IMF Audit Exposes Procurement Flaws as 87% of COCOBOD Cocoa Road Contracts Bypass Competitive Bidding

The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) has come under intense scrutiny following revelations that 87 percent of contracts under its flagship cocoa roads investment programme were directly awarded without competitive tendering.

The finding, highlighted in a technical assistance report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), underscores systemic governance and procurement vulnerabilities within the country’s state-owned enterprise (SOE) sector.

The report noted that the widespread reliance on single-source procurement was compounded by severe weaknesses in project costing and contract management. According to the Fund, these operational gaps resulted in significant budget overruns, adding severe financial strain to an entity already carrying massive public debt obligations.

Broader Fiscal Risks and Governance Reforms

The irregularities surrounding the cocoa roads project reflect wider structural concerns across Ghana’s public enterprise landscape, where unbudgeted capital expenditures and poor oversight routinely escalate into contingent liabilities for the central government.

To prevent further fiscal exposure from key state entities, the IMF is calling for sweeping structural reforms across the public enterprise sector. The Fund is urging the government to enforce strict competitive bidding standards for all state-funded infrastructure and road construction contracts, eliminating discretionary single-source awards.

The multilateral lender also recommended strengthening board appointment frameworks to ensure independent, professional oversight over capital investments. Additionally, the IMF highlighted the need to deepen operational coordination between the Ministry of Finance and the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA) to monitor state-owned enterprise spending in real time and safeguard public funds.