Toward a higher order accountability in local economic development in Ghana

Abstract

The article examines political accountability that informs local government administration in Ghana in the context of the US experience and challenges of economic development in Africa. It offers a critical perspective on Ghana's local government administration that contributes to higher order accountability to citizens that leads to local economic development. It surmises that while electoral and fiscal decentralisation contribute to political accountability, these are at best lower order accountability mechanisms. Higher order accountability should include a decentralised entrepreneurial leadership that emphasises entrepreneurship, professionalism, local autonomy, and inter-local competition that are necessary for local economic development in Ghana making it a model for Africa's renaissance. The article, therefore, advances the literature on political accountability and local economic development in Ghana and Africa as a whole with practical and progressive solutions to the challenges of economic development on the continent.