IMANI Africa founder Franklin Cudjoe says Tuesday’s civil society engagement with President John Dramani Mahama was “one of the most productive” he has witnessed in a decade, praising the President for openly acknowledging procurement concerns raised in a recent investigative report.

In a Facebook post after the meeting, Mr Cudjoe said the session stood out for both the quality of contributions and the President’s willingness to confront allegations surrounding the government’s flagship Big Push infrastructure programme.

“Yesterday’s civil society encounter with the President was arguably one of the most productive I have witnessed in a decade,” he wrote, highlighting how participants, especially women from rural communities, raised probing questions on health, education, illegal mining and harmful cultural practices.

A recent Fourth Estate investigation flagged extensive use of sole sourcing under the Big Push initiative, warning that it could lead to cost inflation across the majority of contracts.

Mr Cudjoe said the President’s response was unusually forthright, citing a Citinewsonline report in which Mahama acknowledged that although sole sourcing is permitted under Ghana’s procurement laws, “open, transparent tenders are always preferable for achieving competitive pricing and value for money.”

He noted that IMANI and the Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) had previously reviewed about 1,000 contracts under the prior administration, concluding that 95% failed to meet basic procurement standards.

He welcomed the President’s call for an inquiry and urged him to “sanitise the entire public sector of dodgy, collusive and corrosive procurement practices.”

The Presidency has indicated that the inquiry will feed into broader procurement reforms aimed at increasing competitive bidding across state agencies.