The Balance Sheet of Decentralization in Ghana

Abstract

Ghana is the first sub-Saharan African country to attain independence from British rule. It did so on 6 March 1957. Because of this legacy of the pioneer spirit, many of its policy initiatives have been tested and evaluated. Numerous scholars recognize Ghana in the twentieth century as “a microcosm of social, political and economic processes in Africa. The Ghanaian proclivity for experimentation has made Ghana into a veritable laboratory for the investigation of different approaches to endemic African problems” (Pellow and Chazan 1986: 209–210). This has turned the country into “everyone’s African favourite” (Dowse 1985: 280)