A video compilation has surfaced of some members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government preaching against sole sourcing.
The viral video compilation features the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa; the CEO of the Ghana Gold Board, Sammy Gyamfi; and President John Dramani Mahama, calling out the Akufo-Addo New Patriotic Party government over sole sourcing.
In the viral video, Ablakwa, on Onua TV, stated that the NDC’s Resetting Ghana Agenda would ensure an amendment of the Public Procurement Act.
According to him, sole sourcing would be a thing of the past under an NDC government.
“What we are saying in the Reset Ghana manifesto is that when we come to power, we will amend the Public Procurement Act. We will put a stop to the single sourcing because it has been abused,” Ablakwa stated in the video.
Sammy Gyamfi, on the other hand, accused the past Akufo-Addo Bawumia government of looting the state through sole sourcing.
“A new angle being used by the NPP to loot the state is what we call sole sourcing,” he said.
Also, President Mahama, addressing a gathering at the National Economic Dialogue in 2025, also highlighted that single-source procurement should not become standard practice.
“Single source procurement must be the rare exception rather than the norm. We must also subject government projects above a certain threshold to value-for-money audits,” Mahama stated.
The video has surfaced amid the Fourth Estate publication, which suggested President John Dramani Mahama and his government have been playing 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 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.”
Meanwhile, the Roads Minister speaking in Parliament on March 24, 2026, explained that a mix of procurement methods was used in line with the laws of Ghana.
The Road Minister detailed that only 44 per cent of Big Push contracts awarded by the Roads Ministry under President Mahama were through sole sourcing.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, Mr Agbodza stated, “Given the scale and importance of these projects, a mix of procurement processes was employed in accordance with the law,” he told lawmakers. “It is important to note that only 44% of all the major contracts under the Big Push project were awarded by the ministry under sole sourcing, not what has been published by a certain online portal”.
According to Kwame Agbodza, more than 400 contracts had been awarded through open competitive bidding, which he described as unprecedented.
“We have also awarded over 400 contracts under open competitive bidding. Records show that from 2017 to 2024, almost all the projects carried out by the ministry were sole-sourced. It is therefore mischievous for any right-thinking member of society to conclude that the Ministry of Roads and Highways only procures works through sole sourcing,” he said.
Watch the video below:
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