Sole sourcing largely used to satisfy people who help politicians get into power – Mahama Ayariga alleges

Chairman of the Parliamentary Subsidiary Legislation Committee and MP for Bawku Central Mahama Ayariga has said the awarding of sole sourcing contracts is to blame for the growing indiscipline by vigilante groups and some party faithfuls in Ghana. According to the MP, who was speaking on Sunrise on 3FM on Tuesday, the real justification for sole sourcing and restrictive tendering is to make it easier for politicians to dispense with political patronage. “When you see people killing in campaigns and firing guns, when you see vigilante groups running and fighting left and right wielding machetes and threatening to wound and kill so that somebody can get into office; it is simply so that when the person wins, the person will use the discretion available under our sole-sourcing and restrictive tendering arrangement to dispense patronage to those people.” Mahama Ayariga stated that the only way to sanitize Ghana’s political system is to get rid of sole sourcing and restrictive tendering. “If you want our democracy to function, and if you want elections to be based on really competitive ideas about how best to move this country forward, remove sole sourcing and that will totally eliminate the opportunity for political patronage,” he said. The Bawku Central MP made it known that the only way to make elections a pure contest of political ideas with credibility in terms of how to move Ghana forward will be to stop sole sourcing. “You will see that nobody will waste his time going to wield machetes, because in any case if the person won, he will treat any other person fairly the same way he is treating me, so why will I wield machete because of him, and that is how society moves forward.” The abolishment of sole sourcing and restrictive tendering, he said, will create a fair level-playing ground for every business man in the country where a businessman does not need to be politically aligned to do business with the government. “Today, if you don’t know a minister, you don’t know a party chairman, an MP, the First Lady, or someone who has the ear of the president, your business is not likely to gain the kind of mileage that it ought to gain in a fair competitive system.” Mahama Ayariga, however, commended President Nana Akufo-Addo for recovering about GH¢800 million by cutting down on sole sourcing and restrictive tenders, adding the move saves the tax payer a lot of money. “We now have evidence to show that sole sourcing is wasteful and our own President stands before us and say that, it is reduced by this percentage and saved money. My position is that, it is a good job, I applaud him, so then let’s abolish it entirely.” According to the Bawku Central MP, abolishing sole sourcing can save about GH¢ 2 billion per annum and the business of government will not suffer in any way. “I don’t see how the business of Ghana will suffer if we don’t engage in sole sourcing or tendering. If we are able to save close to GH¢2 billion annually, we can give every single student in our public universities a grant of GH¢2,000 per head on University education to make it entirely  free.” He reiterated the need for all governments to do the right thing by desisting from using the awarding of contracts to people who aid them gain power, and rather do business with competent, innovative and well versed businessmen for the development of the country. By Irene Amesimeku|3news.com|Ghana Follow @3Newsgh  ]]>