President of the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply, Simon Annan, is leading the forefront for the passage of the Procurement and Supply Bill into law. Mr. Annan is certain that having such a Bill in place will regulate procurement practice, and provide statutory authority for the operation of the Institute to facilitate constituency, standardization, and uniformity.
According to Mr Annan, the current procurement law (Act 663) does not make provision for the regulation of procurement professionals.
“Procurement professionals under the current law are not regulated, so we are not able to crack the whip when they indulge in procurement irregularities and take away their licenses if we wanted to.”
“We feel irregularities in procurement which results in corruption in most cases will largely be resolved with the passage of the bill,” he made the remark during the NorvanReports, Economic Governance Platform and BudgIT Ghana, Twitter (X)space discussion on the topic ‘Cutting Through The Red Tape: Ghana’s Procurement Makeover.’
He stressed that the delay in the passage of the bill has been due to the lack of political will of successive governments, which possed a major challenge for the course to follow due process.
“The passage of the bill will really be good for the Institute and so it’s something we are really pushing hard for,” he remarked, adding that peers such as South Africa and Kenya have already passed similar bills to regulate the activities of procurement professionals in their respective countries.
The Procurement and Supply Bill is a significant piece of legislation aimed at regulating and enhancing the procurement and supply chain management practices in Ghana. The bill is typically designed to create a more transparent, efficient, and accountable procurement process within both the public and private sectors. It also seeks to standardize procedures and practices to reduce corruption and inefficiency in procurement activities.
Ghana is estimated to lose close to $3 billion annually through corruption, most of which are procurement-related. The annual Auditors-General report further highlights the billions of cedis lost through procurement irregularities and infractions in public institutions.
The proposed Bill, Mr Annan argued, is not just about enhancing the credibility of procurement practices but also about safeguarding the integrity of public spending and combating corruption more effectively.
