The Member of Parliament for Okaikwei Central, Hon. Patrick Yaw Boamah, has mounted a fierce attack against the Finance Minister, accusing him of breaching the very procurement reforms the government is advocating in the 2026 Mid-Year Budget Review.
Contributing to the floor debate on the financial review presented to Parliament last Thursday, Hon. Boamah pointed directly to paragraphs 464 through to 466 of the policy document.
Paragraph 466 outlines proposed procurement reforms across three key pillars, including the shortening of procurement lead times, limiting single-source procurement, and tightening restricted tendering processes.
However, the Okaikwei Central lawmaker cited three major multi-million-dollar projects situated in the Minister’s own constituency to demonstrate what he termed blatant inconsistency.
He revealed that the 111-kilometre Mankesim–Ajumako–Suedru Road project, valued at approximately $250 million, was awarded via single-source procurement.
Furthermore, Hon. Boamah alleged that a military barracks currently under construction in Ajumako at a cost of GH¢200 million, alongside an estimated GH¢850 million ($18 million) specialist hospital in the same area, were procured through single-source and restricted tendering methods respectively.
“If the minister comes to tell us that he’s tightening procurement rules and regime then I don’t believe in what he’s talking about,” Hon. Boamah stated.
Expanding on his allegations, the MP raised serious conflict of interest concerns regarding the institutional oversight of these deals.
He disclosed that the constituency chairman of the Finance Minister serves as the chair of the Central Tender Review Committee, whilst another constituent occupies the role of Deputy CEO at the Public Procurement Authority, an entity directly supervised by the Ministry of Finance.
Hon. Boamah stressed that these arrangements sharply contradict the government’s public assurances on transparency and accountability in public procurement.
Switching focus to agricultural welfare, Hon. Boamah further accused the Finance Minister of prioritizing new capital developments in his local constituency while cocoa farmers across the country remain unpaid for their hard work.
He argued that although the government consistently cites job creation and infrastructure development as justification for these ventures, agrarian communities in key agricultural belts have been left completely stranded without their due payments.
“The specialist hospital Cape Coast has one of the best hospitals. He decided to site a specialist hospital over eight hundred and fifty million Ghana cedis in. That’s fine. But the cocoa farmers in have still not been paid. Mister speaker the cocoa farmers in want to be paid. And that is what Ghanaians want,” he asserted.
The Okaikwei Central MP also made reference to the Tree Crop Development Authority Act passed by Parliament, reminding the house that under Section 26, the legislation was specifically designed to support tree crops such as oil palm.
He noted that in the 2026 main budget, the Finance Minister pledged over $500 million to revive the oil palm sector through the Ghana Tree Crop Development Authority.
Concluding his submission, Hon. Boamah pointed out the stark mismatch between public needs and government spending, questioning why a military barracks project was prioritised over economic empowerment for workers.
He insisted that while citizens urgently require sustainable employment, the government chose to construct military quarters instead, leaving cocoa farmers unpaid and fundamental promises unfulfilled.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
