Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, Director-General of NLA
The National Lottery Authority (NLA) has expressed disappointment over what it says is the “unprofessional and unethical conduct of Joy News/Joy FM and Multimedia Group Limited over unfair, untrue and biased reports on the Procurement of NEXGO Android Point of Sale Terminals by the Authority.”
Joy News has claimed in a recent documentary that its “investigation has uncovered the loss of over $10 million in the procurement of Point of Sale (POS) devices for the National Lottery Authority (NLA).”
The Joy News team claimed that it has “gathered evidence that the contract for the supply of 30,000 POS devices for the NLA should have cost less than half of the contract sum of $25 million.”
Response
However, according to NLA, “it is never true that the cost of the Android Point of Sale Terminals was inflated by the Director-General of the National Lottery Authority as alleged by the Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited.”
A statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of NLA said “it is also never true that the National Lottery Authority has procured 30, 000 Android Point of Sale Terminals.”
NLA explained that the Public Procurement Authority gave it approval to procure 30,000 Point of Sale Terminals but, according to the financial strength of the Authority, only 5,000 out of the 30,000 have been purchased.
It added that “the cost and negotiations for the award of contract to the manufacturer Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited was approved by the Public Procurement Authority.”
“The Public Procurement Authority directed the NLA to negotiate for a five per cent discount on the contract sum prior to the award of the contract to Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited. However, due to the inability of the local partner of Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited to offer the five per cent discount as requested by Public Procurement Authority, the PPA therefore directed the National Lottery Authority to go for a three per cent reduction instead.
“The Public Procurement Authority tasked the manufacturer, Shenzhen Xinguodu Technology Limited and its local partner to deliver the POSTs to the NLA through Delivery Duty Paid (DDP). If Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited understands what is DDP, with the greatest of respect, they would not have come up with this bogus documentary of Cost Inflation. However, their ignorance cannot be forgiven,” the statement said.
NLA added that the Android Point of Sale Terminals are not just ordinary POST Machines but have special technological features aimed at supporting NLA to offer value added services.
NLA has described as “naive and ignorant for Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited to conclude that the Authority has procured 30,000 Android Point of Sale Terminals at an inflated cost of over $10 million dollars.”
Investigation and suit
“It is instructive to state that, Hon. Kofi Osei-Ameyaw, the Director-General of the NLA, has sued Multimedia Group Limited in this particular subject matter and the case is still pending at the Court.
“If not for purposes of propaganda and mischief, Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited has every right under the law to submit their evidence to the court for final determination of the case but no, they chose to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians and the general public,” it said.
The NLA has also disclosed that the former Special Prosecutor was investigating this particular case, but failed woefully to conclude the investigation before his unfortunate resignation.
The NLA has therefore hinted that it “shall officially sue Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited in the coming days over these baseless and unsubstantiated allegations.”
The Authority has also urged Ghanaians and the general public to “ignore the bogus documentary of Joy News/Joy FM/Multimedia Group Limited since the matter is before competent Court of Jurisdiction for a determination.”
Meanwhile, lawyers of the NLA CEO have written to management of Multimedia of the issue.
The letter addressed to Samson Lardy Anyenini, lawyer for Multimedia, from A-Partners@Law, lawyer for the NLA boss notifies the media organisation of the Authority’s intention to commence contempt charges.
“We have our client’s instructions to without further notice to you upon your client’s failure, neglect or refusal to satisfy our client’s demands fully, commence contempt proceedings against your client, every director, officer and presenter in charge of the airing of the documentary,” the letter said.
About The Author
