Final PhD thesis - Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai

287 Pages·2013·5.48 MB·English

State Elites and the Politics of Regional Inequality in Ghana

A Thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
In the Faculty of Humanities

2012

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai

School of Environment and Development
Table of Contents
List of Tables 5
List of Figures 5
List of Boxes 6
List of Appendices 6
List of Abbreviations 7
Abstract 9
Declaration 10
Copyright Statement 11
Acknowledgements and Dedication 12
Chapter 1. Background and Introduction 14
1.1 Introduction 14
1.2 Research aim and questions 17
1.3 Case selection: why Ghana? 19
1.4 Ghana: A brief ethno-regional profile 20
1.5 Poverty reduction and regional inequality in Ghana 22
1.6 Theoretical perspectives on persistent regional inequalities 25
1.6.1 Perspectives of economic theorists: states versus markets 26
1.6.2 Regional inequalities and the ‘bad’ geography arguments 28
1.6.3 Persistent inequalities and regime types 31
1.6.4 Political representation and power relations 34
1.6.5 The influence and limits of aid donors 36
1.6.6 Summary 38
1.7 Social exclusion and adverse incorporation: a framework for understanding persistent
regional inequalities 39
1.8 Thesis structure 45
Chapter 2. Adverse incorporation, social exclusion and regional inequality in sub-Saharan
Africa: towards a methodological framework 48
2.1 Introduction 48
2.2 Regional inequality in Africa: A colonial legacy 48
2.3 Regional inequality and postcolonial African states 51
2.3.1 The neo-patrimonial nature of African states: implications for inequality 51
2.3.2 Postcolonial African states: addressing socio-economic inequalities through
political inclusion? 54
2.4 Summary 61
2.5 Research design and methodology 62
2.5.1 Research methods 62
2.5.2 Research design and data 64
2.6 Conclusion 75
Chapter 3. A historical account of power relations and regional inequality in Ghana 76
3.1 Introduction 76
3.2 Ghana and the colonial legacy of regional inequalities 77
3.2.1 Adverse incorporation and Northern underdevelopment 78
3.2.2 Colonial educational policies and the exclusion of Northern Ghana 80
3.2.3 Political exclusion and Northern underdevelopment 82
3.3 The politics of decolonization and rising ethno-regional agitations 84
3.4 The newly independent state and the suppression of ethno-regional agitations 88
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3.5 Addressing regional inequalities? Socio-economic and political policy responses of post-
colonial regimes, 1957-1992 90
3.5.1 Responses in the political system and their consequences 90
3.5.2 Economic policy responses to the North-South inequality 95
3.5.3 Social service provision: A focus on education 101
3.6 Conclusion 104
Chapter 4. The politics of ethno-regional inclusion in Ghana’s Fourth Republic (1993-2008):
implications for regional inequalities 108
4.1 Introduction 108
4.2 Ghana’s Fourth Republic: a brief political context 109
4.3 The politics of ethno-regional inclusion 111
4.3.1 Legal and institutional framework for ethno-regional inclusion 111
4.3.2 Regional distribution of political power in Ghana: 1993-2008 112
4.3.3 The regional composition of the Rawlings-NDC governments, 1993-2000 112
4.3.4 The regional composition of the Kufuor-NPP governments, 2001-2008 114
4.4 The politics of representation and regional development in Ghana 119
4.5 The growing politics of patronage in Ghana 121
4.5.1 Electoral competition 122
4.5.2 Political patronage in Ghana: a socio-cultural norm? 125
4.5.3 Excessive executive power 126
4.6 Northern political leaders and Northern underdevelopment 127
4.7 Donor influence 129
4.8 Conclusions 130
Chapter 5. The politics of social service delivery and regional disparities in Ghana 133
5.1 Introduction 133
5.2 Public spending and educational inequalities in Ghana, 1994-2008 134
5.3 Public health spending and regional inequalities 138
5.4 Exploring the politics of public education and health spending in Ghana 142
5.4.1 Education 143
5.4.2 Health 145
5.5 Case Studies on the politics of social service delivery 149
5.5.1 Case Study I: The Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) 149
5.5.2 Case Study II: The Model Secondary School Programme 162
5.6 Conclusions 164
Chapter 6. The PRSPs and the politics of excluding the poorest: the case of Ghana’s HIPC
Fund 167
6.1 Introduction 167
6.2 Including the historically-excluded Northern regions? The GPRS rhetoric 168
6.3 The Reality of the HIPC Fund: A tool for widening regional inequalities? 170
6.3.1 The GPRS I and Regional HIPC Allocations, 2003-2005 171
6.3.2 The GPRS II and regional HIPC expenditures: a paradigm shift? 174
6.4 The HIPC Fund and Northern exclusion: questioning the official explanations 175
6.5 Understanding the rhetoric-reality gaps of the HIPC Fund: a political interpretation 178
6.5.1 The imperative of winning elections: between patronage and the politics of
regional balance 179
6.5.2 Unequal power relations and the exclusion of the North 182
6.5.3 Northern Ghana and the GPRS rhetoric: the politics of securing donor aid? 184
6.6 Conclusion 187
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Chapter 7. The politics of productive sector investments in Ghana: implications for regional
economic disparities 189
7.1 Introduction 189
7.2 Ghana’s Millennium Challenge Account: a brief introduction 190
7.3 The MCA and the politics of beneficiary selection 191
7.3.1 Rural poverty incidence 191
7.3.2 Private sector-led investments 192
7.3.3 Excluding the Upper regions from the MCA: a product of bad geography? 193
7.4 Understanding the distribution of MCA projects: a political explanation 196
7.4.1 Exclusive elite coalitions and the exclusion of the poorest from the MCA 197
7.4.2 Electoral calculus, ideas and ideology? 202
7.5 Excluding the North from productive investments: beyond the MCA 204
7.6 Conclusions 209
Chapter 8. State elites and the politics of regional inequality: conclusions 212
8.1 Introduction 212
8.2 Understanding persistent regional inequalities: the primacy of politics and power relations213
8.3 The politics of resource allocation: why access to political power matters 220
8.4 Conceptual and theoretical implications 226
8.4.1 Understanding persistent regional inequalities from an AISE perspective 226
8.4.2 The African state and the politics of resource sharing 229
8.5 Lessons and policy implications 233
8.6 Concluding remarks and suggestions for future research 238
References 240
Appendices 265

