TITLE:
Implementation Challenges of the Public Procurement Act by Selected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Ashanti Region, Ghana
AUTHORS:
Charles Adusei, Dadson Awunyo-Vitor
KEYWORDS:
Procurement, MMDAs, Ghana, Ashanti Region, Local Governance
JOURNAL NAME:
iBusiness,
Vol.7 No.1,
March
9,
2015
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is
to investigate the implementation challenges of the Public Procurement Act 2003
(Act 663) by Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Ashanti
Region of Ghana. The key issues examined in the study are the level of knowledge,
the procedure and modalities of compliance with the Act and the challenges of implementing
the Procurement Act by the procurement committee members. Purposive sampling was
adopted in selecting fourteen MMDAs while simple random procedure was used to sample
members of the procurement committee at the selected MMDAs for the study. Questionnaires
and focus group discussion were used to collect data and information from the respondents.
Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data. The study
revealed that a large proportion of the procurement committee members could not
explain key sections of the Act. In all the sampled MMDAs respondents claimed to
follow procedure required by the Act. However, they enumerated the following as
the key challenges with regards to the compliance of the Act: political interference,
unqualified staff, and lack of monitoring as well as inadequate motivation for the
committee members. There is a need for the MMDAs to take steps to address these
challenges.