The ‘New Approach’ to Public Sector Reforms in Ghana: A Case of Politics as Usual or a Genuine Attempt at Reform?

Abstract

Public sector reforms continue to preoccupy governments all over the world, compelled by the need to ‘get the state right’ through better policy development and implementation. Developing countries see this as the path to a developmental state. This article examines Ghana's quest to build such a state through its new public sector reforms, originally hailed in hyperbolic terms. We argue that the rejection of a top‐down and bottom‐up synergy in favour of an exclusively top‐down approach dooms this effort to failure.

Administrative leaders as institutional entrepreneurs in developing countries: A study of the development and institutionalization of performance management in Ghana's public service

“…For instance, because people's pay was not tied to any performance criterion except the normal promotion examination and interview-which everyone In the Ghanaian case, the previous NDC government signalled its intention to hold ministers accountable through a ministerial PMS. In this system, the presidency developed a PMS and signed a performance contract with the ministers, who then were expected to also move down and sign a performance contract with the bureaucratic leadership (Ohemeng & Ayee, 2016). The idea was that the PM targets of the minister would cascade down to the lowest level of the bureaucracy.…”

“…In spite of the blooming literature on IEs, scholars have yet to agree on a set of characteristics for these actors. As already indicated, the majority who have studied IEs have described them as change agents, 2 In view of the government's penchant for PM, it provided the PSC with a strong political backing in the development and implementation of the performance management system for the service (see Ohemeng & Ayee, 2016). whose objectives are to pursue certain interests and act strategically in order to create change (Brouwer, 2017;Weik, 2011) by reconfiguring "an organization's roles, responsibilities, structures, outputs, processes, systems, technology or other resources" (Buchanan & Badham, 1999:610).…”

“…Through their efforts, they have made the PSC a focal point of HR issues in the sector (Ohemeng & Ayee, 2016). In short, this change has led to the proverbial "emperor wearing his clothes again."…”

The impact of employee perception on the successful institutionalisation and implementation of performance management systems in developing countries: The perspective from Ghana's public service

“…As with the previous system, a draft policy that was developed, and was to be submitted to parliament, never saw the light of day because the government lost the general election the following year. The new government asked the HoCS to retire, meaning the loss of another advocate and champion of PM, sabotaging the new government's overwhelming acceptance of PM as a good instrument for governance (Ohemeng & Ayee, ). These failures led the PSC, in collaboration with other institutions, to develop the current system.…”

“…The new government asked the HoCS to retire, meaning the loss of another advocate and champion of PM, sabotaging the new government's overwhelming acceptance of PM as a good instrument for governance (Ohemeng & Ayee, 2016). These failures led the PSC, in collaboration with other institutions, to develop the current system.…”