A Procurement Specialist, Kobina Ata Bedu, has raised concerns over the members of the Public Procurement Board.

According to him, the Board as previously and currently constituted, lacks the required competence to efficiently manage the organisation.

He said none of the members of the Board have any competencies in procurement. He cited for instance the Chairman, who although is an excellent academic, has no qualification whatsoever in the procurement profession. Therefore, are not qualified for the positions they have been appointed to.

“The appointment of the PPA boss was made last year. Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi was appointed chairman. He is an excellent academic and a zoologist, but he has zero experience when it comes to the practice of procurement," he said.

Speaking on Monday, June 20, during the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, he noted that this is in contrast with provisions in Section 41 of the Procurement Act which states that the governing body of the authority should be a board consisting of nine persons of with (a). A person competent and experienced in public procurement as the Chairperson.

“Now, legally when you say someone is competent, it means he has gone to school, he has been examined, he has been certified and he has been licensed, but the question is: is Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi certified and licensed to practice procurement? Definitely not. Does he have any experience in procurement? Has he held a portfolio either as a procurement officer, procurement manager, or director? None. They all have no certificate,” he explained.

“In the previous Board [also] the Chairman and Chief Executive were the only people who had certification. The rest did not have. On this current Board, it is only the Chief Executive Officer who has certification and experience in the practice, but the requirement is that 3 persons from the private sector who have experience in procurement, of whom one is a woman, should constitute the Board.

He was contributing to discussions on the procurement process for the architectural design of the National Cathedral. He therefore described the contract as illegal.

According to him, sole-sourcing the contract to Mr. Adjaye was illegal, since the contract did not qualify for sole sourcing.

Mr. Ata Bedu also stated that the fact that Mr. Adjaye had not been inducted into the Register of Architects at the time the contract was awarded to him (which was a prerequisite for awarding the contract), further qualifies him for the contract. However, the procurement board overlooked all these red flags and supervised the award of the contract to him.

He said, “it is not surprising that the Board is approving things like this, because they don't have the capacity to question some of these requirements that are coming.”