The IMANI Center for Policy and Education has called for a comprehensive review of Ghana’s procurement law to build a more transparent and accountable system.

The policy think tank argued that an overhaul would help prevent revenue leakages and strengthen public accountability in the procurement process.

A Senior Research Associate at IMANI Africa, Dennis Asare, made this appeal during the IMANIFesto event on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.

At the event, IMANI conducted a detailed analysis of the manifestos of major political parties, including the New Patriotic Party (NPP), National Democratic Congress (NDC), and Movement for Change, focusing on their respective policy promises and implications.

Mr. Asare highlighted that Ghana's frequent use of single-source procurement, especially for high-value contracts, has weakened the system.

"When IMANI did public procurement analysis, what we identified is that if you take all the highly financial value contracts, they are always or at all times, procured through single sourcing, which means that single sourcing is one of the popular ways that the government procures high financial value contracts."

While single sourcing is legally permissible under specific conditions, it has increasingly become the standard approach for awarding major contracts, which has raised concerns about transparency and fairness.

He pointed out that this trend in single sourcing creates vulnerabilities within the procurement framework, making it prone to misuse and limiting competitive bidding opportunities.

The over-reliance on single sourcing, he argued, undermines the very principles of efficiency and value for money in public spending.

To safeguard the integrity of Ghana’s procurement system, Mr. Asare urged for a policy shift that would reduce dependence on single-source procurement.

According to him, implementing stricter guidelines and promoting competitive bidding processes would enhance transparency and ensure that public funds are used more effectively.

"...Given that we still have challenges in our procurement system in terms of accountability, we need to make sure that we create a more robust and transparent procurement system to ensure that we address contract overpricing and things like the political clientelism that has bedeviled our public procurement sphere," he stated.