Final word count: 86, 718 words
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List of Tables
Table 1.1: Ghana’s Basic Poverty Indicators, 1992-2006 22
Table 1.2: North-South inequalities in access to basic services 25
Table 3.1: Official Statistics on Schools in the Gold Coast in 1919 81
Table 3.2: North-South Composition of governments (Ministers only), 1952-1988 92
Table 4.1: Regional voting patterns in Ghana, 1992-2008 110
Table 4.2: Distribution of political power relative to population shares (%), 1993-2000 114
Table 4.3: Distribution of political power relative to population shares, 2001-2008 116
Table 5.1: Expenditure/Enrolment Rates, 1997 134
Table 5.2: Public on SHS Education (in GH¢), 2006 and 2007 137
Table 5.3: Per capita GoG health funding by region in 2000 (amounts in ¢) 140
Table 5.4: Percentage deviations between budgetary allocations and actual expenditures
(recurrent only) for primary education, 1995 143
Table 5.5: Deviations between budgetary allocations and actual education expenditures
(%), 2004-2008 144
Table 5.6: Rate of change in public health facilities and personnel, 1998-2008 146
Table 5.7: Selected socio-economic indicators and GSFP allocations 151
Table 5.8: North-South GSFP expenditures (in thousands GH¢), 2005-2008 151
Table 5.9: List of first 30 beneficiary Secondary Schools for the model school programme
163
Table 6.1: GPRS weighting criteria for regional resource distribution 169
Table 6.2: HIPC Fund Allocations to District Assemblies, 2002 171
Table 6.3: Comparison of Expected and Actual HIPC Expenditures (in million ¢) by
Region (2003-05) 172
Table 6.4: Regional HIPC Expenditures (million GH¢) under GPRS II (2006-2008) 175
Table 6.5: Regional HIPC expenditures and ruling party support 180
Table 7.1: Regional distribution of PSI projects 205

List of Figures
Figure 1.1: Regional poverty trends in Ghana, 1991-2006 23
Figure 1.2: District-level North-South income inequalities 24
Figure 4.1: The regional composition of the Rawlings-NDC government, 1993-2000 113
Figure 4.2: The regional composition of the Kufuor-NPP government, 2001-2008 115
Figure 4.3: Margins (%) between NDC and NPP presidential candidates, 1992-2008 122
Figure 5.1: Education subsidies 1997 (recurrent expenditures only) 135
Figure 5.2: Annual per child expenditure (in GH¢) for basic education, 2004-2008 136
Figure 5.3: Per capita Recurrent and Development Health 138
Figure 5.4: Regional Per Capita Health Expenditures, 1995-1997 139
Figure 6.1: Expected and Actual per capita HIPC allocations, 2003-2005 average 172
Figure 6.2: Deviations between expected and actual per capita HIPC allocations, 2003-05
average 173
Figure 6.3: Picture of a HIPC toilet facility in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale 181
Figure 7.1: District-level rural poverty incidence in Ghana, 2000 192
Figure 7.2: Cocoa production in Ghana, 1977/78-2007/08 206
Figure 7.3: Value of main non-traditional agricultural export crops, 2000-09 207

