A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POLICY MAKING IN CIVILIAN AND MILITARY ADMINISTRATIONS IN GHANA.

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

            Background of the Study

Public policies in sub-Saharan countries have a long history. This history is sub-divided into pre- colonial, colonial and post-colonial era; of which the latter was characterized by periods of military and civilian regimes. Public policy is a guide to action that is taken by the executive branches of a state with regard to a range of issues, in a manner that is consistent with law and established customs (Kilpatrick, 2000). Public policy is founded on the composition of national constitutional laws and regulations (Schuster, 2009). Further to that are both judicial interpretation and legislature-authorized regulations. The strength of Public policy is in its ability to efficiently and effectively solve problems, promote justice, support governmental institutions and policies and encourage active citizenship (Norwich University of Public Administration, 2014).

Policy making existed even before colonization when Africans were under traditional leadership and community interventions were often resolved through communal agreements and actions. The more formal approach to policy making as it exists today however can be traced to the origin and creation of Civil and Public Service by the colonial powers particularly Great Britain to consolidate colonial administration in dependent countries in Africa (Scott, 2000).

Policy making has been an integral part of every administration in both traditional and formal settings, in developed and developing countries and under any regime or government. Ghana has had a checkered history of military and civilian regimes both of which differ in terms of policy formulation. These two political regimes differ in the identity of the incumbent: in a civilian

regime the politician is the incumbent, while in a military regime the general is the incumbent (Agyeman-Duah, 1987).

            Public Policy

According to Thomas Dye, (2001) Public Policy is basically whatever government chooses to do or not to do. In his view, public policy consists of the actions and inactions of governments thus; governments‟ decision not to act is in itself public policy. Public policy is chiefly the preserve of government and it is only government‟s decision that is counted as public policy. Policy making involves a number of interconnected processes to the extent that, a change in one stage may affect the outcome of the entire process (Hill, 1997). According to Bruce and Smith, (2003), every policy goes through six basic stages: Agenda setting, Policy Formulation, Decision making/Adoption, Policy Implementation, Policy Evaluation and Policy termination. Vital to this study is the policy formulation stage of the process.

One area of public policy that often engages the attention and actions of regimes is the fiscal policy area. It is within this area that most accusations of poor policy formulation, corruption or financial malpractices come up (Sumah, 2018). Understanding fiscal policy issues under each form of regime will be of huge importance. Therefore, there is the need to find and provide a holistic understanding of the operations of both military and civilian regimes as well as provide a comparative analysis of their policy formulation procedures.

            Fiscal Policy

Fiscal or budgetary policy is the most important instrument of government intervention in the economy today (Makin, 2016). Fiscal policy refers to the taxation, expenditure and borrowing by the government (Heyne, Boettke & Prychitko, 2002). Fiscal policy decides the size and pattern

of the flow of government expenditure into the economy and the reverse. According to J.M. Culbertson (1957), fiscal policy refers to government actions affecting its receipts and expenditures which we ordinarily take as measured by the government‟s net receipts, its surplus or deficit. Fiscal policy is concerned with the raising of government revenue and incurring of government expenditure.

Fiscal policy has higher importance in underdeveloped countries thus the state plays an active and important role. In democratic regimes, the government depends on indirect methods of regulations towards achieving their development objectives. The core objectives of fiscal policy include development of effective means of resource mobilization to ensure rapid growth and development in the economy. To do this, financial resources must be mobilized through  taxation, (levying direct and indirect taxes), public savings (reducing government expenditure and increasing surpluses of public sector enterprises), private savings (tax benefits – government borrowings by ways of treasury bills, issue of government bonds, etc., loans from domestic and foreign parties and by deficit financing).

Secondly, financial resources must be efficiently allocated for development activities which include expenditure on railways, infrastructure, etc. and non-development activities like expenditure on defense, interest payments, subsidies, etc. Government must also ensure reduction in inequalities of income and wealth and target equity and social justice. Example, income taxes are higher for the rich people as compared to the low income poor. Indirect taxes such as those on semi-luxury and luxury items are mostly patronized by the upper middle class and the upper class. Other objectives include increasing national income, price stabilization and inflation control, employment generation, a balanced regional development and reducing the deficit in the balance of payment

The principle instrument of fiscal policy is the budget. Budgets are used to exert some control over size and relationship of government receipts and expenditures. There two main approaches to budget adopted for towards stabilizing the economy are Deficit budgeting and Surplus in the budget. Deficit budgeting is when government expenditures exceed receipts and larger amounts need to be put into the stream of national income than they are withdrawn. Budget deficit may also be addressed by reducing taxes and diminishing government spending.

Surplus in the budget occurs when the government revenues exceed expenditures. The policy of surplus budget is followed to control inflationary pressures within the economy. It may be through increase in taxation or reduction in government expenditures or both. This will tend to reduce income and aggregate demand. Increases in taxes may leave budget surplus even when government is spending.

