The management of Bulk Oil Storage and Transportation Company Limited (BOST) has practically thrown insults at Ghanaians questioning the propriety of buying eighteen (18) luxurious phones for what it described as “critical officers of the company”.
A statement from the state-owned company claimed that, “the result so far attest to the efficiency of the systems put in place, which includes the access points for key members of the team to access processed information for efficient decision making”.
But even before the insult over the procurement of the phone settles, it has been revealed that BOST, has purchased some tea machines at a cost of GH¢2.3 million.
The tea machines were procured through single-sourcing, which has sparked controversy. The company at the center of the tea machine procurement was Rageita Company Limited.
BOST, had denied earlier reports that quoted the Auditor General that Twenty Eight Million, Five Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Two Hundred Sixty One Ghana Cedis was spent on the iPhones 13 Pro Max “the total cost of the phones stood at Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Thousand Ghana Cedis (234,000.00) grossed up for taxes at Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand, Four Hundred and Twelve Ghana Cedis, Sixteen Pesewas (GHS285, 412.16).
The statement was issued in the name of the Corporate Communications and External Affairs Department.
It said “the reason for the purchase of the device was to equip the team to stay in touch with the management information and business intelligence systems of the company for efficient decision making”.
In the petroleum storage and transportation space, a split second can make the difference between success and failure. The result so far, attest to the efficiency of the systems put in place which includes the access points for key members of the team to access processed information for efficient decision making.
The statement issued on Saturday, September 30, 2023, said the error occurred due to the placing the decimal point two steps to the right of the actual figure.
It indicated that the amount was captured in the financial report of the company.
It added that, the report has been audited by the Auditor General and the decision has been vetted without any adverse findings made about the same.
BOST, however, observed that there was an error with the placement of the dot in the amount as typed in the report.
“The Twenty-Eight Million, Five Hundred and Forty-One Thousand, Two Hundred and Sixty-One Ghana Cedis (GHS28, 541,261.00) in the report may be due to a typographical error of placing the dot (.) two steps to the right which on the face of the document converted the GHS285,412.61 to GHS28,541,261.00.
“The public is hereby entreated to ignore the claim that the company bought eighteen (18) phones at 28 million.
“It is both erroneous and mischievous.”
It justified the purchase of the phones, saying it is “to equip the team to stay in touch with the management information and business intelligence systems of the company for efficient decision making”.
The company urged its stakeholders to reach out to the Corporate Communications Department for any clarification before proceeding to make such statements which in the end could amount to misleading the public.
“The public is hereby entreated to ignore the claim that the company bought eighteen (18) phones at 28 million. It is both erroneous and mischievous”.
The contract tender number captured for the juicy tea machine contract was GR/BOST GD/0007/2022 and was executed on July 22, 2022 with the machine delivered on the same date.
In a leaked conversation on the tea machines intercepted by MyNewsGh.com, the Managing Director of BOST, Edwin Provencal, is mentioned as claiming that the machines were needed to provide hot beverages to staff and visitors to BOST offices and its other facilities at that exorbitant cost of Ghc2.3million.
However, some industry players, as well as staff of the company, have questioned the need for the machines and the cost of the procurement. They have also expressed concern about the fact that the procurement was done through single-sourcing.
This comes days after the company blew over 250,000 Cedis to procure 18 iPhone 13s for top management of the company in partnership with a non-existent company per Registrar General Checks.
Single sourcing is a procurement method in which a government entity or company awards a contract to a single supplier without going through a competitive bidding process.
They say this style and other sole sourcing methods, have been serially abused by BOST under Mr Edwin Provencal, who reportedly claims he is untouchable.
In the case of the BOST procurement, experts argued that there was no justification for using single sourcing and also that the prices were rip-offs.
They have said that there are many suppliers of hot beverage dispensing machines in Ghana, and that BOST, could have gotten a better deal, if it had gone through a competitive bidding process.
The PPA which is responsible for overseeing public procurement in Ghana is said to be in cahoots with the state-owned company by granting several approvals for similar contracts.