Deputy Finance Minister Backs Creation of Value for Money Office to Curb Waste, Inflated Project Costs
Deputy Minister for Finance, Thomas Nyarko Ampem, has defended government’s proposal to establish a Value for Money Office, describing it as a necessary step to tackle waste, inflated project costs, and procurement inefficiencies within the public sector.
In an interview on Friday, November 14, Mr Ampem stated that the current procurement oversight system lacks the technical competence required to assess whether project costs quoted by contractors reflect true market value.
“Even with the Public Procurement Authority now, there was a value for money agency called the Crown Agents that was working alongside PPA, but they are out now,” he noted.
He clarified that while the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) ensures compliance with procedures, it does not evaluate cost reasonableness.
“The Public Procurement Authority would make sure that you are going through the right approach and processes and all that. They do not have the capacity to determine value for money,” he stressed.
Mr Ampem explained that the proposed office must be staffed with engineers and technical specialists who can independently assess project scope, pricing, and benchmarks to prevent inflated contracts.
“This value for money office that we intend to establish must have engineers to be able to value and set a standard that a project of this nature must cost X amount between X minimum and Y maximum,” he said.
The Deputy Minister described the proposed structure as urgent, citing persistent procurement abuses that result in significant financial losses to the state.
“Procurement abuses and inflation of prices are making us lose huge sums of money. So it is very, very important.”
Beyond procurement reforms, Mr Ampem highlighted broader measures in the 2026 Budget aimed at supporting economic recovery. He noted that job-creation strategies announced were not exhaustively detailed during the budget presentation but remain a key priority.
“We as a government will only be able to use government policies, government procurement to enhance job creation. We cannot go directly into employing many, many, many people… the fiscal space will not allow that,” he explained.
He further emphasised that government’s VAT rationalisation policy is intended to ease the financial burden on businesses and support growth.
“This VAT was killing a lot of businesses… so we are doing this to give incentives to you, to everybody, to be able to have some respite,” he added.
