PROCUREMENT PLANNING AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVED ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM PROJECTS IN UGANDA

Abstract

The objectives of the study were centred on the effect of procurement planning on accountability (financial, administrative and managerial) as well as the moderating effect of institutional factors on the relationship between procurement planning and accountability for donor funds. A cross-sectional research design was adopted for this study. The study was conducted in five selected UNDP funded organisations and used a sample of 114. Face-to-face interviews were also conducted with the expected people and adequate data was obtained. Data was collected using interviews for the staff of the UNDP country office while the rest of the respondents responded to a self-administered questionnaire. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS while qualitative data was content analysed. It was found out that the poor state of planning threatened, and had negative effects on financial, administrative and managerial accountability. It was also discovered that institutional factors (internal organisational weaknesses, political influence and donor pressure) were in most cases negatively correlated to the level of accountability and funds utilisation in the projects. Conclusively, there existed a strong and statistically significant relationship between procurement planning and financial accountability as well as administrative accountability. Managerial accountability was weakly linked to procurement planning, and institutional factors threatened the level of accountability and funds utilisation. It is thus recommended that government and the UNDP need to ensure that procurement planning principles are adhered to so as to enhance financial, administrative and managerial accountability. It was also recommended that measures should be put in place to overcome the moderating effect of institutional factors so as to enhance the level of accountability and funds utilisation. Areas of further research are recommended.