President John Dramani Mahama has instructed his office to obtain the full detailed report from the Fourth Estate concerning the Road Ministry’s GH¢73b Big Push sole sourcing contracts.
According to President John Dramani Mahama, his office is to conduct a study of the various allegations presented in the report.
President Mahama also directed the Ministry of Roads and Highways to answer all the allegations made in the report.
Speaking during a Presidential Dialogue with Civil Society Organisations at Jubilee House in Accra on Monday, March 30, Mahama explained, “I note the recent expose by the Fourth Estate on procurement processes related to the award of contracts under the Big Push programme. While sole sourcing is legal under certain circumstances under our current procurement law, we all agree that open, transparent tenders are always preferable for achieving competitive pricing and value for money.
“Although we’ve seen snippets of the investigation from the media, I’ve instructed my office to obtain the full detailed report from the Fourth Estate and to conduct a study of the various allegations presented in the report. We’re also requesting the Ministry of Roads and Highways to present a detailed response to those allegations made therein, in order to inform the government’s action on the matter,” he said.
Also, Mahama has announced that his government will introduce amendments to the Public Procurement Act to limit single sourcing.
“And it is precisely for such situations that I announced that the government will introduce amendments to the Public Procurement Act to limit single sourcing, to promote greater transparency and ensure proper value for money for the money we spend on projects. I’ve also requested the Minister of Finance to fast-track the setup of the independent value-for-money office, since the amendment to the procurement legislation will require that all single-source procurements be subject to rigorous value-for-money review,” he said.
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.
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.”