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…Ablakwa vows a legal fight
A member of the team putting together a manifesto for the campaign of Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s presidential candidate for the 2024 elections, has been unveiled as a giftee of a whopping Ghc250million sweetheart deal from his boss’ government.
Razak Awudulai, said to be a member of the 2024 Manifesto Committee of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, is said to have had his private company, Spectrum Fibre Limited, single-sourced by the government to build an already existing data solutions center.
Specifically, the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) which single sourced Spectrum Fibre Limited said the company is to, “build a Wide Network (WAN) Connectivity Services and Data Solution Centre for GHS’ 745 sites in all regions on an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) basis for a 10-year period valued at a colossal US$18,480,125.00.”
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who intercepted the letter contracting Spectrum Fibre has said that what the PPA has asked the company to do already exists.
Not only that, the company itself has no known track record in the area of the thing it has been contracted to build.
In a statement released on the revelations, Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa points out that the arrangement is nothing but a sweetheart deal that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and his government have cooked for a crony.
“Digitalization has become the new conduit for mega looting of billions of taxpayer and donor funds through dubious, duplicative and deadly single-sourced procurements even as conditions in the health sector continue to deteriorate alarmingly.
“Seeing how lucrative the digitalization booty has been so far, a few more crony companies have been invited to the looting party apparently to come “bamba with the big boys” (all royalties paid to Goya Menor & Nektunez),” Hon. Ablakwa wrote.
The revelation
Referring to his personal, public-spirited enterprise against corruption as Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa (SOA) oversight, the MP said he intercepted the 5th October, 2023, documents confirming the PPA’s approval for the company of Razak, who handles “special duties” for Dr. Bawumia to be given the contract.
Per the docucuments, the approval letter is signed by PPA Chief Executive, Mr. Frank Mante and addressed to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye.
“The intercepted PPA letter grants the Ghana Health Service approval to single source Spectrum Fibre Company Limited to “build a Wide Network (WAN) Connectivity Services and Data Solution Centre for GHS’ 745 sites in all regions on an Indefeasible Right of Use (IRU) basis for a 10-year period valued at a colossal US$18,480,125.00.
“At the current exchange rate, that is a staggering GHS245million,” Hon. Ablakwa wrote.
According to the MP, top officials within Ghana’s health sector that he has spoken with on conditions of anonymity have only expressed outrage over the c ontract because the US$18.48million (GHS245million) contract is needless.
“These top deep-throat sources say what Spectrum Fibre has been handpicked to do are already contained in the massive US$100million (GHS1.3billion) contract also awarded under an opaque single-source procurement method in 2017 to Lightwave eHealthcare Solutions Limited.”
Already, he added, a similar single-sourced sweetheart deal with a company called Lightwave, has resulted in the colossal sum of GHS595,873,749.23.
“With over GHS595million already paid to Lightwave under this supposedly bankrupt economy, every patriotic Ghanaian would be on the side of these top officials within the health sector who are livid and have legitimately had enough of the needless duplication and reckless dissipation of resources for private gain in the name of digitalization.”
Crony company
According to Hon. Ablakwa’s revelation, Spectrum Fibre was curiously incorporated in 2017; this was when the Akufo-Addo government had first come into office and there was a mad rush by many NPP affiliated persons to set up mushroom companies for State contracts.
The Directors of Spectrum Fibre are Razak Awudulai and Fati Baba.
pectrum Fibre Limited was incorporated on October 25, 2017. (See incorporation details attached)
Spectrum Fibre has no track record in carrying out what they have been engaged to do even though they were single-sourced.
“Further checks reveal that the owner of Spectrum Fibre, Mr. Razak Awudulai is currently serving on Vice President Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia’s 2024 Manifesto Communications Committee. Insiders say he also carries out “special duties” for the Bawumia 2024 campaign.
“Mr. Razak Awudulai was also an appointee of President Akufo-Addo when he served as Managing Director of Go Energy, a subsidiary of GOIL in President Akufo-Addo’s first term. (See appointment letter attached).
“Further digging also reveal that Mr. Razak Awudulai is an MD of another digitalization company known as Broad Spectrum Limited which has been handed over millions of Ghana Cedis under questionable circumstances by the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund,2 Hon. Ablakwa wrote.
Legal vandalism
Hon. Ablakwa pointed out that the Spectrum Fibre deal did not receive the approval of the National Information Technology Agency (NITA). This he said contravenes Act 771 and in blatant disregard of the Minister of Communications and Digitalization’s circular of 16th June, 2017.
“It is also to be noted that under the World Bank US$50million eTransform connectivity project, as many as 100 health facilities have already been captured which further exacerbates the wasteful and needless fears raised by stakeholders about the Spectrum Fibre deal.”
North Tongu MP to sue
Due to the legal breaches and the wastage involved in the sweetheart deal, Hon. Ablakwa says he will pursue legal restraints, including dragging the perpetrators involved in the sweetheart deal to court.
Proceed to court immediately to stop these blatant data protection violations;
First, he will Proceed to court immediately to stop these blatant data protection violations;
Then, he will also, “Petition the OSP on the corruption related aspects of this latest exposé; and Petition donor partners to carry out a forensic audit into all health digitalization projects being funded by them;
“file a motion in Parliament demanding a much broader bi-partisan enquiry into all digitalization projects. “