Four Persons Convicted in Northern Development Authority Procurement Case
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
23 October 2026
The High Court in Tamale on 23 October 2026 convicted four persons on seven counts of corruption and corruption-related offences arising from procurement contracts awarded by the Northern Development Authority (NDA) under the Government of Ghana’s Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP).
The case is a significant public prosecution of procurement-related corruption in Ghana’s Fourth Republic. It involved three senior officials of the NDA and the Chief Executive of a private-sector company in a procurement arrangement in which the approved contract sum of GH¢5.72 million was increased to GH¢10.4 million without lawful authority, according to the investigation conducted by the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).
The convicts are Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, former Chief Executive of the NDA; Stephen Yir-Eru Engmen, former Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Operations; Patrick Seidu, former Deputy Chief Executive in charge of Finance and Administration; and Andrew Kuundaari, Chief Executive of A&QS Consortium Limited.
The offences on which they were convicted included conspiracy to directly or indirectly influence the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage in the award of a procurement contract, directly or indirectly influencing the procurement process to obtain an unfair advantage, corruption by a public officer, and corruption of a public officer.
The OSP’s investigation found that the approved contract sum for consultancy services covering eleven constituencies in the Upper West Region was GH¢5.72 million. A contract document subsequently relied upon by the parties stated a total sum of GH¢10.4 million, an increase of GH¢4.68 million for which approval had not been obtained from the Public Procurement Authority.
The investigation further found that two invoices resulted in the approval of payments totalling GH¢8,328,840, exceeding the approved contract sum by GH¢2,608,840. A further GH¢2,071,160 was claimed as outstanding.
On 1 July 2022, the Special Prosecutor directed the Controller and Accountant-General to immediately freeze payments to A&QS Consortium Limited under the NDA’s implementation of IPEP, pending the conclusion of the investigation. The intervention was intended to prevent further payments under the contract while the alleged procurement breaches were investigated.
The prosecution followed investigations into a complaint filed by legal practitioner Martin Kpebu. During the trial, the High Court dismissed a submission of no case to answer by the accused persons. The Court of Appeal subsequently unanimously rejected their challenge to that ruling, allowing the trial to proceed.
In sentencing the convicts, the Court imposed fines of 1,000 penalty units for each count. It declined to impose custodial sentences, taking into account the advanced ages of the convicts and the fact that the OSP had acted swiftly to prevent unlawful payments under the contracts, resulting in no loss to the Republic.
The OSP will continue to investigate and prosecute corruption and corruption-related offences involving public officers and private individuals. Public procurement must serve the public interest and must not be manipulated to confer unauthorised advantages or expose public resources to unlawful claims.