He said what was disheartening was the undue political slants given to such methods just to dent the image of the PPA and the government.

Addressing the PPA’s eighth annual public forum in Accra yesterday, Mr Sallas-Mensah said the two methods were provided for in Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663).

“The irony of the issue is that in spite of all the arguments that have been raised against the use of these methods, at no point during the amendment process did we have even one Member of Parliament make a proposal for the introduction of stiffer measures for the use of these methods of procurement or even have them expunged from the law,” he said.

He said it was in response to those criticisms that the authority had, since 2014, sought to demystify the process and encourage transparency by publishing on its website comprehensive status reports on restricted and single-source procurements on a daily basis.

Amendment

A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mrs Mona Quartey, in an address, noted that the Public Procurement Amendment Act, 2016 (Act 914), empowered the PPA to charge specifically for processing fees for single-source and restricted tendering applications.

She said the amendment in general allowed the PPA to charge fees and fines in the performance of its functions to create internally generated funds (IGFs) for its operations.

She said following the passage of the amendments by Parliament in May this year, existing hierarchical structures within the public procurement system which used to cause undue delays had been adjusted.

To reduce excessive administrative costs and enhance efficiency, she said, all tender review boards, with the exception of the Central Tender Review boards, had been dissolved.

With their dissolution, Mrs Quartey said, ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) would now have to work through the Central Tender Review committees, while the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) would have the Regional Tender Review Committee to review all their procurement activities.

Economy

She said in the last decade, the economy had witnessed strong and inclusive growth which enabled it to attain a lower income status.

Currently, she said the economy was in its 15th consecutive year of expansion and continued to remain resilient, combining improvement in macroeconomic management and strong capital investments in infrastructure.

She said although the growth indices had been lower for the last two years due to setbacks, those indices were above sub-Saharan Africa and global averages.

Mrs Quartey disclosed that the government was working on some critical reforms, including comprehensive tax reforms with a view to broadening the tax base, the restructuring of state enterprises, especially those in the energy sector, among others.