The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has issued a report on a 2021 petition brought against the Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL), Paul Adom-Otchere.
CHRAJ said despite not finding evidence of procurement breaches as alleged by petitioner, Sacut Amenga-Etego, in the matter of purchase of Christmas inspirations at the Kotoko International Airport (KIA), they found that some actions by Adom-Otchere amounted to abuse of his office and meddling in the affairs of the company.
CHRAJ's 55-page report said it was wrong for the Board Chair to be “requesting for invoices and his appearances in the media in respect of matters involving the GACL of which he is the Board Chairman does not auger well for good corporate governance.
“We recommend that the respondent should restrain himself from interfering in the work of management and restrict himself purely to his prescribed functions as Board Chairman,” it further said.
What the petitioner said:
The petitioner alleged that Adom-Otchere had, among others, failed to invite at least three vendors to submit bids for the procurement of the Christmas trees.
He added that the total value of the decorations is above the threshold of requesting quotations from vendors and that the call for bids ought to have been advertised in newspapers, according to the Public Procurement Act, Act 663.
Amega-Etego also argued that there was a breach of procurement when the cost of GH₵118,000.00, was divided, so it stayed within the GHC 100,000.00 threshold for price quotation.
The report said none of his reliefs sought including that Adom-Otchere be referred to the Attorney-General for prosecution could be granted.
SSD/NOQ
Watch the latest edition of BizTech below: