Creating sustainable public private partnerships through corporate governance in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

Abstract

Governments of Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries have struggled to successfully invest in capital intensive projects. As such, public private partnerships play a key role in redefining the role of Government in the context of infrastructure projects, by focusing on supervision and regulation and moving away from direct ownership and management. Sub Saharan African countries have seen such inclusive partnerships yielding some numerous benefits in different sectors. However, despite the salubrious benefits that PPPs have brought in different projects, PPPs in SSA countries are still dogged by a myriad of administrative, technical, financial and legal challenges. These corporate governance related challenges have made it difficult for these SSA governments to glean the full benefits of PPPs. The study is informed by the qualitative methodology with an extensive review of literature. Data was gathered from purposively selected written documents and these documents were analysed using thematic and content analysis techniques. The study established that there are some corporate governance deficiencies in most PPP projects in the SSA countries. Additionally, most of these public projects in the SSA lack adequate good corporate governance attention that is given to the PPP procedures and processes involved. The study therefore recommends that there is need for the full adoption of good corporate governance systems, practices, processes and procedures in the PPPs designing, financing, implementation and operationalisation in SSA.