Sulemana Braimah, the Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has blown an alarm on how a firm created in January 2025 was awarded a Big Push sole-sourced contract.
According to Sulemana Braimah, some companies awarded sole-sourced contracts under the Mahama government’s Big Push infrastructure programme were only recently established.
Speaking on JoyNews Newsfile on Saturday, 28 March, Sulemana Braimah stated, “One of the firms awarded sole-sourced contracts in Big Push was created in January 2025”.
He explained that such contract awards raise questions about transparency and adherence to competitive bidding principles.
His comments come on the heels of The Fourth Estate publication, which suggested 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 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, Alhassan Suhuyini, the Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, has said the John Mahama government cannot survive 4 years without a scandal.
According to the Deputy Roads Minister, a scandal is inevitable in 4-years, but should not be manufactured when it is known.
The Deputy Roads Minister, who also served as the Member of Parliament for Tamale North, stressed that while controversies may arise in any administration, he urged the public to rely on evidence rather than speculation.
Speaking on TV3 Keypoint on Saturday, 28 March, the Deputy Roads Minister stated, “There is no way this government can survive four years without a scandal, but let us not force one when there isn’t one”.
Watch the video below:
Big Push Sole-Sourced: There was a company in the Big Push contract who has just 4 employees 😂
— Onipa nua 🇬🇭💰❤️ (@mylo_melo) March 28, 2026
– Sulemana Braimah. pic.twitter.com/neoh0EUv9b