            Policy Making in Ghana

Policy making has become part and parcel of various governments‟ machinery in Africa in general and Ghana to be specific. In Ghana‟s civilian government, there are three important arms namely; the legislature, executive, and the judiciary that perform three distinct and important functions so far as policies are concerned. This involves making of rules, application of rules and adjudication of rules respectively. In many countries, their functions are stated in the constitution. The executive steers the affairs of the country and applies the rules made by the legislature. Power and leadership is mostly centred on the executive (Heywood, 2002). This involves guiding, supervising, coordinating, stabilizing, and planning the activities of the state. The legislative body on the other hand is responsible for making of laws, and the judiciary

adjudicate the various laws by settling disputes that may arise among individuals on one hand and among individuals and the state on the other.

Aside the three main organs of government, there are other institutions or stakeholders with respect to public policy making in Ghana. They include civil society organizations and the media. They all contribute to shape and influence the policy making process in the country under various political administrations. Aryee (2000) indicates that in Ghana, the promotion of policy analysis is done by the National Development Planning Commission. They supervise the establishment of national development plans and also evaluate, monitor, and coordinate policies, projects and programs that are development oriented. All these activities ultimately generate policies that address problems of the people.

            The Role of the Civil Service in Policy Formulation

It is well documented worldwide that, inadequacies in public policy process caused adversities and financial loss to nations (Price, 2002). One key example of problems of public policy process (formulation and implementation) can be seen in the collapse of Enron, the energy giant and WorldCom both of the United States of America (@floridasecurityfraud.com). Another of such mishap of public policy implementation which has further been compounded by international sanctions in recent times is the current political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. The causes of which can greatly be attributed to breakdown in public policy process and procedures in that country (Economy of Zimbabwe, 2008). These inadequacies are often attributed to bureaucracy in the public sector (Dziany, 2011).

The main driver of public sector activities in Ghana is the Civil Service. For policies to flourish under any form of government requires that the Civil Service is functioning efficiently and

effectively. However, the state of the Civil Service as a machinery of government in itself has contributed negatively to some of the outcomes of government policy. To address this situation, Tumfo (2017) suggests that working in the Civil Service of Ghana should bring with it the aim of providing quality, professional service to ensure an effective policy management for national development.

            Military Administration in Ghana

Ghana‟s post-independence history has been characterized by long periods of military rule and later consistent democratic civilian governance. According to Dziany (2011) one party government that characterized military rule was prevalent in Ghana for several years. For example, the period from 1969 to 1985 was characterized by several military regimes who have blamed global economic injustices as the reason for the failure of the Ghanaian economy (Gyimah-Boadi, 2008). Military rule began under the National Liberation Council (NLC) in February to October 1969, through the National Redemption Council (NRC) in January 1972 to October 1975, then the Supreme Military Council (SMC) in October 1975 to June 1979, and  later the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council in June 1979 to September 1979 before finally Rawling’s Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) government (Aryee, 1998). In 1966, the Nkrumah government was overthrown in Ghana‟s first military coup leading to the setting up of the National Liberation Council (NLC) government (Asante & Debrah, 2015). The last pronouncement  of  military  coup  d‟état  in  Ghana‟s  history  occurred  in  1981,  when  Rawlings staged his second military intervention and overthrew Limann‟s People‟s National Party (PNP) government leading to the formation of Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) (Asante &Debrah, 2015). The Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) remained in power till

January 1993 (Aryee, 1998) when a civilian government was inaugurated. This silence of coup d‟état is what led in the summation by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (2011) that the military in politics is now less prominent. But the recent debate has questioned this assertion.

            Civilian Administration in Ghana

The first experience of self-civilian governance in Ghana commenced in the First Republic under Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who was president from March 1957 till his overthrow in 1966. Further interludes of civilian governments occurred when in 1969; Dr. K.A. Busia was elected as Prime Minister under the 1969 Constitution (Second Republic). This republic was based on the Westminster model of parliamentary government (Asante & Debrah, 2015). This was interrupted in 1972 by a military coup led by General Acheampong which overthrew Busia‟s Progress Party (PP) government. In 1979, Flt. Lt. J.J. Rawlings staged his first military coup d‟état and set up the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) (Asante & Debrah, 2015). This led to the election of Dr. Hilla Limann as President under the 1979 Constitution (Third Republic). The 1979 constitution was based on presidential system of government, based on the United States‟ model of separation of powers (1979 – 1981) (Asante & Debrah, 2015).

