PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION THEORY AND PRACTICE: ARE THERE CONGRUENT IN GHANA?

Abstract

Based on a desk study this paper investigated the fit of public administration theories and paradigms with practice in Ghana. The evidence showed that there is a wide gap between prescription and reality in part because of the unquestionable application of foreign models in the characteristically different Ghanaian context. While these foreign approaches have their own limitations those are addendums to the contextual challenges that are encountered in their application in Ghana. Consequently, this has exacerbated the very ills that the models and reforms are meant to correct: poor service delivery; lack of accountability; irresponsiveness; red-tape; citizen alienation; and inefficiency and ineffectiveness. An unorthodox approach that taps selectively on a range of context relevant public management traditions will be more appropriate for Ghana than an approach to reform that is predicated on models that have evolved in the political and economic conditions of advanced industrialized countries. Such an approach would stress different elements from a repertoire of potential alternatives that offer “best fit” rather than “best practice” solutions. The Ghanaian case reinforces the debate about the applicability or otherwise of developed countries’ public administration models in the Third World.

Keywords

• ghanian public administration;
• theories-practices;