Corruption and the Body Politic in Post-Colonial Ghana: A Re-reading of Amu Djoleto’s Money Galore in the era of ‘Zero tolerance for Corruption’ in Ghana

Abstract

Corruption has been an important subject of analysis by social scientists for many years (Bayley 1966; Huntington 1968, 1990; Gould 1980, 1989; Ali 1985; Crowder 1987; Kimenyi 1987; Alam 1989; Mbaku 1991; Couch et. al. 1992 etc.). In the 1960s, however, two major events rekindled interest in the study of corruption, especially in developing countries. First, Samuel Huntington and others developed theories of modernisation and political development. Second, the economies and markets of the newly developed countries of Africa and Asia were overwhelmed by corruption, bureaucratic inefficiency and incompetence. Apart from social scientists, creative writers have also exposed and dramatised the massive spectre of corruption in Africa. Like other urban political novels, Amu Djoleto’s Money Galore (1975) vividly captures the manifestations, scope, function, psychology, power and cultural imperatives of corruption in post-independence Ghana.