Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Functionalist Theory Of Oversight, Riccardo Pelizzo, Abel Kinyondo, Aminu Umar

riccardo pelizzo

The literature on oversight provides various approaches that have been used to measure oversight effectiveness. They include inferring oversight from the quality of governance, equating it with the presence of oversight activities as well as equating it with oversight capacity. However all these approaches are problematic as they wrongly consider oversight to be unidimensional. As a result they tend to produce measures that are too general and vague to provide a meaningful assessment of oversight effectiveness. It is in this context that this paper identifies the structural elements of oversight and goes on to contend that since oversight is a …

Oil Wealth, Resource Curse And Development: Any Lessons For Ghana?, Felix Kumah-Abiwu, Edward Brenya, James Agbodzakey

Felix Kumah-Abiwu

Ghana’s new status as an oil-producing country has invigorated the scholarly debate on the resource curse theory, which assumes that countries with vast natural resource wealth like oil, diamond and gold are likely to experience slow economic growth and development as compared to countries with scarce natural resources. Although the development literature is well endowed with cases of countries with huge natural resources that have experienced slow economic growth, the literature is also clear on few other countries with enormous natural resources that continue to experience high economic growth due to strong political institutions and democratic practices. Norway and Botswana …

Building National Infrastructures For Peace In Africa: Understanding The Role Of The National Peace Council In Ghana, Emmanuel Kotia, Festus Aubyn

Emmanuel Wekem Kotia

In this article, we provide an analysis of Ghana’s infrastructures for peace using the National Peace Council (NPC) as a case study. The article focuses on the composition, structures, tasks, achievements and challenges of the NPC. It argues that the NPC has made significant contributions in preventing and managing acts of violence that could have plunge Ghana into conflict. Its unique roles during the 2012 elections in Ghana are a testament to this assertion. Although some forms of violence did occur during the elections, our argument is that the violence would have become far worse if the NPC had not …

Legal And Policy Frameworks Regulating The Behavior Of Politicians And Political Parties In Ghana: Interrogating Institutional Mechanisms, Emmanuel Kwesi Aning, Fiifi Edu-Afful

Emmanuel Kwesi Aning

This article explores the legal and policy frameworks that exist to regulate the behaviors of politicians (elected or appointed) and political parties and highlight the existing loopholes in the legislation that can pose major threats to the legitimacy of democratic politics and governance in Ghana. The article is organized as follows: Section one reviews the existing established mechanisms for eliciting compliance with respect to political party formation and financing in Ghana. We argue that when it comes to the array of laws purposively crafted to regulate the behavior of political parties and politicians, Ghana has many of such laws. However, …

Ghana: Budget Monitoring By Send-Ghana And Its Partners Helps Improve Nutrition For Children And Support Local Farmers, Tony Dogbe, Joana Kwabena-Adade, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

Between 2007 and 2010, the Social Enterprise Development (SEND-Ghana) Foundation, one of the IBP’s partners, monitored the performance of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP, a government program that integrates social protection interventions), engaging with 50 district assemblies, 50 focal civil society organizations (CSOs), and 50 District Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)/Citizens Monitoring Committees (DCMC) in seven regions across the country. SEND-Ghana used information from this monitoring exercise to promote improvements in the program with district assemblies and officials from collaborating ministries, departments, and agencies directly at the national, regional, and district levels, but also indirectly through the media.

The …

The Anatomy Of Ghana's Secret Arms Industry, Emmanuel Kwesi Aning

Emmanuel Kwesi Aning

Although craft small arms production is present throughout West Africa, Ghana’s long-standing and socially embedded gun-making tradition make it a country of particular concern. Guns ‘made in Ghana’ are now known regionally for their competitive prices, their effectiveness, and their accessibility—thus raising concerns that they might one day represent a significant source of weaponry for armed groups. Indeed, some local blacksmiths now possess the requisite know-how to copy imported AK-47 assault rifles This chapter documents the extent, nature, and effects of Ghanaian craft small arms production, and discusses existing and potential responses. It is divided into three main sections. The …