No breaches in fertilizer procurement – MoFA

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has denied any breaches in the procurement of fertilizer for farmers across the country.

The Ministry in a statement said it is yet to sign contracts with any company for the supply of improved seeds and fertilizers for the upcoming 2022 season.

“So the accusations are baseless and without any merit,” the statement said in reaction to a publication that the aggrieved companies have threatened to petition the office of Special Prosecutor over a fertilizer scandal at the ministry.

The MoFA noted that the publication is rather a desperate attempt by hidden organisms trying to soil the high reputation of a hard-working Minister for Food and Agriculture.

Below is the full statement:

RE: FERTILIZER SCANDAL TO ROCK MOFA…

Aggrieved companies threaten to petition OSP

The attention of the Ministry for Food and Agriculture has been drawn to an outrageous publication alleging procurement breaches and fraud in the award of contracts for the supply of fertilizers under the government’s flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

The said article, published by The ABC Newspaper and myabclive.com contains details that are factually inaccurate.

The Ministry wishes to place on record, without any equivocation, that there have been no procurement breaches as far as the award of contracts for the supply of fertilizer for the 2021/22 crop season is concerned.

The Ministry of Food and Agriculture has yet to sign contracts with any company for the supply of improved seeds and fertilizers for the upcoming 2022 season. So the accusations are baseless and without any merit.

It is rather a desperate attempt by hidden organisms trying to soil the high reputation of a hard-working Minister for Food and Agriculture.

The publication claims that one company was allocated 1,100,000 metric tonnes and another company 840,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer. Under Planting for Food and Jobs, the highest amount of fertilizer distributed to farmers in any one year(2020) was some 460,000 metric tonnes. So how can two companies alone be allocated nearly 2,000,000 metric tonnes! That is how ridiculous, comical, and ignorant the claims in the said article are.

As it is with all procurement processes, the Evaluation Committee, under the direction of the Chief Director, has made recommendations which are to be considered by the Entity Tender Committee for final approval.

The Entity Tender Committee, upon consideration, will then recommend for contracts to be signed between the Ministry and individual companies who have been given award letters

It is therefore untrue, as being peddled in the article, to say that the Ministry has entered into contracts with companies for the supply of fertilizers for 2021/22.

Since the introduction of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme, processes for the award of contracts for the supply of fertilizers have always been done with strict transparency and recourse to the Public Procurement Authority’s rules and regulations.

The Honourable Minister, under his supervision, will never compromise transparency and due process for the interest of any company. The story must therefore be treated with all the contempt it deserves.

We wish therefore to assure all stakeholders and the general public that the Ministry will continue to work in the supreme interest of Ghanaians and farmers in particular.

Signed

Issah Alhassan

Press Secretary to the Honourable Minister

Source: Classfmonline.com