GHANA: THE POLITICAL MILESTONES AND THE ECONOMIC PROBLEMS WITHIN

Since independence from Britain in 1957, Ghana has pursued a myriad of economic policies aimed at promoting development. Successive governments- both civilian and military- have experimented with various development strategies- from Nkrumah’s “Africanized” socialist policies to the more liberal strategies of present governments. However, 57 years on, Ghana still falls short of expectations for as far as rapid development is concerned. Scholars have given many reasons for the failure of states to achieve “appreciable” levels of development but the combined search for lasting solutions to underdevelopment and rapid economic growth still proves elusive. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the key factors accounting for Ghana’s slow and volatile economic growth specifically within the first 10 year period of its current democratic dispensation (1992-2012). By doing do, I hope to accomplish the first step in solving the country’s development problem- identifying the problem itself. I begin by dividing Ghana’s development into 2 categories- political development and economic growth.

I use the term “Political development” synonymously with “democracy”: the expansion of political rights and freedoms and the promotion of political participation, essentially, democratic governance. In this regard, Ghana is doing significantly better than many other developing nations. From the military juntas of the mid 1960s and early 1990s, Ghana has made steady efforts towards democratization. Since the restoration of democratic rule in 1992, Ghana has pursued and successfully sustained progressively democratic rule thanks to strict enforcement and funding from the international community and donor partners. Political rights have been expanded and elections have been progressively free and fair though not totally devoid of controversy. In 2008, Ghana attained Huntington’s two-turnover test, cementing its place as one of the few oases of peace on the troubled African continent. However, Ghana’s political gain is nothing but a façade for the rot and moral decadence that lies beneath. Bribery, corruption and ethnicism still pervade the society, social mobility is seldom based, solely, on merit and good governance, in its strict sense, is far from the norm. Political institutions are largely powerless in the face of the clientelism and rent-seeking reinforced by the traditional culture. At best, Ghana maintains democratic government but not democratic governance.

In terms of economic growth/development, the picture is far worse. The rot in political institutions has led to corresponding inefficiencies in economic institutions. From the implementation of the World Bank’s Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) to the ongoing US sponsored Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an unreliable and inefficient bureaucratic framework has led to the misappropriation of funds and the poor implementation of economic growth strategies. Admittedly, Ghana has been experiencing significant levels of economic growth over the past decade, but the rate of growth remains far below expectation, especially given the country’s potential. I do not seek to discount Ghana’s economic successes; I simply seek to point out why the rate of economic growth has been so slow though not entirely absent. So what factor(s) account for Ghana’s slow economic growth rate? Is it African exceptionalism? Is it due to exploitation? For me, there is only one answer to this question; Ghana’s volatile economic growth rate is the result of inefficient and ineffective institutions which make it difficult to formulate and implement the strategies necessary to spur rapid economic growth.