Auditor General blows GH¢7.6m on cars

The Auditor-General Daniel Yaw Domelevo has spent a whopping GH¢7.6 million to purchase 27 vehicles for the Audit Service without going through the right tender processes, DAILY GUIDE has learnt.

The vehicles, which comprises five Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, one Toyota Land Cruiser V8 and 21 Toyota IMV Hilux Deluxe were purchased from the Audit Service’s 2017 budgetary allocation, as well as funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The Land Cruiser V8 is valued at about GH¢529,805.

Although the procurement of the vehicles went through the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), the expenditure was well above the threshold of the Auditor-General, as well as the Entity Tender Committee of the Audit Service.

The Auditor-General, however, parried the allegations that he procured the vehicles and shifted the blame to his deputy who he did not name when contacted yesterday by the paper.

The purchases were made at a time Mr. Domelevo is said to be at loggerheads with members of the Governing Board of the Audit Service who have accused him of sidelining members in the running of the Service.

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that Daniel Yaw Domelevo is running a one-man-show at the Audit Service and has promised to ignore all decisions of the board which he claims are contrary to the Constitution.

The Auditor-General, who is noted for quickly running to the media to publicize issues, claims to be independent and therefore the board has no oversight over him.

He has been accused of ignoring the inputs of the governing board of the Audit Service by taking unilateral decisions in contravention of the 1992 Constitution and the Audit Service Board.

Entity Committee

Information gathered by DAILY GUIDE indicates that the Entity Tender Committee of the Audit Service met on February 13, 2018, to discuss the approval of the Tender Evaluation Report of advertisement and evaluation of the vehicles by the Service in 2017.

The meeting was held on the heels of an approval from the Office of the President for the Audit Service to buy vehicles.

Available documents show that four companies purchased the tender documents to supply the vehicles – Japan Motors Trading Company Limited, Toyota Company Ghana Limited, Mac Auto & Spare parts Ghana Limited and Innoling Ghana Limited.

But only three companies – Japan Motors Trading Company Limited, Toyota Company Ghana Limited, Mac Auto & Spare Parts Ghana Limited submitted their documents.

At the end of the evaluation, the tender committee settled on Toyota Ghana Limited to supply the 27 vehicles.

The meeting, according to the source, was attended by Roberta Assiamah-Appiah, Chairperson of the Committee; Ebenezer Aglomas, Secretary and Procurement Officer; Samuel Etiako, Finance Officer; who is also a member; and Isaka Buraima, Budget Officer.

The rest are S.A. Komey, Transport/Member; Frank Addo, Procurement/Member; Adorkor Addo, Procurement/Member; and Maame Afua Kuta Otoo, Procurement.

They are all staff of the Audit Service.

Although the total sum involved in the purchase of the 27 vehicles was well above the entity’s approval limits as spelt out in the Public Procurement (Amended) Law (Act 914, 2016), it went ahead to approve the purchases instead of referring them to the Central Tender Board.

Vehicle Purchase

Information indicates that Mr Domelevo, without the knowledge of the board and due process, used GH¢6,001,118.600 of the Audit Service’s 2017 budgetary allocation to procure the 27 cars for the Service.

Reports also showed that the Auditor-General purchased four medium cross-country vehicles amounting to GH¢1,028,341.20 with funds from USAID without referring it to the Central Tender Board since it was above the GH¢1million threshold for the entity committee.

Breakdown

Per the supply, Toyota Ghana Limited supplied the Audit Service with 21 Toyota IMV Hilux 4WD Deluxe at a cost of GH¢3,831,252.60.

The company also supplied the Audit Service with five Toyota Land Cruiser Prado KD Leathers at a cost of GH¢1,640,061 for use by his deputies and a Toyota Land Cruiser 200 VX at the cost of GH¢529,805 for use by the Auditor-General.

Reaction

Speaking to DAILY GUIDE in a telephone interview yesterday, Mr. Domelevo said his deputy procured the vehicles.

He, however, did not name the deputy in charge since there are four deputies at the Audit Service.

Asked whether the governing board was aware of the purchases, he said by law the board does not have the mandate for procurements.

Explaining further, he said his deputy might have gone to the Central Tender Board for approval for the procurement of the vehicles.

Pressed further on allegations that the Entity Tender Committee of the Audit Service approved the purchases, he declined further comments on the matter.