Unitarism and presidentialism: Political institutions and corruption in public management in Ghana

Abstract

This paper examines the compatibility of democratization and corruption in Ghana. It uses institutional explanations
of unitarism and presidentialism as independent variables to explicate why the adoption of democratic government
has not addressed the problem of corruption and the consequent inefficiencies in public sector management. While
unitarism draws attention to how the supremacy of national institutions and centralization of power make corruption
in public management a fact of life in Ghana, presidentialism explains how the supremacy of the presidency
undermines legislative oversight functions. The paper concludes that steps should be taken to divest the
presidency of some of its powers, and politicians must also promote best practices in the bureaucracy and local
government administration in order to address corruption and inefficiency in public sector management.