Takoradi, Dec. 2, GNA – Dr Matthew Somiah Kwaw, a lead researcher on the Infrastructure Transparency Initiative (CoST) transparency Index project, has called for enforcement of existing laws on procurement to end the bad practices in the contract regime.
He said though many enabling avenues existed for promoting transparency in the procurement sector, they were yet to be optimised to the full benefit of the citizens.
Dr Somiah was speaking to the media at the dissemination of a survey report on the infrastructure Transparency Index,(ITI) carried out on some 15 procuring entities in the Western Region.
The ITI lasted for five months and sampled 30 Public infrastructure projects to measure levels of Infrastructure Transparency to improve participation and accountability.
The survey would enhance intervention by civil society organisations to strengthen transparency and accountability, identify shortcomings in existing practices to inform agenda setting and help obtain information on relative strengths and weaknesses of transparency, participation and accountability within the sector.
Mr Aziz Mahmoud, CoST Sekondi Takoradi Project Coordinator, said the ITI score hinged on four pillars: Enabling Environment, Capacity and Processes, Citizens Participation and Information Disclosure.
Among the pillars, the survey established that the enabling environment had the highest score of 60.90, information disclosure with 3.69, capacity and processes with 16.17 and citizens participation recording 20.40.
It, therefore, suggested the operationalization of enabling legislation that improved proactive disclosure and enhanced compliance.
The government, must also through the Public Procurement Authority, adopt CoST tools on disclosure to enhance proactive disclosure of projects and contract data throughout the project lifecycle.
Mr Mahmoud also urged the procuring entities to strengthen internal capacity to reduce non-compliance while the Multi-Stakeholder Group on CoST strengthen collaboration with the government, anti-corruption and civil society organizations to improve upon infrastructure Governance at the subnational level.