Safeguards against corruption in Roads Sector Procurement of works in Ghana

Procurement is one of the fundamental links in the supply chain of any organization. If this link is not managed efficiently and effectively, there will be serious downstream challenges in the supply chain. Kaufman (2004) estimated that more than US$1,000 billion is paid annually in bribes, and the volume of bribes exchanging hands for public sector procurement alone to roughly 200 billion dollars per year. The issue of corruption in Ghana has over the years taken a centre stage during discussions about public financial management and by extension public procurement. The subject has become very critical since recent public hearings of the public accounts committee of parliament and various commissions/committees set up by government in recent times have had to deal with procurement related corruption issues. Today, public outcry about judgment debt payments has remained a source of worry for most procurement practitioners since most of the debts have arisen as a result of procurement lapses. This research seeks to; assess the opportunities for corruption in the road sector procurement of works in Ghana, and identify the motivational and incentives of individual procurement officials to engage in such corruption. For industry, it aimed to also identify a set of process or issues that can be implemented at the roads sector level to minimize the potentials for corruption. This study used a likert scale to generate the perception of various study respondents on the magnitude of corruption in roads sector procurement of works. The primary coverage area of this study includes the Ministry of Roads and Highway Agencies in Northern Region Thus, Ghana Highway Authority, Department of Urban Roads and Department of Feeder Roads, Road Works Contractors and Consultants in the region. This research was based on purposive sampling technique, the other alternative use of probability sampling was not considered due to limited time and resources. The questionnaires were sent out to each respondent via e-mail with a letter (see Appendix 1), explaining the purpose of the research and to complete the survey questions between 1st - 17th October 2013. Four(4) participants were targeted and interviewed. Please see appendix 3 for those questions. The feed backs of the survey were collected from the period between1st - 17th October 2013. The results were organized in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet with the code sheet that was developed to measure the attitudes from the data of the survey results. The study recommended that to safeguard against corruption in the road sector procurement, Risk assessment should be comprehensive analysised to reduce corruption risk projects, Communication and training should be intensified among staff for them to understand their respective roles and responsibilities in the fight against procurement corruption using the procurement law, Authorities at the road sector should support the system with a sanctions policy, which needs to be fair and open and as transparent as possible, they should enhance periodic monitoring and establish credibility for their anti-corruption programmes, and finally, there should be collaboration between governmental, non-governmental organisations, donor partners and civil society’s working together to develop enforcement of anti-corruption laws.

Source: KNUST