Four convicted of corruption over Ghana public contracts
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Thechronicle
The High Court in Tamale convicted former Northern Development Authority chief Sumaila Abdul-Rahman and three others of seven offences linked to public contracts. The four convicted people were not given prison sentences, as the court took their advanced age into account, according to Ghana’s Office of the Special Prosecutor.
The High Court in Tamale convicted Sumaila Abdul-Rahman, former chief executive officer of the Northern Development Authority (NDA), and three other people of corruption in a case involving public contracts under the government’s Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Programme (IPEP), the Office of the Special Prosecutor of Ghana (OSP) announced on Friday 23 October 2026.
The three other convicted people are Stephen Yir-Eru Engmen, former deputy chief executive officer in charge of operations, Patrick Seidu, former deputy chief executive officer in charge of finance and administration, and Andrew Kuundaari, chief executive officer of private company A&QS Consortium Limited. The court found them guilty of seven of the 11 charges, including improperly influencing a procurement process and corrupting a public officer, according to the OSP.
The court did not impose prison sentences. It took into account the advanced age of the four convicted people and the fact that the OSP’s intervention had prevented illegal payments, finding that the state had suffered no financial loss. A fine of 1,000 penalty units was imposed for each charge, although the OSP did not specify the total amount owed by each person.
The investigation was opened following a complaint by lawyer Martin Kpebu. It concerned contracts awarded by the NDA under IPEP, a programme intended to fund infrastructure and reduce poverty. The convictions follow warnings about the management of infrastructure projects in Ghana, discussed in delays to infrastructure projects on 5 October.
