Determinants of corrupt practices in public procurement: Experience from Moshi District Council in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

Abstract

Corruption have emerged as one of the critical issues in government and non-government organizations over the past decades, particularly in public financed procurement projects. In Tanzania, the efforts towards ant – corrupt practices in public procurement have been more emphasized, however, the problem is still alarming. This empirical study was therefore conducted to assess the determinants of corrupt practices in public procurement. Specifically, the study: Ascertained the extent to which legal frameworks influences corrupt practices, examined the role of education and training on corrupt practices, and determined the effects of economic factors on procurement corrupt practices. The study adopted descriptive research design and purposive sampling to collect data from 44 respondents in Moshi District Council who involve directly in making arrangement of procurement decisions. The output of the study was achieved through binary logistics regression with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft excel. The study revealed that to a less extent (2.06 ≤ mean ≤ 3.25) procurement legal frameworks have been effectively implemented to curb procurement corrupt practices. Furthermore, the study found that 87.8% have received training and education on procurement corrupt practices. However, it was found that corrupt related training and education has no statistical effect on procurement ant-corrupt practices. It was also reported by 70.5% of respondents that economic factors significantly influence procurement corrupt practices. Moreover, 69.5% of respondents reported that they have encountered corrupt practices in public procurement to a great extent (3.75≤ mean≤4.45). The study therefore concluded that weak procurement legal frameworks and economic factors are the key determinants of procurement corrupt practices and statistically significant influences corrupt practices. Among others, the study recommended on the need to reform and restructures procurement legal frameworks and ethical training to and strengthens ant-corrupt practices.