The Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has condemned the Bank of Ghana (BoG) for the decision to sole source the procurement of gold watches for their retiring staff.

Speaking on Accra-based Citi FM Programmes Manager of GII Mrs Mary Awelana Addah said the Central Bank should have gone through the tendering process since there were other watch manufacturers.

“In this case we should be asking whether we have just one supplier, manufacturing watches or are these watches very special that we needed the PPA to approve a sole source?” she quizzed.

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Media reports suggest that some documents making the rounds indicate that the Central Bank sent a request to the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) to sole source the watches from a Swiss watch Company.

But the Bank in a statement signed by its communication department argued that they went through the required process to procure the watches.

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The statement further justified its spending of a whopping €450,000 - an equivalent of Gh¢2 million on gold watches for its retiring staff.

The statement explained that as per the tradition of the Central Bank, they award to staff of the Bank who has served in the institution for thirty years or more.

“End of service benefits, as part of the conditions of service for staff, is a longstanding tradition of the Bank, an obligation the Bank has always fulfilled to boost staff morale and commitment to the goals and ideals of the institution. The award scheme has been the convention of the Bank since the 1970s.”