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List of Boxes
Box 3.1: The adverse incorporation of Northern politicians and the Northern Railway
project 96
Box 5.1: GSFP’s criteria for Beneficiary Selection 150
List of Appendices
Appendix 1: List of interviewees 265
Appendix 2: List of political office holders in Ghana, 1993-2008 267
Appendix 3: Regional representation in key bureaucratic positions 281
Appendix 4: Regional distribution of Political power, 1993-2000 282
Appendix 5:Absolute distribution of political power, 2001-2008 283
Appendix 6: Relative distribution of political power (%), 2001-2008 284
Appendix 7: Actual health expenditures, 1995-1997 (in ¢ Million) 285
Appendix 8: Population per doctor by region, 2002-08 286
Appendix 9: Population per nurse by region, 2008 286
Appendix 10: MCA beneficiary regions and districts 287
Appendix 11: Registered projects by sectors, Jan. 2001-Dec. 2007 287

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List of Abbreviations
ADA Avoidance of Discrimination Act
AISE Adverse Incorporation and Social Exclusion
APRs Annual Progress Reports
AR Ashanti Region
BAR Brong Ahafo Region
BECE Basic Education Certificate Examination
CEPA Centre for Policy Analysis
CPP Convention Peoples Party
CR Central Region
CWIQ Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire
DAs District Assemblies
DCE District Chief Executive
DFID Department for International Development (UK)
EEI Expenditure-Enrolment Index
ER Eastern Region
ERP Economic Recovery Programme
GAR Greater Accra Region
GCR Gold Coast Regiment
GES Ghana Education Service
GHS Ghana Health Service
GLSS Ghana Living Standards Surveys
GoG Government of Ghana
GPRS I Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy
GPRS II Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy
GSFP Ghana School Feeding Programme
GSS Ghana Statistical Service
HIPC Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative
IDA International Development Association
IFIs International Financial Institutions
IMF International Monetary Fund
JHS Junior High School
JSS Junior Secondary School
MCA Millennium Challenge Account
MDBS Multi Donor Budget Supports
MoFA Ministry of Food and Agriculture
MoFEP Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning
MoH Ministry of Health
MoTI Ministry of Trade and Industry
MPs Members of Parliament
NDC National Democratic Congress
NDPC National Development Planning Commission
NLC National Liberation Council
NLM National Liberation Movement
NORPREP Northern Region Poverty Reduction Programme
NPP New Patriotic Party
NR Northern Region
NRC National Redemption Council
NRGP Northern Rural Growth Programme
NTC Northern Territories Council
NTs Northern Territories of the Gold Coast
ODI Overseas Development Institute
PAMSCAD Programs of Action to Mitigate the Social Costs of Adjustment
PDA Preventive Detention Act
PIP Public Investment Programmes
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PNDC Provisional National Defence Council
PNP Peoples National Party
PP Progress Party
PRSPs Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers
PSIs President’s Special Initiatives
REDP Rural Enterprise Development Project
SADA Savannah Accelerated Development Authority
SAPs Structural Adjustment Programmes
SEND Social Enterprise Development Foundation
SHS Senior High School
SMC Supreme Military Council
SSA sub-Saharan Africa
SSS Senior Secondary School
UER Upper East Region
UGCC United Gold Coast Convention
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UWR Upper West Region
VR Volta Region
WDR World Development Report
WFP World Food Programme
WR Western Region
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Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, December 2012:
The University of Manchester, Doctor of Philosophy
State Elites and the Politics of Regional Inequality in Ghana
Abstract
Recent years have witnessed renewed global attention to persistent spatial inequalities and
the potential role of politics and power relations in redressing and reinforcing them. This
thesis offers a political analysis of the problem of regional inequality in Ghana, with
particular attention to the role of inter-elite power relations in underpinning the country’s
historical North-South divide. The analysis is based on three main sets of data: the
regional distribution of political power during 1993-2008; the regional composition of
public expenditure; and elite interviews. The thesis argues that a key factor that explains
Ghana’s stark unbalanced regional development has been the continuous exclusion of the
historically poorer Northern regions from a fair share of both productive and social sector
spending. The socio-economic marginalisation of these regions has been underpinned
principally by a weaker influence of Northern elites on resource allocation decisions within
a political environment that is driven largely by patron-client relations. Consequently, even
policies and programmes designed with the formal objective of targeting the ‘poor’ often
end up discriminating against the poorer Northern regions at the level of implementation.
However, Northern elites’ lack of ‘agenda-setting powers’ is not a function of their
exclusion from government, but rather of their ‘adverse incorporation’ into the polity,
whereby they have often been included on relatively unfavourable terms.
This explanation differs significantly from much of current mainstream thinking regarding
the underlying drivers of persistent unbalanced regional development, including dominant
accounts of Ghana’s North-South inequalities. Notably, there has been a tendency of both
academics and policy makers to put the blame on certain innate characteristics of the
North, such as the region’s fewer production potentials associated with its ‘bad geography’
and Northerners’ proclivity for violent conflicts. Such accounts therefore tend to blame the
relative socio-economic backwardness of the Northern regions on the North itself rather
than the nature of its incorporation into broader political formations.

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Declaration

No portion of the work referred to in this thesis has been submitted in support of an
application for another degree or qualification for another degree or qualification of this or
any other university or other institute of learning.

Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai
December 2012
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