The third republic under Hilla Limann was also interrupted later by Jerry John Rawlings at which a reign from 1979 was ended in 1981 (Abdulai, 2009). The next reign of Jerry John Rawlings lasted for about eleven years; the latter part of which involved a number of agitations for civilian rule. As part of the new phase of political struggle which opened up in 1990, several pockets of social and political groupings sprung up and later came together to form the Movement for Freedom and Justice (MFJ). Their core objective was to work towards restoring multi-party democracy and civilian rule in Ghana. Further to that, was their push for the

fundamental human and democratic rights of the people of Ghana to be recognized and realized such that people are free to decide who and how they want to be governed. They called for the democratic and human rights of the people, including the freedom of expression. They were especially interested in the freedom of the press, freedom of association and the rule of law to be upheld and defended (Aidoo 2006). This led to a transition period to prepare the country and her people into the fourth republic.

According to  Abdulai  (2009),  Ghana‟s  transition  processes  during the  period  were  defined  by two related struggles: the struggle for economic recovery from decades of economic decline and for better living standards for the average Ghanaian; and the struggle for “true democracy” (Abdulai, 2009). Most supporters of civilian rule were looking out for positive strides in economic recovery but were also looking out for a civilian regime that will offer true democracy and uplift the standard of living of the people. Upon elections in 1992, the fourth republic commenced with Jerry john Rawlings of the National Democratic Congress as its first president. From 1992, there have been a number of political parties in Ghana including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC), National Independence Party (NIP), the Peoples Heritage Party (PHP) (Aryee, 1998), Progressive People‟s Party (PPP) and the Convention People‟s Party (CPP). Within the same period, a number of governments have been elected on the ticket of either the NDC or NPP. John Agyekum Kuffuor of the NPP became president after Rawlings completed his eight-year term. The late John Evans Atta Mills of the NDC succeeded President Kuffuor only to become the first sitting president of Ghana to die in office. His Vice; John Dramani Mahama continued the term and subsequently won the 2012 elections to continue as president. He however became a one- term president when he was beaten in 2016 by the NPP candidate, Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo

Addo to become the President. In a nutshell, since 1992, Ghana has held seven successful democratic multiparty elections, with the eighth elections scheduled for December 7, 2020. The peaceful transfers of power from one government to the other following national elections clearly evince how far Ghana has journeyed in pursuit of democratic consolidation over the past decades   (Abdulai,   2009).   Indeed,   the   significance   of   these   developments   in   Ghana‟s democratization process is demonstrated in the number of references made by international bodies to Ghana‟s political success stories in Africa (Gyimah-Boadi 2008; Whitfield & Jones, 2008; Ninsin, 1998).

Across all these ideological perspectives of leadership, there has been appreciable progress in institutionalizing multiparty democratic governance in Ghana especially within the framework of the 1992 Constitution. Key among them is the exercise of liberties and rights in the civilian regime. Ghanaians within this period enjoyed a much wider range of rights and liberties and an independent and free media that continued to hold government accountable, as well as an emerging trend of a vibrant civil society, all of which provided considerable evidence of political liberalization (Abdulai, 2009).

However, despite the aim of the democratic dispensation to make rulers accountable for their actions, Aryee (1998) contend that there was actually no democracy during most of the initial stages of the civilian regimes based on the fact that the political system failed to abide by the rule of law (Aryee, 1998). Part of this attitude as pointed out by Gyimah-Boadi (2008) was due to the fact that the president wielded so much power and had expansive control over other state institutions which is believed to have detrimental consequences on consolidating democracy. Another aspect was the magnitude of power entrusted the executive which culminated in excessive government control over relevant official information thus impacting negatively on the

ability of citizens to claim their right to information. However, Aryee (1998) notes that some of the problems of democracy and civilian rule in Ghana especially during the Rawlings era included the high defense put up in relation to the fusion between the regime (e.g. NDC) and key state institutions. In addition to this is the ubiquitous role of the military and other security establishments in the affairs of civilians as against addressing the grievous handicaps that confront civil society institutions and governments.

            Problem Statement

In Ghana, the control of power since independence has been chequered, alternating between periods of military and civilian regimes. Records indicate that Ghana has witnessed more than 22 years of military rule and 39 years of civilian rule since independence (Tsamenyi, 1983; Gyening, 2008). The most recent being nearly twenty-six (26) years of multi-party democratic constitutional civilian rule; underpinned by successful transfer of power through the ballot box; the functioning of various state institutions that guarantee the rule of law and due process; freedom of expression and freedom of the media amongst others. During this period, the approach most used in solving citizens‟ problems is the formulation of policies. Policy formulation therefore, remains a key cog in the wheel of administrative practices of governments. In view of this, citizens‟ expectations of improved livelihood through the formulation of result-oriented policies have never changed.

However, in Ghana, policies have not always produced the expectant results (Aryee, 2000). In some cases, positive results under one regime in specific sectors have not been repeated in the other whilst success in one policy area has not also assured its reproducibility across all other policies under a regime. These observations have raised the diagnostic interest of scholars