Stop awarding contracts to cronies - Contractors to Govt

The Association of Building and Civil Contractors of Ghana (ABCCG) has called on the government to stop the practice of the past where jobs were awarded to cronies and political association without due regard to competence.

Mr Samuel Obeng, National President of the Association, said this was necessary if the country was to move forward and to and prevent "shoddy contract execution to get value for money".

He was addressing a general meeting of the Ashanti Regional branch of the ABCCG at the Centre for National Culture (CNC) in Kumasi.

Mr Obeng described as "most disturbing and worrisome" the huge financial resources going down the drain as a result of non-performance and poor quality work on projects by "quack contractors" who lacked both the basic tools and knowledge about construction.

He said to help bring sanity and efficiency into the industry, the Association has decided to replicate the task force set by the Ashanti branch to closely monitor and supervise projects implemented by members.

The Task Force would call attention to noticeable structural defects at every stage of construction for timely rectification in all the regions. The National President, however, observed that not much could be achieved if the awarding authorities persist in circumventing the tender system and "do their own thing".

Mr Obeng was also critical of the demand by District Assemblies of Social Security and Income Tax Clearance Certificates as pre-condition for the award of contracts.

This, he insisted, contravened the Local Government's legislative instrument (LI) 1606 and warned that the Association would fight this in court. Mr. Kwame Afreh, Ashanti Regional Chairman called a strong and united front to expose fake contractors.