Public procurement corruption and its implications on effective service delivery in Uganda: an empirical study

Abstract

While particular government activities create a fertile ground for corruption (Tanzi, 1998), public procurement has increasingly become one of the dominant fertile grounds for this 'monster' of corruption. Corruption continues to be a usual suspect among the factors that distort the effective delivery of public services in developing countries and at no time can it be described as a 'gift' to development. In Africa, corruption remains an important obstacle to political and economic development (Mbaku, 2008). While the negative effects of corruption speak 'volumes of words', limited empirical research on public procurement corruption and its effects on service delivery have been conducted in Uganda. This study was conducted partly to fill up this knowledge vacuum. The paper presents the results from 548 respondents on their perceived forms of procurement corruption and discusses the effects of this corruption on service delivery. The results are compared with local and international literature and policy-managerial implications are suggested.