When Attorney-General and Minister-designate for Justice, Godfred Dame, appeared before the Appointments Committee on Friday, he faced 94 questions, 71 of which were asked by Minority Caucus Members of Parliament in an exercise that travelled over six hours.
One topic that was extensively discussed was the issue of sole-sourced contracts supervised by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) where he served as a board member.
The discussion on the PPA was led by Minority Caucus Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, who in total asked 26 questions.
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Mr Iddrisu took Mr Dame on the path of the PPA where he suspected some infractions occurred.
The two men clashed over some provisions in the PPA Act 2003 which was amended in 2016. Mr Iddrisu insisted that Section 38 does not have two clauses, Mr Dame thought otherwise which set them on a collision course.
Below was the conversation:
Haruna: The 38 does not have one. With all due respect learned Attorney General, A, Section 38 of Act 663 has no one. It has 38, A, B, C. I have a copy here and I will share mine with you. Section 38 does not have a 1.
Dame: Mr Chairman, the law has been amended and there is now a 38(1) and 38(2). I have a copy because I’m a member of the PPA board. You are misleading … The law was amended in 2016 before this was written.
Haruna: Section 38, the Public Procurement Amendment, is it a further amendment to the 2016?
Dame: It is the same 2016 which incorporated a subsection two? So the law now has two provisions, section 38(1) and section 38(2). I have the consolidated version.
Haruna: Read your Act title, is it Act 914.
Dame: The point I’m making is that Act 914 introduced an amendment which inserted a further subsection 2 into Section 38. Therefore, Section 38 should be construed to have two subsections.
Haruna: I’m fine, you are Attorney-General so you are privy to it. Give me the date of the gazette of the one you are holding. I have 12 May 2016.
Dame: It’s the consolidated Act 663 and in it, you’ll see that.
Haruna: I concede.
