structure of public administration in ghana

Journal of African Studies and Development Vol. 2(7), pp. 166-175, October 2010
Available online http://www.academicjournlas.org/jasd
ISSN – 2141 -2189 ©2010 Academic Journals

Review

Public administration: Local government and decentralization in Ghana
Kwame Badu Antwi-Boasiako
Stephen F. Austin State University, Department of Government, Nacogdoches, Texas 75962, USA.
E-mail: [e-mail]. Tel: [phone].
Accepted 29 July, 2010

Public administration as an art is defined in the Ghanaian context regarding decentralization and public officials’ accountability. It examines decentralization, local elections and empowerment. While the paper advocates for regional and district level elections, it uses the literature to argue that local representatives are more accessible to their locals. It questions the current appointment practices by the central government, which has become more partisan than originally intended in the Local
Government Act. To affirm the democratic environment of politics in Ghana, it calls for constitutional amendment regarding decentralization and local government elections.
Key words: Public administration, decentralization, public officials, accountability, local government elections.
INTRODUCTION
As the first sub-Saharan African country to attain political independence since 1957 from Great Britain, the
Ghanaian proclivity for experimentation on issues including social, economic and political initiatives, according to Pellow and Chazan (1986) and Ayee (2008), has turned the country “into a veritable laboratory for the investigation of different approaches to endemic African problems” (Pellow and Chazan, 1986: 210). One of these problems is local participation in political decision making in the country’s democratic process (Antwi-Boasiako and
Bonna, 2009).
Local accountability becomes effective where local leaders are elected by their own people hence the importance of decentralization. “Ghana’s

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