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.