PPA saga: Akufo-Addo deserves praise, says NDC MP Avedzi

James Klutse Avedzi, the chairman of the public accounts committee of Parliament, has commended President Akufo-Addo for sacking the chief executive officer of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Adjenim Boateng Adjei.

He called further for the confiscation of income generated by selling contracts at the Authority while Adjei was at post.

Addressing the Parliamentary Press Corps on Monday (2 November), Avedzi described the five-year public service ban slapped on Adjei as insufficient.

“It’s a good beginning that the president is acting on the recommendation of CHRAJ [the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice] … But I’m wondering: why five years? Why should he come back to public service in the first place?

Confiscate earnings from extortion

“He has been asked to be sacked and he has been sacked, so it is a good beginning. But I don’t think that after five years he should come back and serve,” said Avedzi, who is also the Deputy Minority Leader in Parliament.

He added: “I think that whatever income or resource that he gathered from these activities should be taken away from him.

“Definitely, he might have sold some of the contracts and made some money, and if the findings reveal that this is the amount of money he made out of this back deal, the monies should be confiscated by the state and then he should be banned from public service completely.”

The opposition MP also suggested that Adjei, who was found guilty of conflict of interest, should be “surcharged” if it is established that he took state funds.

“But in this case, we cannot say that he took state money – but he acted wrongly to extort money from individuals. So, that money should be confiscated to the state.

“Once the monies he made from this dubious action [are] confiscated, it will serve as a deterrent to other people who might be planning in the same line,” Avedzi said.

Background

Adjei, the chief executive officer of the PPA, was dismissed on Friday by President Akufo-Addo after the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) found him guilty of conflict of interest.

The president suspended Adjei from office in September 2019, following an investigative documentary by the journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni which alleged that a company Adjei co- owned had been selling government contracts it won through single-source and restrictive tendering to the highest bidder.

Fred Dzakpata

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