Ursula challenges Ablakwa, “Produce the alleged contract I signed without PPA approval”

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, the Minister of Communication and Digitalization, has directed Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Member of Parliament for North Tongu, to fake the contract that she is said to have signed without the necessary authority.

The communications minister gives the impression that she is uninformed of the contract that she is charged with signing without the approval of the Public Procurement Authority.

The only Rural Telephony Project (RTP) that Ursula Owusu-Ekuful had endorsed was a commercial agreement between the Ghanaian government, Huawei Technologies, and China National Technical Import & Export Corporation.

Ursula tweeted, “Ablakwa, please produce the contract you claim I signed without PPA approval. I dare you to show me.” Ursula also asked Ablakwa to respond with proof. Only this RTP contract, which was authorised by Parliament, have I signed.

Ursula Owusu-Ekuful received a US$48 million contract without the required clearance, according to Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who posted a message on his social media accounts on July 6, 2023, along with correspondence between himself and the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).

Respectfully, can you confirm whether the Public Procurement Authority has approved the procurement of Ascend Digital Solutions under a US$48 million Rural Telephony Project contract that is allegedly for Engineering, Design, Build, Rollout, and Managed Services and is being carried out by the Ministry of Communications in accordance with the Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) as amended with (Act 914)? The request from Ablakwa was labelled “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION,” and it was dated June 8th.

The PPA responded with the following statement, dated June 30, 2023, and signed by Deputy Chief Executive Kwame Prempeh: “We want to let you know that there is no information on the aforementioned project in our records.”