Mr Adom-Otchere, who is also the anchor of Metro TV's Good Evening Ghana program, followed up his social media remark with an explanation on his TV show on January 11, four days after it was made public.
"We issued a statement saying the Christmas tree was purchased for 34,000 cedis," Mr Adom-Otchere said, referring to an invoice on a touch screen display in the studio.
The amount the corporation paid for the decorations, on the other hand, varied in the TV presentation. He updated the sum to GHS 128,366 from the GHS 118,000 he had previously reported as the entire payment.
Mr Paul Adom-Otchere, who appeared on television, altered the statistics for the overall cost of the decorations. The amount mentioned on the face value of the two proforma invoices — GHS 129,275 — is the closest to this GHS 128,366. (the sum of 38,775 and GHS 90,500)
The inconsistencies in Paul Adom-two Otchere's responses, along with the viral assertions, prompted Redeemer to file an RTI request for clarity.
Alleged procurement law violation
Some critics of the agreement claimed that the GACL used the request for quote process in violation of the Public Procurement Act.
According to Paul Adom-Otchere, the GACL sought quotes from two businesses to supply various services for the airport's Christmas decorations. A "procurement entity may participate in procurement by soliciting quotations in accordance with section 43," according to Article 42 of the Public Procurement Act.
"The procurement entity shall request quotations from as many suppliers or contractors as practicable," according to Section 43 of the Act, "but shall compare quotations from at least three different sources that should not be related in terms of ownership, shareholding, or directorship, and conflict of interest principles shall apply between the procurement entities and their members and different price quotation sources."
This implies that the GACL should have gotten quotes from at least three different service providers for the Christmas tree and another three for the chandelier rental.
The GACL, on the other hand, solicited only one estimate for each of the two services, a procedure that some opponents claimed violated procurement regulations.
In January, I filed an RTI request, and in June, I received a response.
Redeemer Buatsi sought copies of the procurement contract, as well as details on how much the GACL spent on Christmas trees over the years, in January.
The GACL was unresponsive to the request. In line with the RTI statute, Mr Buatsi then made an internal appeal to the company's managing director.
The GACL, in a letter signed by its managing director, Mrs Pamela Djamson-Tettey, directed the journalist to the Ministry of Transport in a response dated April 4, 2022, approximately three months after the first request.
The journalist was directed to the Ministry of Transport/Fourth Estate by the GACL letter.
"Please be aware that the information you need was sent to the Ministry of Transportation via our letter dated March 10, 2022, in answer to a parliamentary question made by Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza, MP.
"As a result, we recommend that you approach the Ministry of Transportation for the information in accordance with Article 21 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989)," the GACL said.
Redeemer forwarded the request to the Ministry of Transportation.
The Transport Ministry refuted Paul Adom-assertions Otchere's on the acquisition of the Christmas tree in a letter dated June 10 and signed by Theresah Kokui Fiador, representing the Minister.
"Please be advised that the GACL leased the Christmas decorations for 2021 rather than purchasing them. As a result, there was no procurement or bidding procedure for contract award," according to the Ministry of Transport.
The Ministry stated in the letter that there was no procurement or bidding procedure for the contract award.
Even the rental decorations were paid for by a sponsor, according to the Ministry, meaning that the GACL suffered no costs for the 2021 Christmas decorations.
"We'd want to emphasize that the Christmas decorations in question were rented and paid for by a sponsor." As a result, GACL did not award a contract for the purpose," the Ministry stated.
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