Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, was left infuriated by the wording of the response by the Service Ghana Auto Group Limited (SGAGL) to the litany of allegations he has levelled against them, regarding their roles in the purchase and maintenance of ambulances by the defunct Ministry of Special Initiatives under the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo government.
On the Friday, August 2, 2024, edition of Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana program, Okudzeto Ablakwa hit back at the company over what he considers to be a threat to him, the media, and Parliament.
He questioned the temerity of the company to issue what he considers to be a strongly-worded letter and promised to continue undertaking his watchdog duties as a member of Parliament.
“I want to begin by condemning this statement from Service Ghana Group Auto Limited. Those who run this company should be told in very clear terms that they cannot intimidate anybody in this country.
They are not allowed to use such words on the media and members of Parliament carrying out their constitutional mandate and on the Ghanaian people. We are talking about $108 million cumulatively. You have come into the public space using our taxes, and as citizens, we are raising fundamental issues, and how dare you issue such a threat. All of that is total balderdash and hogwash. How dare you issue such a threat?
“They think they can intimidate duly elected members of Parliament? They think we were voted into Parliament to drink tea and cross our legs and watch as people dupe the republic? They should not annoy us at all. I am totally outraged by this statement,” he said.
Later in the day, Okudzeto Ablakwa issued a new set of documents in response to the claims made by the company in reply to his revelations.
“Service Ghana Auto Group Limited’s statement deliberately failed to respond to the politically exposed status of a key director, Stephen Okoro, who is not only a close business partner of the President’s daughters, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Edwina Akufo-Addo, as irrefutably demonstrated with official incorporation documents of SFO Initiatives Limited, Goodbox Limited, and Good Grow Limited.
“SGAGL was also disingenuously silent on Stephen Okoro’s familial ties with the presidential family, having fathered a grandchild of the President with the President’s daughter. Politically exposed persons always come under greater scrutiny in the fight against corruption as they can unduly influence procurement processes, abuse due process, and orchestrate unconscionable payment terms in their favor, as we have seen in this transaction,” he wrote.
The North Tongu legislator also pointed out that Service Ghana Auto’s claim that it submitted a bid for the contract in 2018 cannot be true because it was registered in 2020.
“From the statement of Service Ghana Auto Group Limited, it purportedly participated in a competitive procurement process by the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives from 15th November 2018 as a consortium of 7 companies. Instructively, this consortium could not have existed in 2018 and 2019 as unimpeachable records at the Registrar of Companies reveal that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was incorporated much later, specifically on April 24, 2020.”
He also said that the company’s explanation that it was part of a consortium of seven companies awarded the contract cannot be true because most of the companies were established in 2017 and had no experience in procuring and servicing ambulances.
“Claims by SGAGL that it’s a consortium which leveraged the expertise and resources of its companies in the procurement of ambulances is most laughable and ridiculous. Incorporation records show that at least 5 of the 7 companies were hurriedly incorporated between April and September 2017. None of the companies had any expertise or track record in procuring and servicing ambulances.
“The evidence speaks for itself: BEFT Engineering was incorporated on April 20, 2017 primarily to carry out construction, renovation, civil engineering works, and electrical engineering works; Elok Consult was incorporated on July 25, 2017 to carry out management consultancy, civil works, roads, and building construction; Prestige Era Company Limited was incorporated on April 19, 2017 with its objects being to carry out general supply, road and building construction, oil and gas products dealer, transport, and haulage.
“None of these companies had expertise in ambulance procurement and after-sales maintenance. This must explain why the Auditor-General exposed SGAGL for using staff of the National Ambulance Service for their maintenance contract.”
Background
Ablakwa published an exposé in which he supplied evidence of payment in excess of some $34.9 million authorized by former Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta for the purchase and fitting of spare parts on some 307 government ambulances.
In his publication of July 21, 2024, he raised issues regarding alleged financial mismanagement and corruption in the payment involving a private company, Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.
According to the MP, the minister approved an amount of US$34,904,505.00 to be paid to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited for the procurement of spare parts for some 307 ambulances purchased by the government in 2019.
According to the MP, the stated amount translates to $113,695.456 per ambulance, which is more than the cost of many fully equipped new ambulances, raising questions about the rationale behind such expenditure.
In the evidence supplied by the MP, the minister authorized the payment just five days before he was removed from office by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a cabinet reshuffle announced on February 14, 2024.
Ablakwa alluded to favoritism and lack of due diligence in the process that led to awarding the contract to Service Auto Group Limited, citing the absence of a competitive procurement process.
Service Auto Group refuted claims by the North Tongu legislator that there was some illegality in the payment of some $34.9 million authorized to it by the government for the purchase and fitting of spare parts on some 307 government ambulances.
The company refuted the assertions by the MP that it was offered the contract by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo without competitive tendering – on a sole sourcing basis.
It explained that it was part of 16 companies who bid for the contract and part of a consortium of 7 companies that were chosen because they provided required services at a relatively low price.
The company also rejected a claim by the MP that the payment of $34.9 million for the procurement of spare parts for the ambulances, which translates to about $113,000 per ambulance, was significantly higher than the cost of acquiring new ambulances.
It added that the allegation by Ablakwa that it received $10 million before the payment of the $34.9 million has been rejected by the Bank of Ghana.
Read Ablakwa’s post plus the statement by Service Auto Group below:
