The Minority National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament (MPs) have appealed to the Speaker of Parliament to as a matter of urgency initiate a parliamentary probe into the controversial contract between the Government of Ghana and Kelni-GVG Limited.
The contract is for the establishment of a common platform to monitor telecommunications traffic, mobile money, revenue assurance and fraud management.
The Minority contends that the contract awarded to Kelni-GVG is a bad deal which must attract the interest of the Speaker and all well meaning Ghanaians.
The Ranking Member for the Communications Committee and MP for Sagnarigu, A. B. A. Fuseini, who first raised the issue told the House that he finds it difficult to believe why the Government of Ghana will go ahead to award a contract to a different company when there is a case pending before court over same the same contract.
“Mr. Speaker, until the matter is resolved by a competent court jurisdiction, you cannot sidestep the court and in an indecent hurry go to award a contract to another company while the case is pending in court. So, you will want to question why the indecent hurry to award the contract even before the legal process had been exhausted”, he noted.
He said what is even more worrying, is the fact that per the provisions of the contract, payment starts after the consummation of thirty days following the date of which the contract is signed.
This, he noted, had led to the country paying US$75million to Kelni-GVG for no work done over a period of five months.
“Kelni-GVG had not undertaken any work in Ghana. The contract between Kelni-GVG was signed on December 27, 2017. Provisions in the contract state that after the consummation of 30 days of the contract, payment begins. Mr. Speaker, as we speak, we are in the fifth month and Kelni-GVG had been paid graciously paid for the five months without doing any work. In the contract, provision is not made to ensure that work done commiserates with payment. There was no value money audit done in the award of the contract, hence, it was vitiated with fraud”, he added.
Hon. Fuseini was contributing to a statement delivered on the floor of the House by the Minister for Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful that sought to clear the misconception and perception about the Kelni-GVG contract.
Hon. Fuseini worried over the contract called on the Speaker to refer the matter to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications to probe further into it.
NDC MP for Bolgatanga Central, Isaac Adongo, also contributing to the issue said per the dictates of the said contract, the “government is simply asking Kelni-GVG to duplicate the work of Subah Infosolutions and Afriwave”, a situation he argued, will not ensure value for money.
