Uproar After Roads Ministry Awards Sole-Sourced Contracts Worth Over GH¢73 Billion in 7 Months
- The Mahama administration faces backlash for awarding several road contracts, predominantly via sole sourcing
- Critics highlighted hypocrisy, citing previous NDC opposition to sole-sourcing under Akufo-Addo's government
- In comments on the issue, policy analyst Alfred Appiah highlighted the risks of sole-sourcing on value for money
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The Mahama administration is being accused of hypocrisy after it awarded 107 road contracts without a competitive selection process.
Of the 107 contracts awarded, 81 were sole-sourced to the tune of GH¢73 billion, while the remaining 26 contracts worth about GH¢8 billion were awarded through selective tendering.
Source: Facebook
The Fourth Estate, which broke the story, said 90% of the amount of money expected to be spent on roads under the Big Push programme so far was given out through sole-sourcing.
This prompted criticism online of the Mahama administration, which was against sole sourcing under the Akufo-Addo administration it replaced.
Some on social media shared past comments from the NDC criticising sole-sourcing.
The CEO of Ghana GoldBod, Sammy Gyamfi, defended the government’s use of sole sourcing for road projects, purportedly under the Big Push initiative, on Facebook, saying the projects were urgent and completion before 2028 would have been impossible.
“Resorting to the National Competitive Tendering process for the award of these critical road projects would have taken another couple of months before the projects could even commence. This could have delayed the completion of most of the projects beyond 2028.”
Gyamfi also claimed that contracts were awarded to multiple competent and experienced contractors.
In comments on the issue, policy analyst Alfred Appiah stressed the downsides of sole-sourcing within Ghana's political context.
"Sole sourcing carries inherent risks, including inflated costs, incompetent contractors, political favouritism etc. There is always a significant risk that the state does not get value for money.
"That’s why competitive tendering is used to manage these risks. It’s concerning that more than three-quarters of projects awarded within just a few months have been sole-sourced."
Ghana’s public procurement law only permits it under exceptional circumstances, like where goods, works, or services are only available from a particular supplier or contractor who has exclusive rights to them.
How has the roads minister responded?
When asked how contracts under the Big Push programme were awarded, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwame Governs Agbodza, said they resorted largely to selective tendering.
“Contracts were procured predominantly through restrictive tendering to ensure rapid project commencement... Before procurement, the Ministry and agencies conducted extensive engineering studies, including feasibility studies and seal of quality and commitment authorisation for each project.”
Source: Facebook
The Fourth Estate noted that Agbodza’s claim that the contracts were mainly awarded through restrictive tendering was at odds with data obtained from his Ministry and the Ghana Highway Authority.
The data indicated that about 76% of the contracts awarded from September 2025 to February 2026 were through sole-sourcing.
Source: YEN.com.gh
