CWatch reflections: Non-performing and corrupt contractors need to be blacklisted.

Imagine this, if you will. A company is given taxpayers’ money to construct a hospital, which should provide healthcare services; or a road for your safe travel; or a school for the training of our children. What happens next? The company either fails to deliver or does a substandard job. Your response I guess will be that they should be sanctioned. Isn’t it? But guess what, the company gets away with it.

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Publish intention to procure items through single-sourcing – Martin Kpebu to govt

Private legal practitioner, Lawyer Martin Kpebu, has cautioned the Government of Ghana to think beyond the law by publishing any intention to procure anything through single-sourcing for the fight against COVID -19 before a decision to procure is concluded.

Speaking on the Corruption Watch show on Adom FM, he disclosed that although the procurement law permits the practice of single-sourcing during emergencies like in the case of COVID -19, first publishing the intension before activating that provision by the law will attract proposals from experts to ensure that only people with the requisite expertise are contracted to avoid errors and regrets.

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Why Tackling Corruption Is Crucial to the Global Coronavirus Response

The dusty border town of Taftan in western Pakistan is a frequent stopover for religious pilgrims. Many members of the country’s Shiite minority pass through it en route to visit holy sites in neighboring Iran. But after Iran emerged as one of the countries hit hardest by the coronavirus, the Pakistani government set up a quarantine camp in Taftan to prevent further movement, inadvertently turning the town into an epicenter for the spread of COVID-19. Testing in the camp is sporadic at best, while health facilities are abysmal. Many pilgrims reportedly paid bribes to escape back into Pakistan, and as recently as the end of March, hundreds of people were still crossing the border at Taftan, despite rules to prevent them. Some officials in the region believe that 95 percent of Pakistan’s coronavirus cases are due to “mismanagement” at the Taftan camp.

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TOR MD, Asante Berko resigns after SEC corruption charge

Asante K. Berko, the Managing Managing of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has resigned, two days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged him in a New York court for violating the US Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA).

Berko who was appointed MD of the country’s only oil refinery in January 2020, tendered in his resignation today April 15, 2020, and the President has accepted it.

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Ecuador ex-president sentenced to eight years for corruption

Former Ecuador president Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption during his 10-year term in office, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday

Correa — who was president from 2007-17 but now lives in exile in Belgium, where his wife was born — was one of 18 people convicted of bribery, the office said on Twitter.

Correa, who has always claimed to be a victim of political persecution and accuses his country’s judges of complicity, hit out at the sentence.

“I know the process and what the judges say is a LIE. They’ve proved absolutely NOTHING. Pure false testimony without evidence,” he wrote on Twitter.

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Coronavirus presents bonanza for kleptocrats

The coronavirus provides compelling proof that the world needs an International Anti-Corruption Court to punish and deter kleptocrats who enjoy impunity in the countries they rule.

Very little is certain about the coronavirus, and we are only judges, not prophets. However, we can confidently predict that the response to the pandemic will be a bonanza for kleptocrats — an opportunity for the corrupt leaders of many countries to further enrich themselves.

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Safeguard coronavirus funds from white-collar thieves – NGOs to government

A strong appeal has gone to the government to protect the funds being provided towards curbing the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19) from being misappropriated by “unscrupulous” public officials and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The call is contained in a press statement jointly issued by the Africa Centre for Public Policy Watch (ACPPW) and the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH).

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A Deep Dive into the Auditor General’s Performance Audit for Roads

If the Tetteh-Quarshie to Madina highway is your usual route, I have a couple of revelations for you. Number one: there was approximately 117 months of delay to that project. Number two: the extensions of time resulted in additional costs of about 146.91 million Ghana cedis or six hundred and twenty-four percent (624%).

That is not all. I will also take you through some more revealing facts about the construction of the East Legon to Spintex Road Tunnel and the Ayamfuri to New Obuase Road Project, among others. 

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Martin Amidu invites Samuel Mahama, 3 others to assist in Airbus investigations

Four persons have been invited by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP) to answer questions relating to their roles in an alleged act of bribery and other offences in government’s acquisition of three aircraft from Airbus.

A UK/Ghanaian citizen Samuel Adam Foster alias Samuel Adam Mahama who is said to be related to former president John Mahama as well as three other British citizens; Philip Sean Middlemiss; Sarah Davis and Sarah Furneaux have been invited to assist in investigations.

The invitation comes after the OSP headed by Special Prosecutor Martin Alamisi Amidu completed its preliminary investigations into the Airbus saga.

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