Sammy Gyamfi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Gold Board (GoldBod), has said sole sourcing is lawful, defending the alleged 81 sole-sourced contracts under Big Push.
According to Sammy Gyamfi, the unjustified use and abuse of sole sourcing is what President Mahama and the NDC have condemned.
Sammy Gyamfi explained that Ghana’s deplorable state of our roads is one of the biggest national security threats, which led to the Road Ministry not resorting to the National Competitive Tendering process for the award of road projects under the Big Push Project.
The NDC National Communication Officer detailed that a National Competitive Tendering process would have lasted months, which could have delayed the completion of most of the projects beyond 2028.
He cited the competitive tendering process for the Road Toll project, which has still not been completed after about a year due to its complexities.
In a post on X, Sammy Gyamfi wrote, “1. The deplorable state of our roads is one of the biggest national security threats we face as a country. Bad roads have claimed many lives through fatal road accidents, armed robbery etc.
2. I am reliably informed that the Surveying, Designing and Costing of Big Push road projects alone took the Ministry of Roads about 7 months to complete.
3. Resorting to the National Competitive Tendering process for the award of these critical road projects would have taken another couple months before the projects could even commence. This could have delayed the completion of most of the projects beyond 2028.
4. Competitive tendering processes have, in some cases, lasted for months. A typical example is the competitive tendering process for the Road Toll project that has not still be completed in about a year due to its complexities.
5. Section 40 of the Public Procurement Law provides for the single-source procurement method on grounds of urgency, among others, subject to the approval of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA). Thus, sole sourcing is lawful. The unjustified use and abuse of sole sourcing is what President Mahama and the NDC have condemned.
6. There is not a scintilla of evidence in the Fourth Estate publication that shows that the use of sole sourcing for the said Big Push road projects was unjustified or that there were any breaches of the law or abuse of the process. Neither was any evidence of the cost of the projects being inflated adduced by the Fourth Estate.
6. In opposition, the NDC never said sole-sourcing was a sin or unlawful. We only preached against the unjustified use and abuse of sole-sourcing in the award of government projects, some of which were established by the Auditor General to be inflated. In fact, some of us cited audit findings of the Auditor General to show that sole-sourced cocoa road projects, some of which were awarded to Bawumia’s brother were inflated.
7. In the case of the Big Push road projects, all projects that were awarded through sole sourcing received prior PPA approval as same was justified on grounds of URGENCY. Value for Money audits were conducted. The contracts were not awarded to a select few but rather carefully selected, multiple, competent and experienced contractors with demonstrable capacity to complete the works on time. None of the contracts have been established to be inflated. The urgency of the projects cannot be denied. And like all road projects, payments are based on actual work done certified by independent Consultants.
8. As a matter of fact, 23 out of 84 Big Push road projects, such as Suame Interchange, Ofankor- Nsawam, Adenta- Dodowa, etc. are inherited road projects that were all awarded by the previous NPP government through sole-sourcing with no dedicated funding. This government has simply novated the projects, maintained the contractors and provided for funding for them under the Big Push policy. The 23 road projects were not re-awarded. Yet, the Fourth Estate has mischievously added all these projects to their list of sole-sourced contracts awarded by this government. Clearly they could have done a better job.
9. So what’s the point really? The NDC spoke against sole-sourcing in the past so every resort by the NDC to sole-sourcing in government must be condemned? Is that the logic being canvassed by the Fourth Estate?
A classical case of comparing oranges with apples”, his post concluded.
His comments follow reports by The Fourth Estate detailing that President John Dramani Mahama and his government have been paying lip service in terms of promises to minimise sole-source procurement to encourage competitive bidding.
President John Mahama, on numerous occasions, has reiterated his government’s commitment to make single-source procurement a rare exception rather than the norm.
In the NDC People’s Manifesto, they also pledged to “make single-sourced procurement (sole-sourcing) an exception and not the rule.”
John Mahama, during his recent SONA, also repeated his vow and commitment, “Mr Speaker, we are bringing legislation to this House to tighten our procurement processes by banning sole-sourced contracts, except in exceptional circumstances,” the President told Parliament.
However, after one year in office, the report by The Fourth Estate has unearthed that the Road Ministry awarded 81 sole-sourced contracts worth over GHS73 billion in 7 months.
The Fourth Estate, in a report, stated, “Data available to The Fourth Estate indicates that in the last seven months, the ministry has awarded 107 road contracts. Contrary to the President’s promise to ensure competitiveness and transparency in the awarding of public contracts, not a single one of 107 contracts was awarded based on competitive tendering.
A whopping 81 out of the 107 road contracts worth over GHS73 billion were awarded through sole-sourcing. The remaining 26 contracts worth about GHS8 billion were awarded through selective tendering. This means over 90% of the amount of money expected to be spent on roads under the Big Push programme so far was given out through sole-sourcing.
Despite this glaring contrast, the majority leader and leader of government business in Parliament, Mahama Ayariga, audaciously proclaimed to Parliament on March 11, 2026, that “let it be known, the era of the sole-sourced contract is dead.”
However, Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, when asked about how contracts under the Big Push programme were awarded, disclosed that they resorted largely to selective tendering.
Kwame Governs Agbodza explained, “Contracts were procured predominantly through restrictive tendering to ensure rapid project commencement,” he said. “Before procurement, the Ministry and agencies conducted extensive engineering studies, including feasibility studies and seal of quality and commitment authorisation for each project.”
“Contracting under the Big Push fully aligns with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto and government policy. Public contracts are awarded to competent, experienced, and well-resourced contractors, prioritising Ghanaian firms to build local capacity,” he said.
Mr Agbodza, however, in opposition was a critic of the sole-sourcing of road contracts.
The current Road Minister in opposition claimed, “Part of the reason why the government is unable to build more roads is because of the use of sole-sourcing in the award of road projects, [which] inflates the cost of such contracts.”
See the post below:
1. The deplorable state of our roads is one of the biggest national security threats we face as a country. Bad roads have claimed many lives through fatal road accidents, armed robbery etc.
— Sammy Gyamfi (@SammyGyamfi_) March 24, 2026
2. I am reliably informed that, the Surveying, Designing and Costing of Big Push road…