Minority demands immediate stoppage of US$34.9m payment to SGAGL

By Edzorna Francis Mensah

At an emergency news conference on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, the Minority in Parliament called on President Akufo-Addo to immediately halt the payment of US$34.9 million to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited (SGAGL). They described the deal as scandalous, unconscionable, a sweetheart deal, and a family affair concerning ambulance spare parts.

They also demanded that the President instruct his Chief of Staff, Frema Opare, to desist from pressuring the Ministers of Health and Finance to make unlawful payments to SGAGL. The group urged the Office of the Special Prosecutor to expedite investigations and prosecute all individuals involved in the US$34.9 million ambulance spare parts deal.

Addressing the media under the theme “Akufo-Addo’s Ambulance Scandal — My Response to Service Ghana Auto Group Limited’s,” the Chairman of the Assurances Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, responded to what he called “a preposterous and most offensive statement from the discredited Service Ghana Auto Group Limited.” He stated, “This ill-advised strategy to use naked threats to prevent parliamentary scrutiny, media discussions, and the legitimate demand for accountability from patriotic Ghanaians who have every right to know what a colossal US$108 million of our taxes are being used for under this opaque ambulance transaction is a strategy bound to fail.”

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa condemned the use of threats by SGAGL and their attempt to gag Ghanaians, particularly Members of Parliament and the media. He advised SGAGL to “desist from issuing empty and pathetic threats as nothing will stop our democratic and patriotic resolve in the spirit of transparency, probity, and media freedoms — which are all guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution, to demand full accountability in this matter. We cannot be intimidated by their bogus threats.”

In responding to issues raised by the company, the MP noted that SGAGL’s statement deliberately failed to address the politically exposed status of a key director, Stephen Okoro. Okoro is a close business partner of the President’s daughters, Gyankroma Akufo-Addo and Edwina Akufo-Addo, as demonstrated with official incorporation documents of SFO Initiatives Limited, Goodbox Limited, and Good Grow Limited. SGAGL was also silent on Stephen Okoro’s familial ties with the presidential family, having fathered a grandchild of the President with one of his daughters. 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 seen in this transaction.

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa mentioned that SGAGL claimed to have participated in a competitive procurement process by the Ministry of Special Development Initiatives from November 15, 2018, as a consortium of seven companies. However, records at the Registrar of Companies reveal that Service Ghana Auto Group Limited was incorporated much later, on April 24, 2020. Claims by SGAGL that it is a consortium leveraging the expertise and resources of its companies in the procurement of ambulances are laughable and ridiculous. Incorporation records show that at least five of the seven companies were hurriedly incorporated between April and September 2017, and none had any expertise or track record in procuring and servicing ambulances.

For instance, 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; and Prestige Era Company Limited was incorporated on April 19, 2017, to carry out general supply, road, and building construction, oil and gas product dealing, and transport and haulage. None of these companies had expertise in ambulance procurement and after-sales maintenance. This likely explains why the Auditor-General exposed SGAGL for using staff of the National Ambulance Service for their maintenance contract.

“Service Ghana Auto Group Limited peddled another blatant falsehood when it claimed that companies in its so-called consortium put in a bid at US$133,000 per ambulance,” Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa added.

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