Monetization of politics and public procurement in Ghana.

Lassou, Philippe Jacques Codjo; Sorola, Matthew; Senkl, Daniela; Lauwo, Sarah George; Masse, Chelsea

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the prevalence of corruption in Ghana to understand how and why it has turned public procurement into a mere money-making scheme instead of a means to provide needed public goods and services. The study focuses on Ghana as a case study and mobilizes the monetization of politics lenses. Data are collected via interviews with key officials across the procurement sector (including the government, donors and civil society), documents, documentaries and news articles. The findings suggest that the increasing costs of elections and political financing, coupled with the costs of vote-buying (which has become informally institutionalized), intensify corruption practices and, consequently, turns public procurement into a mere source of cash for political ends. Political appointments and legalized loopholes facilitate this by helping to nullify the safeguard accounting and other control institutions are designed to provide. Likewise, enduring poverty and rising inequality "force" citizens into a vote-buying culture, which distorts democratic premises that may drive out unscrupulous politicians and thus perpetuating capture schemes. Civil society's efforts to remedy these have had little success, and corruption and inequality remain rife. The main practical implication of the study lies in the need for a gradual demonetization of elections, and the consideration of the fundamental function of public procurement as a policy instrument embedded in economic, social, cultural and environmental plans. Additionally, given the connectedness of the various corruption issues raised, a comprehensive system-based approach in dealing with them would be more effective than a piecemeal approach targeting each issue/problem in isolation. While extant literature has examined the issue of endemic corruption in developing countries using state capture, few have attempted to explain why it remains enduring, particularly in public procurement. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature on corruption and state capture theoretically and empirically, by drawing on monetization of politics from political science to explain why corruption and state capture endure in certain contexts (with Ghana as an illustrative example), reducing public procurement to a cash-milking scheme.

Citation

LASSOU, P.J.C., SOROLA, M., SENKL, D., LAUWO, S.G. and MASSE, C. 2024. Monetization of politics and public procurement in Ghana. Accounting, auditing and accountability journal [online], 37(1), pages 85-118. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-07-2021-5341

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 21, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Mar 21, 2023
• Publication Date: Jan 4, 2024
• Deposit Date: Mar 19, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 19, 2024
• Journal: Accounting, auditing and accountability journal
• Print ISSN: 0951-3574
• Electronic ISSN: 2051-3151; 1758-4205
• Publisher: Emerald
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 37
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 85-118
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/aaaj-07-2021-5341
• Keywords: Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous); Accounting
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2174652