Background: The government of Tanzania has started to fully
implement an online procurement system since 2020 as an effort to increase
efficiency and reduce corruption in the public procurement sector. However,
despite these reforms, corruption has persisted in various forms.
Purpose: This study aimed to examine the effect of e-procurement
risk mitigation strategies on preventing corruption in public procurement
following the widespread use of bad corrupt practices in the public procurement
process.
Methods: The study employed a case study design, and the
study population involved 140 staff working at the Ministry of Livestock and
Fisheries and officials working at the Prevention and Combating Corruption
Bureau (PCCB). The study employed the Yamane formula to get a sample size of
104 respondents, whereby questionnaires, an interview guide and a documentary
checklist were used as data collection instruments, and during administering
the tools, all respondents were responsive, which made a response rate of 100%.
The collected data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential
statistics (regression model) to determine the effect of e-procurement on
preventing corruption in public procurement.
Results: The results indicate that three variables out of
five, namely visibility (0.000), risk control (0.016), and political control
(0.004), had a p-value < 0.05, which means that these variables
significantly contribute to preventing corruption in public procurement under
e-procurement.
Conclusion: When public procurement practitioners and
suppliers use the e-procurement system effectively, it will prevent physical
interactions between the parties, thus ending corruption. In this case, policy
makers and decision makers should establish a robust mechanism of preventing
corruption in public procurement by digitalising the procurement practices
through automating the whole process by using e-procurement technology, as well
as integrating all participants and stakeholders. This will establish a
transparent procurement process whereby all online transactions are visible to
all parties, thus increasing the integrity of procurement practitioners and
suppliers on the other side. The awareness campaign and empowerment of
institutions and regulatory frameworks will help end loopholes that still tempt
corruption in public procurement. This study was limited to two organisations,
which may not achieve the principle of study generalisation on corruption in
Tanzania. Future research should include a larger and more diverse sample of
public institutions across different sectors and regions of Tanzania.
Author(s) Details
Chawala, E
Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, P.O. Box Dodoma, Tanzania.
Maagi, B.
College of Business Education, P.O. Box 2077, Dodoma, Tanzania.
Please see the book here:- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/nabme/v10/6128
