CDD interrogates prospects for political, economic transformation

The Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), has held a panel discussion in Accra on the prospects for political, social and economic transformation of the country.

The discussion on the theme “Interrogating the prospects for political, social and economic transformation in Ghana,” provided a platform for the lead researchers working on various thematic study areas to share their research findings with public policy makers, development partners and academicians.

The discussion was focused on topics such as mapping Ghana’s political settlement, oil, governance and inclusive development in Ghana and the politics of public sector reforms in Ghana.

The rest were the Politics of social provisioning-Education policy-making and implementation in Ghana and the Growth and politics of spatial inequality in Ghana.

Dr Franklin Oduro, Head of Research and Programmes, and Deputy Director of CDD Ghana, speaking on the topic ‘Mapping Ghana’s political settlement, implications for development’ said, in the short to medium-term, Ghana’s democratic politics and development would continue to be informed and shaped by competitive electoral settlements.

“In the medium to the long-term, however, with the increasingly competitive nature of elections, and the continuous expansion of the public space, the character of the political settlement in Ghana will create the incentive structure for the ruling coalition to adopt sustainable policies and strategies towards inclusive development,” he said.

Dr Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai, a lecture at the Department of Public Administration at the University of Ghana, who delivered a paper on the topic, ‘rethinking regional inequality in Ghana; what can a political settlement approach offer,’ challenged the various de-politicized interpretations of Ghana’s north-south inequalities.

He argued that, such interpretations have led to inappropriate policy prescriptions for the northern regions both presently and in the past.

He said the political settlement approach which emphasized the centrality of the distribution of power within the ruling coalitions and how it shapes resource allocation patterns, offers more persuasive account of the deeper underpinnings of regional inequalities in Ghana.

He called for the equitable distribution of resources and need to have continuity in development projects within the successive ruling coalitions.