA was; the replacement of existing branded item of proprietary nature for standardisation and compatibility with existing equipment.

The original equipment’s manufacturer’s sole representative for West Africa is Messrs. Intermec Ghana Limited. GWCL in line with the law, applied to the PPA with justifiable reasons for single sourcing. The PPA per a letter dated 16th October, 2016, approved and granted GWCL’s request to single source the demanded necessary equipment from the local representative Messrs. Intermec Gh. Limited. GWCL as a result budgeted for the equipment and subsequently awarded the contract for the supply and installation in March, 2017.

Considering the fact that the current chairman of the Board was appointed into office on 7th September 2017, it makes it inconceivable that Mr. Afenyo-Markin is accused of breaches of the law in this regard. It is to be explicitly and categorically stated that, there has neither been any breaches nor infractions at all since GWCL has been dutiful in upholding and adhering strictly according to the laws of the Republic, in its procurement process. Management infers that GWCL is rather the target of these articles and not the Board Chairman since he took office in September, 2017 after all these transactions had transpired. Management of GWCL remain willing to be subject itself to all investigations instituted either by the Special Prosecutor or any other investigative agency into these issues. The Management of the Ghana Water Company Limited further cautions Mr. Alhassan Salifu Bawa and his cohorts to desist from dragging the hard earned reputation of the company through the mud. Management will not hesitate to seek legal redress if due diligence is not conducted into allegations which it is a subject of, before publication.

Mr. Alhassan seeks to deliberately ignore due diligence into specific allegations before circulating same in the media and making it the subject matter of a petition.