Abstract:
Government or public institutions spend public funds on the provision of essential services like
health, education, defence and infrastructure. However, while ensuring that public funds are
utilized judiciously, there are corrupt acts that prevail in the process. Therefore, this study aimed
to ascertain the effects of these corrupt acts on the public procurement process. Simple random
sampling was used to obtain thirty-three (33) respondents from Ghana Highway Authority,
Accra and a quantitative study was employed to solicit their perceptions on the topic. It was
found that undue influence, collusion and conflict of interest are the main corrupt practices
perpetrated in public procurement in Ghana Highway Authority. Also, the study revealed that
these corrupt acts are mostly fuelled by the level of remuneration of public officials and lack of
transparency in the process. Additionally, the findings revealed that corruption has a strong
effect on public procurement, therefore, encouraging inefficiencies like delivery delays and
increased contract value. In conclusion, the study recommends that the management of Ghana
Highway Authority should introduce random transfer or rotation of staff, especially those
involved in procurement processes of the organization. There should be public prosecution of
offenders to serve as a deterrent.
Description:
A dissertation in the Department of Procurement and Supply Chain Management,
School of Business, submitted to the school of
Graduate Studies, in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the award of the degree of
Master of Business Administration
(Procurement and Supply Chain Management)
in the University of Education, Winneba
