“…Rather, it is posited that as in the case of Ghana, several characteristics of the bureaucracy are consistent with neopatrimonialism and rent seeking models-and that these define an institutional logic that helps explain 'irrationalities' in TradeNet rationalization. Such characteristics of neopatrimonial states include systematic concentration of power, personalization of official resources, corruption and rent seeking (Mbaku, 1996(Mbaku, , 1998Bratton and Van de Walle, 1997, 63-65;Kelsall, 2011Kelsall, , 2012 Rent seeking, a related concept developed within neoclassical economic theory (e.g., Krueger, 1974), elaborates another important aspects of the political economy of Africa's underdevelopment (e.g., Mbaku, 1998;Herbst, 2000;Mkandawire, 2013). Rents are defined as a "premium above opportunity costs for a given set of resources" (Lewis, 1994, p. 440) and occur when non-market forces such as politics or corruption, distort mechanisms of a free market.…”