Publication: Occasional Papers

(A report submitted to His Excellency, John Dramani Mahama, President of the Republic of Ghana.) In response to increasing concerns about the appropriateness of the Winner-Takes-All (WTA) politics implied in the 1992 Constitution over the last twenty years, the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) conducted nation-wide stakeholder surveys and public consultations to solicit views on…

In this paper Mr. Kofi Bentum Quantson points out that Security is a fundamental pre-requisite for the survival of humankind and should be regarded as the elixir that sustains the stability of society. Without that stabilizing factor, there can be no progress. In his view, any society that cannot develop and progress could stagnate into…

This paper argues that Ghana has made significant strides in providing access to quality education at all levels of the education system since independence. However, as the demand for education skyrocketed and the Ghanaian economy went into a tailspin in the late 1970s and 1980s, Ghanaian governments struggled to sustain an adequate level of funding…

This paper attempts to analyse the social structure ofthe DistrictAssemblies created by the District Assembly Elections of2002. The Upper East Region of Ghana, which is the poorest region in the country, is the focus of the study. The analysis is situated against the background ofthe social, economic and political conditions of the region at the…

(With funding from The Royal Danish Embassy through The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).) Payroll fraud, as argued here, is an activity whose participants are not necessarily those who are so sunk in poverty, but rather those in a position to determine that the risk of detection, arrest, and punishment is low, and that there…

(With funding from The Royal Danish Embassy through The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).) No one understands completely why economies grow. and no one has a magic formula for inducing growth. In this paper, Dr. Joe Amoako- Tuffour looks at the forces that economists believe underlie growth with an eye toward what public and private…

(With funding from The Royal Danish Embassy through The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).) This Occasional Paper by Dr. Cyril Daddieh discusses the controversial issue of food aid which in the view of the World Bank and the World Food Programme, is “an important and undervalued resource for development in Africa”. The discussion, interestingly, includes…

The purpose of this Bill is to provide for the manner in which indirViduals may in the public interest disclose information that relates to unlawful, corrupt or other illegal conduct or practices of others in the society and to ensure that the persons who make the disclosures are not subjected to victimisation. It is recognised…

(With funding from The Royal Danish Embassy through The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).) This paper explores the relationship between aspects of indigenous African political culture and the quest for appropriate principles and practices for Africa’s political future. Its main thesis is that some political values of traditional Akan society are relevant to our contemporary…

(With funding from The Royal Danish Embassy through The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).) This paper analyzes the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ Initiative (HIPC)with a focus on the experiences of countries such as Uganda and Bolivia that have had the most experience with the program. It was written at a time when Ghana was considering…