An investigative exposé published today by The Fourth Estate has triggered a major parliamentary confrontation over procurement practices under the government’s flagship Big Push road infrastructure programme, with the Roads Minister, the opposition Minority, and the ruling party each offering competing accounts of the same set of contracts.
The Fourth Estate, using data obtained through Right to Information (RTI) requests, reported that 81 sole-sourced contracts valued at more than GH₵73 billion were awarded within seven months under the Big Push initiative, and that approximately 76% of contracts awarded between September 2025 and February 2026 were through sole sourcing.
Roads and Highways Minister Kwame Governs Agbodza moved swiftly to address Parliament, pushing back against what he described as misleading claims. He told lawmakers that only 44% of major contracts under the programme were sole-sourced, and that more than 400 contracts had been awarded through open competitive tendering, which he described as unprecedented for the sector.
The discrepancy between the two figures reflects differing definitions. The Minister’s own Graphic Online interview acknowledged a mix of procurement methods: 50 projects issued under commitment authorisation, 47 procured through sole sourcing, and seven through restricted tendering, plus 23 projects inherited from the previous administration where contractors were already on site and were absorbed into the programme.
Ghana GoldBod Chief Executive and National Democratic Congress (NDC) Communications Officer Sammy Gyamfi defended the approach, arguing that the deplorable state of Ghana’s roads constitutes a national security risk and that solo-sourcing under Section 40 of the Public Procurement Act is explicitly permitted on grounds of urgency, subject to Public Procurement Authority (PPA) approval, which he said all the relevant contracts received.
However, the Minority Caucus, represented by Kennedy Osei Nyarko, Ranking Member of Parliament’s Roads and Transportation Committee, demanded full public disclosure of all Big Push contracts, citing the contradiction between the government’s own stated position on sole sourcing and its actual procurement record. The Minority also raised unresolved questions about road toll revenue reinstatement and project timelines for the Accra-Kumasi Expressway and Suame Interchange.
The controversy carries particular political weight because President John Mahama pledged during his State of the Nation Address to minimise sole-source procurement and encourage competitive bidding. He repeated the commitment at the 2026 State of the Nation Address in February, telling Parliament that legislation would be introduced to ban sole-sourced contracts except in exceptional circumstances.
The Minister confirmed that nearly GH₵50 billion has been approved by Parliament for multi-year road and bridge projects across all 16 regions, with over 2,000 kilometres of roads currently under construction or rehabilitation. The programme’s scale and the speed of its rollout are at the centre of the dispute: government officials argue both justify the procurement methods used, while critics contend they do not override the President’s own transparency commitments.
