We saved Ghana over a billion dollar in procurement – NGO

An international development non-profit organization, Crown Agents Limited, has said it saved Ghana over $1 billion through value-for-money assessment of government procurements.

This it said spanned over a period of 3-4 years.

Chief Executive Officer Fergus Drake, who was speaking at the launch of the Crown Agents office in Accra, said the money saved has been ploughed back into government’s coffers.

He said Crown Agents serves as an advisory body to the government of Ghana on value-for-money assessments.

Mr. Drake added his outfit makes sure that all the technical procedures are being followed by the Ghanaian government with regard to procurement laws.

Its role, he said, ensures the taxpayers money is put to good use.

He added that his firm’s activities in Ghana span over 50 years with the specific objective of “standing along Ghanaians to accelerate self-efficiency and prosperity” for the people of Ghana.

The CEO noted that the organization has trained over 500 Ghanaian Senior Civil Servants in the areas of customs reforms and public financial management.

Through the UKAID-funded Complementary Basic Education (CBE), Crown Agents Limited has touched the lives of over 248,000 Ghanaian students.

But he says there is still more work to do

“There is over 650,000 Ghanaian children who are still out of school and we are interested in working with the Ministry of Education and the Ghanaian Government to do everything we can to increase the success story of the CBE Programme.”

Meanwhile, Jourade Quartey, the Ghana Country Director for Crown Agents, on his part, said that Crown Agents are into many things but they are mainly noted in Ghana for procurement services where they come in to act as agents on behalf of a client.

“We stand in between the clients and whoever the client is procuring for and we make sure whatever they are spending their money on would deliver them value,” he said.