UNVEILED! HOW COMMUNICATIONS MINISTRY AWARDS TRAINING CONTRACT TO SCHOOL OWNED BY MINISTER OUSMAN BAH
Conflict of interest, violation of procurement rules, and possible inflated costs have characterised the contract that the newly created Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy have awarded to the institute owned by the minister, Ousman Bah, to train IT technicians from various government ministries on digital transformation and cyber security.
The Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy has awarded a contract of over seven hundred thousand dalasis to the Indian Institute of Hardware Technology (IITH) to deliver training on ‘digital transformation and data security’ for government Information Technology technicians.
But the deal was done under circumstances that raise questions about conflict of interest among other irregularities, such as flouting of procurement rules, and potential cost inflation.
The minister, Ousman Bah, was the chief executive officer of IIHT, before he was appointed by President Adama Barrow in June last year to lead the newly created Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
It is not clear whether he has resigned effectively from his CEO functions, but our sources said he is active in the running of the institute even though a woman claimed to be his sister, Awa Bah, currently serves as acting CEO.
What has been confirmed though is that Minister Bah is the co-founder of the institute, holding 90 percent of the shares. Yet, he was actively involved in the negotiations for the contract to be awarded to the institute.
Minister Bah did not respond to our several requests for his comments, but hours before going to press, he sent in this response.
Just hours before going to press, after many weeks of interview requests, Minister Ousman Bah sent in this dispatch as his response to the issues we told him we were seeking clarifications.
Just hours before going to press, after many weeks of interview requests, Minister Ousman Bah sent in this dispatch as his response to the issues we told him we were seeking clarifications.
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Communication, Lamin Camara, said he had no knowledge that his minister owns the institute.
Permanent Secretary Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Lamin Camara. Photo credit: MoCDE Facebook.
“I did not see the need to enquire if the minister owns it or not,” he added. “All I understand is that it is a training institution operating in the country and specialised in ICT training.”
It turns out that the contract did not go through any competitive bidding. Even though the duration of the training has been reduced from three months to ten days, the total cost did not come down.
Contract awarded before proposal?
The officials of the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy have insisted that the contract did not go through public tender because ‘the proposal’ , an unsolicited one, came from the training institute, not the ministry.
However, there are mismatches in the documentation. Official records seen by Malagen show that the ministry of communication had sent out letters of invitation even before the institute submitted the proposal.
The said proposal from the institute is dated on May 15 while 22 days before - on April 23 - the ministry had sent out a letter to various ministries, inviting them to nominate participants for the training at the Institute.
“All I can say is that we have followed the process laid down for the training,” Camara added. He argued that the approval of the personnel management office (PMO) was enough, adding that there was no requirement for the Gambia Public Procurement Authority to approve the contract.
However, Lamin Jawara, permanent secretary of PMO, told Malagen that the burden of fulfilling procurement requirements, including conflict of interest issues, lies with the ministries.
“We do not handle procurement issues,” he said. “The PMO only looks at the cost of the training and its relevance to the trainees.
For Mr Kebba Sallah, a procurement specialist, the minister would be in violation of the law if the ministry awards contracts to his institute without declaring conflict of interest.
“What I can tell you is if a minister owns an institution and then wants training to be done in that institution, it is not correct,” the 71-year-old who has worked for the Gambia Procurement Authority and Ministry of Finance said.
Inflated cost?
In the proposal, the institute had offered to conduct the training over three months - 90 days - for a total cost of D750,000.
However, even though the duration of the training has eventually been reduced to 10 days, the total cost paid has increased to D765,000.
The permanent secretary Lamin Camara however said the terms our reporter cited in the proposal from the institute are inaccurate.
“Training for 3 months would have cost more,” he said. “The initial invoice was D875,000. This was reduced to D765,000. The fee includes feeding and refreshments for the trainees.
“IT training is very expensive and mostly more than D35,000 per participant.”
Abused privilege
Lamin Jawara, permanent secretary of PMO has confirmed that the government allows payment of up to D35,000 per participant for short-term training programmes.
This regulation, he said, came about because government officials abuse the privilege by procuring training contracts that cost up to D85,000 per participant for a one-week training.
“As far as tuition is concerned, we now have a maximum threshold of D35,000 per person for short-term training, which does not normally exceed two weeks,” he said.
This means the D30,000 tuition fee paid by the ministry of communication is D5000 less compared to the D35,000 cap offered by the government.
But several sources - both at the institute and the ministry - who are familiar with the contract informed Malagen that the institute had offered and could have conducted the training over three months for the amount paid for the two weeks training.
Meanwhile, Malagen has learnt that the payment made to the institute excludes D35,000 to be paid to each trainee as allowance - an estimated total of D875,000. This is because per a policy put in place by the PMO, government employees below the rank of director get D35,000 as allowance for participating in such training.
This means the total cost of the two weeks training is estimated to be D1.6m.
Story by Mariam Sankanu
Additional reporting by Kebba Jeffang and Mustapha K Darboe
Editing by Saikou Jammeh
This story is part of the OMC Investigative Reporting Fellowship, jointly funded by U.S Embassy in Banjul and Freedom House-The Gambia. None of our funders have any influence over our editorial decisions.
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