Presidential 'bribery' saga: Burkinabe contractor pulls out of GHC82m tender

Djibril Kanazoe

The Burkinabe contractor who has confessed to sending a gift to President John Mahama has pulled out of a GHC82million bid to construct a 28-kilometre road. Roads and Highways Minister Alhaji Inusah Fuseini told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Thursday that Djibril Kanazoe expressed disinterest in the contract "some weeks ago". An investigation by Joy News' Manasseh Azure Awuni spanning three months has revealed that Djibril Kanazoe who is President and Director-General of Groupe Kanazoe gave a Ford Expedition to President Mahama in 2012 after he had won two construction contracts.

The wall around a piece of land for Ghana's Embassy in Burkina Faso

One was to build a wall around a piece of land for Ghana's Embassy in Burkina Faso at a cost of $650,000. Another was the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road worth €25.9million. The investigations further showed that the contractor was being considered another contract to construct the Wa-Hamile road on sole-sourcing basis.

The Roads Minister, Inusah Fuseini, explained to Joy News’ Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure earlier that the Burkinabe contractor was being considered for the 28-kilometre road project on the Wa-Hamile stretch because of his proximity to the area and his track record.

The minister said it is because of the quality of the road and the fact that Mr. Kanazoe is near the project site. But speaking a day after the story broke about the contractor's gift to the president, Inusah Fuseini now says Djibril Kanazoe was invited along with other contractors to bid for the road project.

The tender for the project was opened only yesterday, he said. But Djibril Kanazoe was not part, he stressed. Insuah Fuseini said he does not know any reason why the contractor, praised highly by President Mahama for his work, would pull out of the tender process.

He said Djibril Kanazoe is not under any obligation to give reasons for his disinterest. Despite the expose, the Roads and Highways Minister was emphatic that Mr. Kanazoe has not in “anyway [mis]conducted himself to be blacklisted.”

Manasseh Azure’s investigations pointed out that per the reasons given by the Roads and Highways minister , it would have been illegal to consider Mr. Kanazoe for the contract on sole-sourcing basis. He referred to Section 40, of the Public Procurement Law, which does not allow the minister to award the contracts to the Burkinabe contractor through sole-sourcing.