“Would you accept an unlicensed surgeon because he has seen it done before? If you have just taken your seat on an aircraft and the air hostess informs you that the pilot is unlicensed, would you still choose to take the aircraft? As a business, would you allow an unqualified accountant to manage your financial chores?”
These are some of the hard-hitting questions Prof. Douglas Boateng, a distinguished Fellow of the Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply (GIPS) and CEO of PanAvest International, asked when he addressed delegates at the 2025 National Procurement and Supply Conference.
Just as no one would fly with an uncertified pilot or hand their life to an unqualified doctor, Prof. Boateng is making a strong case that nations should not entrust their budgets, worth billions of cedis and central to industrialisation and growth, to unlicensed procurement officers.
But unfortunately, across Ghana and the continent, that is precisely what is happening, causing severe havoc in economies.
Procurement at the Heart of National Growth
For Prof. Douglas Boateng, procurement goes beyond just buying goods or awarding contracts. It can shape markets, direct investments, and support national priorities, from schools and clinics to roads and factories. He reminded delegates that procurement decisions, often made by unlicensed practitioners, can determine whether limited state resources deliver value or vanish into inefficiency.
“The sad reality,” he said, “is that business as usual with procurement is costing us schools, clinics, factories, jobs, and citizen trust.”
Practitioners vs. Professionals
At the heart of Prof. Boateng’s clarion call was the distinction between “procurement practitioners” and “procurement professionals.” He observed that while Ghana has many practitioners, he argued that true professionals, those licensed, trained, and accountable to ethical and technical standards, remain scarce.
The situation, he says, is a huge blot on procurement activities in the country. Due to the absence of professional standards, professed practitioners have limited knowledge, standards, ethics, and accountability.
“How do you hold an unlicensed practitioner accountable? Can someone who does not know what to do be held responsible for budget and cost overruns?” he asked. He therefore stressed that difference is not academic; it is the difference between waste and efficiency, corruption and accountability, failure and development.
Why Professionalisation Cannot Wait
The procurement expert insisted that Ghana’s path to industrialisation and sustainable development cannot succeed without procurement reform. Every cedi spent inefficiently robs the country of opportunities to build factories, equip schools, and create jobs for its youthful population.
He added that professionalising procurement means more than licensing individuals. It is about embedding ethics, transparency, and long-term thinking into the very system. It means creating a cadre of professionals who can defend the public purse, drive industrialisation, and restore citizen trust.
“Every day across our continent, we trust national budgets to people who are not licensed to procure. We ask them to spend billions, shape markets, and support national growth, and they are not licensed. But you will not go to a doctor or a licensed doctor to spend your money. Why are we doing that as a continent? The sad reality, my brothers and sisters from another mother, is that it’s become business as usual,” he lamented.
He added, “Even though we are all paying the price of the intended and unintended consequences of unaccountable and ineffective procurement practices. The inconvenient truth is this. Business as usual with procurement is costing us schools, clinics, factories, jobs, and citizen trust.”
A Call to Action
Prof. Boateng’s call was not merely a critique but a challenge. He urged practitioners to pursue professionalisation, not just for personal advancement but for national transformation.
He also called on the authorities to fast-track the passage of the act that will ensure the professionalization of procurement activities in the country.
Prof. Douglas Boateng maintains that the stakes are high. As the country works to reset its economy, meet IMF conditions, and industrialise, procurement could either be the Achilles’ heel of its ambitions or the engine of its sustainable growth and development.
