ASSESSING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT (663) ACT 2003 AND ITS IMPACT ON GOOD GOVERNANCE IN THE BONGO DISTRICT OF GHANA

Abstract

Public procurement is key to good public financial management and public resource allocation. Its significance is derived from its role as the vehicle by which typically over 40% of the budget implementation is managed in Malawi and which can be as high as 70% in Uganda. (Agaba & Shipman, 2005). It is the means by which a country's policy objectives are implemented. It is against this background that the government has over the years made various efforts to correct the uncontrolled expenditure of public funds through the implementation of the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) and (Financial Administration Act, 654) (Ghana, G. 0, 2003) to promote quality of work leading to good governance. This study sought to find out the extent to which the implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2003, (Act 663) affects the performance of public entities in Bongo District. Geographically, Bongo District was chosen as the study area, the reason being that, there were a lot of agitations by citizens in the District about alleged shoddy/poor quality of work executed by contractors and lack of transparency in procurement activities. Explanatory research design was used to explain and analyze causal relationship between the Public Procurement Act and good governance in Bongo District. The sample method was purposive targeting a population of fifty decentralized department's employees and contractors through the administration questionnaire and interview guide. The study identified that; there was noncompliance with the Public Procurement Act 2003, (Act 663) by public entities in Bongo which affects the government purse. There was also delay in the payment of contractors swelling the contract cost. It was therefore recommended that the District should enforce strict implementation of the public procurement Act by ensuring that proper supervisory structures are put in place in the various procurement entities as well as well-trained Procurement staff to ensure the effective implementation of public procurement Act.