Who Runs the Municipality? The Intractable Challenge of Neo-Traditional Interests in Ghana's Local State

Abstract

Ghana's local political project - the decentralization reform - is seen frequently as a success story. The reform programmes often prioritize formal procedures in which bureaucrats and elected officials in the local administration and communal councils provide public authority. Meanwhile, there exists a persistent interest of neo-traditional authority in the local administration - often branded as an 'anomaly' - which dates back to the colonial era. This study, using empirical data from two local administrations and supplemented by archival information, asserts that the so-called neo-traditional incongruity in the local councils thrives on a mix of ambivalence, partial inclusion and total exclusion of these influential actors in local authority making by the different regimes. Current reforms in the local political arena have pursued bureaucratic-style programmes all the while neglecting neo-traditional influence in the everyday life of the local administration. However, as the paper argues, until an adequate programme of exclusion or accommodation is enacted and consciously executed, the ambivalent role assigned to these actors will persistently shape and interrupt the local bureaucracy in its delivery of public authority than planned. The study contributes to the general debate on institutional reforms and development especially on local public policy in the Global South.