The governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been irretrievably trapped by its words in relation to sole-sourced road contracts in the country.
While in opposition, the NDC accused the Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of giving sole-sourced contracts to road contractors as a means of ‘stealing from the state’, and promised to ban the act except in highly exceptional circumstances.
However, barely a year in office, the President John Dramani Mahama-led NDC government has abandoned its solemn pledge, doling out potentially scandalous sole-sourced contracts running into billions of cedis to some contractors with little experience in executing major road works.
Some of the contractors, who won the juicy contracts, apparently, had one to four workers declared in their SSNIT clearance certificates.
The Fourth Estate Exposé
Some credible Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are asking serious questions about the transparency of the contracts awarded, possible inflated costs as well as sole-sourcing and selective tendering of the contracts to alleged governing party cronies.
The Fourth Estate, a public interest and accountability investigative journalism project of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) issued a report on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, indicating that a whopping 81 out of the 107 road contracts worth over GH¢73 billion were awarded through sole-sourcing.
The Executive Director of MFWA, Mr Sulemana Braimah, disclosed that the remaining 26 contracts worth about GH¢8 billion were awarded through selective tendering, meaning over 90% of the amount of money expected to be spent on roads under the ‘Big Push’ programme so far was given out through sole-sourcing.
Speaking on JoyNews Television programme, ‘Newsfile’, on Saturday, the MFWA Boss further gave some chilling revelations about the NDC’s sole-sourced contracts.
He mentioned the rehabilitation of the Dodo Pepesu-Nkwanta road, which has since ignited public debate over rising infrastructure costs and value for money, barely a decade after the project was first completed.
This road, he pointed out, was originally constructed in 2016 by a Burkinabe Contractor, Groupe Kanazoe through a competitive international tendering process at a cost of €25.9 million as a European Union funded initiative.
“Fast forward to today, the same road has been awarded for rehabilitation at a cost of GH¢804 million. When converted, this figure exceeds €63 million, almost three times the original construction cost,” Mr Sulemana Braimah observed.
Controversy about the road project
The project was hailed as a significant achievement in road infrastructure when it was first constructed.
President Mahama even described it as “pleasing to the eye,” reflecting its quality and visual appeal upon completion, suggesting that local contractors could learn from the standards applied in such projects.
However, concerns about the durability of the road emerged shortly after its commissioning.
Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, in a documentary, highlighted early signs of deterioration and questioned the quality of work done as experts indicated that the expected lifespan of an asphalted road should be around 30 years.
It was also revealed by Manasseh that Djibril Kanazoe, the President and Director-General of Groupe Kanazoe gave a Ford Expedition to President Mahama in 2012 after he had won two construction contracts.
One was to build a wall around a piece of land for Ghana’s Embassy in Burkina Faso at a cost of $650,000 and the other was the Dodo Pepeso-Nkwanta road at the €25.9million.
Other bizarre contract sums
The Fourth Estate also revealed what it described as just a ‘small one’ awarded under even a ‘Restricted Tender’.
According to Mr Sulemana Braimah, the cost of an upgrading of Apeguso-Mpakadan Feeder Road, signed on November 25, 2025 for surface dressing or locally referred to as “Sapitii”, was mind-blowing.
“Road Length: 9km
Contract Sum: GH¢146,511,649
Cost per KM: GH¢16.27million ($1.47million)
Contractor: Build Managers Ltd.
“What is even mind-blowing is how they arrived at the contract sum. A whopping GH¢37.5million is allocated as ‘Maintenance of Department of Feeder Roads Headquarters.’ Maintenance ooo not construction of a new office. And guess what? This is not the only contract with allocation for Maintenance of the same office,” Mr Sulemana Braimah disclosed.
He also disclosed that the said contractor had just one worker mentioned in his SSNIT clearance certificate.
Roads & Highways Minister’s response
Meanwhile, the Minister for Roads and Highways, Mr Kwame Governs Agbodza has defended the cost of the rehabilitation works on the Dodo Pepeso–Nkwanta road, dismissing claims of inflated figures being reported in the media.
According to him, the approved contract sum stands at GH¢683,902,957.69, not the GH¢854 million figure as cited by the Fourth Estate.
His response followed Mr Sulemana Braimah’s revelation that the rehabilitation contract exceeded the cost of the road’s original construction.
Mr. Agbodza urged the public to disregard what he described as misinformation about the alleged contract inflated by over GH¢120 million.
He claimed that the official contract value for the Dodo Pepeso–Nkwanta project remained unchanged at GH¢683.9 million.
The Minister further stated that ongoing attempts to scandalise the project would not deter the government’s commitment to improving the country’s road network.
