Ghana’s premier procurement professional body is warning that the Value for Money Office Act will not deliver its promised savings unless the government first fixes the foundational weaknesses in how public procurement is practiced across the country.
The Ghana Institute of Procurement and Supply (GIPS) has called for the urgent professionalisation of procurement as a prerequisite for the new law’s success, arguing that oversight alone cannot generate value if the system being overseen remains inconsistent and under-resourced in professional capacity.
“The implementation of the act is dependent on the professionalisation of the procurement processes in Ghana,” GIPS President Simon Annan said in an interview.
The warning comes days after Parliament passed the Value for Money Office (VfMO) Bill on March 26, 2026, clearing the final legislative hurdle for an independent body empowered to certify government contracts before award, monitor compliance, and sanction public entities that waste state funds. Within its first five years, the office is projected to reduce contract inflation and waste by 10 to 15 percent and save approximately GH¢3 billion annually. The bill now awaits presidential assent.
Mr Annan’s position is that the effectiveness of the new law will rest not on its wording but on the quality of the people and processes behind procurement decisions. He said procurement roles across public institutions are not consistently handled by fully trained professionals, and compliance with existing rules remains uneven in practice.
GIPS argues that layering a new oversight institution on top of those existing weaknesses risks producing a watchdog with little to effectively audit. Procurement, the Institute contends, is the point at which public spending meets real-world delivery, covering roads, hospitals, schools and public services, and flaws at that stage translate directly into inflated costs, stalled projects and poor outcomes for citizens.
Parliament’s passage of the bill was not without controversy. The Minority Caucus distanced itself from the process and warned that the proposed office could worsen corruption, a charge rejected by Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem, who said the initiative was designed to strengthen oversight by ensuring contracts delivered value for money.
The new legislation empowers the VfMO to undertake systematic evaluations of government programmes and projects to determine whether resources are being used economically, efficiently and effectively, going beyond the procedural compliance focus that has characterised existing audit mechanisms.
GIPS is urging the government to ensure procurement positions are occupied by certified professionals and to strengthen both training programmes and the enforcement of professional standards before the VfMO becomes fully operational. Without that groundwork, the Institute said the promise of better value for public spending could remain aspirational rather than achievable.
