Dr Ohene Aku Kwapong, a Democracy and Development Fellow at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) has called for a complete dismantling of Ghana’s current Public Procurement Authority (PPA) model, arguing that it has become structurally incapable of protecting the public purse.
According to him, research and years of documented practices show that the PPA, in its current form, fuels non-compliance, enables political interference, and undermines public trust.
Speaking on persistent weaknesses within the country’s procurement architecture, the former Senior Vice President and Treasurer of the New York Economic Development Corporation, said the system has failed to guarantee value-for-money outcomes despite procurement accounting for as much as 20 percent of government expenditure and between 14 and 18 percent of Ghana’s GDP.
“When such a large share of the public budget flows through procurement channels, institutional integrity is not optional. Yet the evidence suggests that the PPA’s current structure is inadequate to guarantee that integrity.”
Dr Ohene Aku Kwapong, CDD Ghana Fellow
He pointed to a growing body of empirical research showing widespread non-compliance with procurement rules, adding that studies indicate that political interference, incompetence, and weak monitoring are statistically significant predictors of the violations seen across institutions.
Another study of regional procurement entities found that although awareness of the legal framework exists, many committee members lacked sufficient training, and external pressures from political actors remained pervasive.
PPA as a Political Tool
Dr Kwapong argues that the PPA has become a political tool rather than an independent regulator. Under Act 663, as amended, the PPA was intended to oversee and regulate procurement processes.
However, Dr Kwapong contended that multiple investigations reveal that the Authority functions more as a “filter for preferential sourcing and political direction” rather than a neutral evaluator.
He referenced research showing how successive governments weaponise procurement infractions to punish officials appointed by previous administrations, while appointees aligned with the ruling government face lenient or selective enforcement.
“In short, procurement failure in Ghana is not just a matter of individual wrongdoing. It is institutional design failure. In these conditions, mere reform of the PPA board model will not suffice”.
Dr Ohene Aku Kwapong, CDD Ghana Fellow
For Dr Kwapong, the board-and-CEO governance model must be abolished entirely, describing it as “subject to capture, politicisation and discretion — precisely the problem the procurement system should neutralise.”
Replacing PPA with Evaluation Unit under NDPC
He proposed that Ghana replace the PPA with a professional, technocratic procurement evaluation unit housed within the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC).
In his view, embedding procurement oversight within the NDPC is both logical and necessary. The Commission, he explained, is already responsible for coordinating national development planning, making it an ideal home for a specialised unit that can connect procurement decisions directly to long-term national priorities.
Such a unit, staffed by economists, engineers, auditors and procurement specialists, would be responsible for evaluating bids, validating options and assessing value-for-money outcomes. “A technical unit… can eliminate the political board layer that currently provides discretion and delay,” he said.
The proposed model removes the central points through which political influence flows. Without a board or politically appointed CEO, Dr Kwapong believes procurement oversight would instead be guided by transparent rules, rotating expert panels, and published evaluations.
He argued that this structure would increase predictability and minimise opportunities for capture, an essential condition for rebuilding public confidence. He further stressed that aligning procurement with national planning — rather than the ad-hoc interests of individual ministries — would reduce the risk of preferential treatment.
Referring to a study that found officials regularly flouting procurement rules “with impunity,” he said the current situation makes predictable abuse inevitable without decisive structural reform. “The PPA board model has failed to deliver the oversight, independence and transparency Ghana’s procurement system desperately needs,” he asserted.
Dr Kwapong placed Ghana’s challenges in an international context, noting that countries with strong procurement integrity—such as the Nordic economies, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia—achieved their status not through moral persuasion but through robust institutional design.
“Fraud prevention is not achieved by hoping officials are honest. It is achieved by making dishonesty unprofitable, easily detectable and institutionally impossible to conceal.”
Dr Ohene Aku Kwapong, CDD Ghana Fellow
Pillars of Most Trusted Procurement System
He pointed to three pillars that underpin the world’s most trusted procurement systems, beginning with real-time e-procurement platforms. Systems in countries like South Korea and Chile publish every tender, bid, contract and payment centrally, with historical data fully searchable. These platforms drastically reduce fraud by eliminating administrative shadows where manipulation typically occurs.
Secondly, he highlighted strict vendor eligibility systems used in high-trust countries. These systems require firms to disclose beneficial ownership, demonstrate technical capacity and show audited financials before participating in procurement processes.
“Fraud does not begin with the contract. It begins with the eligibility,” he said, adding that his proposal to restrict contracting to firms with proven capacity is standard international practice.
In his concluding remarks, Dr Kwapong argued that Ghana cannot continue patching a system designed for failure, insisting that the only pathway to transparency and credibility is to “embed procurement evaluation inside the NDPC as a technocratic unit, abolish or absorb the PPA board model, and remove the veneer of political discretion.”
According to him, only a decisive institutional redesign will render procurement predictable, transparent and trustworthy — and only then can public confidence begin to rebuild.
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