Government project failure in Ghana: a multidimensional approach

Abstract

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Corruption as a Source of Government Project Failure in Developing Countries

“…This finding is not surprising; previous research has linked poor project performance in the public sector to cultural orientation in the country (Amponsah, 2010;Damoah & Akwei, 2017). During the colonial era, public-sector work was perceived as belonging to the white colonial masters, and as a result, could be handled haphazardly (Amponsah, 2010;Damoah, 2015;Damoah & Akwei, 2017;Damoah et al, 2015). Further, the sector is regarded as a "national cake" where everybody should try to cut as much as possible for their personal gains (share; Damoah & Akwei, 2017;Damoah et al, 2015).…”

“…During the colonial era, public-sector work was perceived as belonging to the white colonial masters, and as a result, could be handled haphazardly (Amponsah, 2010;Damoah, 2015;Damoah & Akwei, 2017;Damoah et al, 2015). Further, the sector is regarded as a "national cake" where everybody should try to cut as much as possible for their personal gains (share; Damoah & Akwei, 2017;Damoah et al, 2015). This encourages people within the country who have access to public money to try, as much as possible, to embezzle government funds through project implementation.…”

“…Over the years, a significant amount of money has been solicited from many developing partners such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and taxpayers to embark on programs and projects (Damoah, 2015;Damoah & Akwei, 2017;Damoah, Akwei, & Mouzughi, 2015;Republic of Ghana Budget, 2012. Nevertheless, the literature suggests that most of these projects have failed (Damoah & Akwei, 2017). We, therefore, propose that corruption may influence these programs and project failure.…”

The effects of government construction projects abandonment: stakeholders’ perspective

“…As a result, extant literature has been devoted to discussions on these failed construction projects; nevertheless, they have mainly been discussed in relation to factors (causes) that lead to failure. Specifically, the construction project management literature has been devoted to factors (causes) of cost overrun (Kaming et al, 1997;Frimpong et al, 2003;Muya et al, 2013), schedule delays (Kaming et al, 1997;Al-Khalil and Al-Ghafly;Faridi and El-Sayegh, 2006;Khoshgoftar et al, 2010;Al-Kharashi and Skimore, 2009;Muya et al, 2013;Lindhard and Wandahl, 2014;Amoatey., 2015;Mishmish and El-Sayegh, 2016) and requirement deviation (Muya et al, 2013;Damoah and Akwei, 2017). However, this study moves away from these failure criteria by proposing an empirical study that focuses on construction project failure through abandonment.…”

“…The doubt is premised on their experience with similar projects in the past; where projects failed through abandonment. Typical examples include the abandonment of many Ghanaian government projects in the immediate post-colonial era where many state policies were implemented through the ideology of industrialisation (Jeffries, 1982;Aryeetey and Jane, 2000;Klutse, 2009;Damoah and Akwei, 2017). Therefore, the need to investigate the effects that these abandoned construction projects may have on stakeholders associated with such projects cannot be overemphasised.…”