Corruption Thrives in Absence of Checks (Page 28)

THE Chief Executive of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA), Mr Adjenim Boateng Adjei, has said that people are tempted to corrupt if there are no stringent measures to serve as checks on their activities.
Quoting a British policeman’s response to a question on corruption, Mr Adjei said “all things being equal, five per cent of the people in the nation are corrupt; five per cent are not corrupt; whilst 90 per cent are only waiting for the opportunity to be either corrupt or incorrupt”.
He stressed that, “Thus, it is important for a regulatory body like the PPA to commit a lot of effort into monitoring to ensure that those 90 per cent of the people who are in waiting are not tempted to corrupt the laid down system”.
Mr Adjei was delivering a welcoming address at the 2008 Public Forum of the PPA in Accra. The forum, which was on the theme, “Effective and Efficient Monitoring of Public Procurement for Sustainable National Development”, was attended by members of the governing board of the PPA, officials of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, officials of the Internal Audit Agency (IAA), state-owned enterprises and stakeholders within the private sector.
Highlighting the importance of public procurement for sustainable national development, the PPA boss said studies had shown that public procurement in Ghana utilised about 80 per cent of the national tax revenue, represented about 24 per cent of total imports, represented between 50 and 70 per cent of the national budget (after deduction of personnel emoluments), as well as accounted for about 17 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said according to research findings, five per cent savings in procurement was equivalent to about 20 per cent increase in sales volume in relation to organisational profit .
“To the commercially oriented organisation whose aim is to maximise profit, procurement is strategic management function because of the impact it makes in its success and growth. To the non-profit organisations like subvented organisations where profit is not the objective, savings in procurement means more resources are available to undertake additional infrastructural projects for sustainable development,” he observed.
To achieve its objective, Mr Adjei noted that the PPA had approached the task of monitoring in a systemic, incremental manner, adding that the process of monitoring and evaluation began by developing an assessment tool called the Procurement Model of Excellence software, which allowed the qualitative and quantitative measurement of procurement systems.
He said to satisfy itself on the capabilities of the assessment tool, the PPA conducted a pilot assessment on 100 entities in 2005, which comprised both high and low spending institutions within the Greater Accra Region, and subsequently assessed 213 entities in 2006.
He said this year, the authority had assessed a total of 515 entities for the year 2007 and found that the results were encouraging. He backed that notion with a number of public tendering advertisements the entities made, which he said was clear indication of increased levels of transparency.
Delivering the keynote address, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, observed that the public forum, which was the third of its kind, was significant considering the opportunities they offered for interaction on issues that bordered on public financial management and its implications on the national economy.
The minister said since public procurement constituted one big expenditure component of the national budget, any opportunity to avoid waste and spillage should highly be applauded.
He stated that Ghana being a developing country whose national budget was 20 to 30 per cent supported through development partners, and international and local borrowing, there was the need for prudent use of funds through effective and efficient procurement systems.
The chairman for the function, who is also chairman for the PPA board, Mr Kwesi Abbey Sam, said the PPA had over the years worked assiduously to create awareness and improve public procurement activities in the country, adding that “this has been confirmed by the growing reportage on procurement activities in Ghana covering the views of the general public, the media and even Parliament on the management of public procurement in the country”.
As part of the programme, representatives from some of the high spending entities in the country presented reports on their experiences in implementing the Public Procurement Act of 2003 (Act 663), and these included the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Send Ghana, a civil society organisation, and Ultimate Supplies Limited, a private sector procurement agency.