Assessing the Corporate Governance Framework of Local Governments in Ghana

Abstract

International best practices require that corporate governance principles are introduced to guide institutions to operate in the best interest of stakeholders. Some local governments in Ghana have not been able to improve the lot of the people although corporate governance principles have been established in their systems. In an attempt to find the underlying reasons, this study assessed the corporate governance framework of four local governments in Ghana. The in-depth interview design was adopted and a purposive sampling procedure was employed to select 25 key informants who provided primary data for the study. The informants were four Internal Auditors, four Co-ordinating Directors, four members of Audit Committees, three District Auditors, four Regulators from the national level, and six members of the District Planning Co-ordinating Unit of the Assemblies. Data collection methods were key informant interviews and library searches. The interview guide and document review guide were the data collection instruments used. Pattern matching, comparison, content analysis, and interpretation were employed to analyze the data. The study revealed that the components of the corporate governance framework of the selected local governments were the same as that of the standard framework. However, there were lapses in their functioning. The recommendation is that the management bodies and officers responsible for the lapses in the functioning of the components should be sanctioned.

Keywords

• assemblies
• in-depth interview
• institutions
• principles
• standard framework