The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa, Sulemana Braimah, has clarified that The Fourth Estate based its reporting on the Big Push contracts strictly on information provided by the Ministry of Roads and Highways.
Mr Braimah made the remarks on Newsfile on JoyNews on Saturday, 28 March.
According to him, the figures and details published were drawn directly from the Ministry’s Big Push Master Register, which the media organisation accessed after initially being denied under the Right to Information Act.
“We basically put out what the Roads Ministry itself gave us from their Big Push Master Register,” he said, emphasising that the data reflects official records.
He explained that, following the initial refusal of their RTI request, The Fourth Estate had to appeal and also engage other agencies, including the Ghana Highways Authority, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the contracts.
“The information we shared is what the Ministry made available — it is not speculative,” Mr Braimah added.
The clarification comes amid ongoing public debate over procurement processes under the Big Push programme, following The Fourth Estate’s report highlighting extensive use of sole sourcing and potential cost inflation.
The Minister for Roads and Highways, Governs Kwame Agbodza, has since stated that only 44 per cent of major contracts were awarded through sole sourcing, countering claims circulating in the public domain.
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Source: www.myjoyonline.com