Corruption and COVID-19 pandemic in Africa: Transparency and accountability during COVID-19 crisis in Ghana

This paper explores contextual realities that were central to transparency, accountability, and corruption risks in the management of COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana. The study was conducted using the lens of rational choice theory. Data were collected from 25 officials who were purposively selected for an in-depth interviews and content analysis was also carried out. The officials were selected from business leaders, officials of civil society, and anti-corruption institutions. Thematic analysis was adopted to analyse the data gathered from the interviews. At the end, it was observed that because there was urgent need to curtail the spread of the virus, prevent death, and reconstruct livelihoods, there was persistent violations of procurement laws with respect to major contracts awarded during the pandemic. The single sourced companies were not published on the Public Procurement Authority’s website as required by the law. This heightened corruption risks associated with the government’s response to COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, in most cases the real faces behind the contracts, the exact number of the beneficiaries of stimulus packages, and the unit cost were not disclosed, leading to misinterpretations. It was therefore concluded that the absence of resilient national institutions towards an effective and accountable governance during the global pandemics made it easy for the politicians to engage in corrupt practices The study recommended that there is an urgent need not only for the strengthening of national institutions but also for the government to constitute an independent body to conduct forensic audit into all COVID-19 related expenditure, the report should be made public and those found culpable be punished accordingly.