The Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, has dismissed claims that road contracts awarded by the Ministry of Roads and Highways were largely procured through sole-sourcing, insisting that the vast majority of projects were awarded through competitive tendering processes.
His comments come in response to a report by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) through its investigative journalism project, The Fourth Estate, which alleged that 81 out of 107 contracts awarded under the government’s Big Push infrastructure programme between August 2025 and February 2026 were secured through sole-sourcing.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series in Accra on Monday, June 15, Mr. Kwakye Ofosu argued that the report did not present the full picture of procurement activities undertaken by the Roads Ministry.
According to him, a total of 1,441 road contracts were awarded by the Ministry of Roads and Highways in 2025 and 2026, out of which 1,301 contracts representing 90.28 per cent were awarded through open competitive tendering.
“1,301 out of 1,441 contracts, representing 90.28 per cent of road contracts under this government, were awarded through the open competitive tendering process,” he stated.
He further explained that of the 140 projects executed under the Big Push initiative, only 66 were awarded through single-sourcing, representing 47.14 per cent of the programme’s contracts.
“Only 4.58 per cent of the total 1,441 road contracts awarded by the Ministry of Roads and Highways in 2025 and 2026 were awarded through the single-sourcing process,” he added.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu noted that the remaining Big Push projects were awarded through restricted tendering, while 23 projects were inherited from the previous administration after they had already been awarded through sole-sourcing.
He indicated that the Ghana Highway Authority, Department of Urban Roads and Department of Feeder Roads all obtained the necessary approvals from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) before using either single-sourcing or restricted tendering methods.
According to him, the Ghana Highway Authority received approval for 72 Big Push projects, with 51 awarded through single-sourcing and 21 through restricted tendering. The Department of Urban Roads obtained approval for 16 projects, comprising 11 single-sourced and five restricted tender projects, while the Department of Feeder Roads secured approval for 29 projects, of which four were single-sourced and 25 awarded through restricted tendering.
The Minister maintained that the figures clearly show that sole-sourcing was not the dominant procurement method used by the Roads Ministry.
“The evidence clearly shows that single-sourcing was not the primary mechanism for Ministry of Roads and Highways contracts. Therefore, any claim that the ministry had become a sole-source factory cannot be sustained on the basis of verifiable evidence,” he said.
Mr. Kwakye Ofosu also defended the use of sole-sourcing for some projects under the Big Push programme, explaining that the initiative was designed to fast-track critical infrastructure development, create jobs and stimulate economic growth.
He said the procurement decisions were guided by urgent national development needs and were intended to accelerate the delivery of road infrastructure across the country.
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