Anti-corruption campaigner Edem Senanu has called for investigations into alleged breaches of procurement laws surrounding the construction of multi-million-cedi astroturf projects across Ghana.

Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Wednesday, September 16, during the Corruption Watch segment on the multi-million-cedi astroturf exposé, Mr Senanu outlined three measures he believes should be pursued to address concerns raised by the projects.

His comments came after he was asked what should be done immediately to ensure that those responsible are held accountable, public funds are recovered, and similar issues do not occur again.

Mr Senanu first called on the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to investigate possible breaches of procurement laws.

“The OSP should investigate the procurement breaches and ensure that the individuals and others associated who have breached procurement laws are held accountable,” he said.

He also called for an investigation into possible conflict-of-interest issues, particularly where Members of Parliament who also serve as ministers are involved in supporting development projects.

According to him, supporting projects in constituencies is not necessarily wrong, but there must be clear rules governing how public officials in such positions participate in them.

He said the relevant authorities should provide clear guidance on situations involving MPs who are also ministers and seek to support projects.

“It’s not a bad thing to support projects, but when you hold certain positions, how you go about it, there must be clear guidance on that,” Mr Senanu said.

His third recommendation was directed at the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), which he said must strengthen its due diligence procedures.

Mr Senanu said that the PPA should establish whether a contract has already been awarded or whether work has already started before processing procurement documents.

“A simple question: has the contract been given out already? Has any of these companies begun work on this?” he asked.

He said such checks would help prevent situations where public procurement procedures are used retrospectively to regularise projects or contracts that have already commenced.

According to him, stronger due diligence would ensure that companies and officials cannot conceal existing arrangements and later rely on the procurement process to legitimise them.

“These will serve as one of the checks in ensuring that people don’t think they can come, not disclose what’s already happening, and use the public procurement process retrospectively to try and cure something that cannot be cured,” he said.

This comes after an investigation found that two senior officers who served under former President Akufo-Addo’s administration, former Energy Minister John Peter Amewu and former Ghana Gas Communications Director Ernest Owusu Bempah, are at the centre of an ownership dispute involving sports facilities in Hohoe and Agogo respectively. The facilities were constructed largely with public funds valued at more than GH¢17 million.

This exposé is the first in a nationwide investigative series that Corruption Watch began in February 2025. The series examines 169 astroturf and sports infrastructure projects constructed across Ghana, representing public investments estimated to exceed GH¢1 billion. This edition focuses on three key anti-corruption issues: procurement irregularities, abuse of office and conflict of interest.

The construction of the Hohoe Sports Stadium in the Volta Region and the Agogo Sports and Cultural Complex in the Ashanti Region was funded by state agencies under their respective corporate social responsibility programmes. The state agencies that provided funding include the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), GNPC Foundation, Ghana National Gas Company Limited (Ghana Gas), Volta River Authority (VRA), GO Energy Company Limited and the Hohoe Municipal Assembly.

The Corruption Watch investigation uncovered serious procurement irregularities in the execution of the Hohoe Sports Stadium project and the construction of the Agogo Sports and Cultural Complex. The findings reveal a pattern of procurement irregularities, including the circumvention of competitive bidding requirements, the use of procurement procedures to legitimise predetermined decisions, and the submission of inaccurate information to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).