Ameyaw-Akumfi appointed Public Procurement Authority chairman
The former education minister in the Kufuor government has been appointed to serve as the board chairman of the PPA
A former education minister in the John Kufuor government, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, has been appointed by President Akufo-Addo to serve as the board chairman of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA).
He takes over from Professor Douglas Boateng, who chaired the nine-member PPA board under President Akufo-Addo’s first-term administration between January 2017 and January 2021.
Procurement irregularities
According to the Auditor General’s report released for the period ending 31 December 2020, the state lost GHC846,134,269 over the reporting period to procurement irregularities.
These irregularities, the Auditor General says, occurred as a result of managements’ non-compliance with provisions of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663).
The Auditor General recommended that management of all state institutions undertake procurement transactions strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Public Procurement Act as amended.
Expected functions
In his new role Ameyaw-Akumfi is expected to join forces with the acting chief executive officer of the PPA, Frank Mante, and the rest of the management team to first ensure that state institutions adhere to the Auditor General’s recommendation.
The combined leadership of the Public Procurement Authority is also to make proposals for the formulation of policies on procurement, ensure policy implementation and human resource development for public procurement, develop rules, instructions, other regulatory documentation on public procurement and formats for public procurement documentation, as well as monitor and supervise public procurement and ensure compliance with statutory requirements.
Other functions of the PPA that the Ameyaw-Akumfi-led governing board is expected to spearhead are the establishment and implementation of an information system relating to public procurement. It will also ensure the publication, by the end of each month, of a public procurement bulletin which will contain information germane to public procurement, including proposed procurement notices of invitation to tender and contract award information.
The PPA serves as an advisor to the government including local government officials on metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, in connection with issues relating to public procurement. The board will be required to play this role to ensure that all procurement undertaken by government and state agencies is done within the confines of the state’s public procurement laws.
Profile
Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi was born on 21 August 1945 in Techiman in the Brong-Ahafo Region. He attended Adisadel College in Cape Coast for his GCE O’ and A’ levels before entering the University of Ghana in 1965. He obtained a BSc Hons in zoology in 1969. He pursued his Master’s degree in zoology at the same university and completed the course in a year in 1970.
He left the shores of Ghana in 1972 for the United States, specifically the University of Michigan, where he spent four years studying for an MSc and a PhD, both in zoology.
He co-coordinated the introduction of the semester and course unit system at the University of Cape Coast as well as the production of academic courses for the University College of Education, Winneba in the Central Region. He chaired various committees at the university and acted as vice-chancellor in the absence of the substantive vice-chancellor during his tenure as the pro vice-chancellor.
One significant activity he undertook in relation to higher education when he served as the chairman of the committee to review staffing in the polytechnics was to present a lead paper on decentralisation at the university at a seminar for university administration under the auspices of the Tertiary Education Project.
Professor Ameyaw-Akumfi has earned several awards, including the University of Ghana Scholar (1969-70); AFGRAD Scholar, University of Michigan (1972-77); senior research fellow (Commonwealth Academic Staff Fellowship) at University College of North Wales Bangor (1984-85) and Fulbright Scholar at the Marine Research Laboratory, Bodega Bay, University of California.
Until his appointment as the minister of education in the Kufuor government, he was the director general of the Ghana Education Service. He was also dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Cape Coast and a policy advisor to the Ministry of Education.
Wilberforce Asare
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