Public Sector Reforms in Africa: Challenges and the Ways Forward: A review of selected reform experiences from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda

Mulugeta Wolde, Addis Ababa Univesity

Abstract

This study will attempt to review reform experiences of five countries, namely, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. While there are variations in each of these countries in terms of elite ideologies dictating reforms, country political and administrative history that shaped them and commitments to reform, these countries share striking similarities in many ways. Discussions shall reveal that the path to public sector reform (PSR) in Africa tends to be a lot more daunting than elsewhere in the world. It seems that PSRs in the region are swimming against the strong currents of falling capacity and weak socioeconomic conditions resulting in a fragile basis of legitimacy and accountability in the system of public administration. The dismal socioeconomic base may have even more aggravated the tensions between the growing demand for services and a proportionally weaker capacity of the public sector to deliver. This paper shall also delve into the major circumstances which have been in the way of productive implementation outcomes that have contributed to reform failures in Africa in general, and in the intimated countries in particular. Chief among others, despite the fact the African public sector face enormous challenges that manifest in the form of weak socioeconomic foundation, limited capacity and scarce resources, governments have rather been pushing through a wave of radical and grandiose reform programs. In other words, African policymakers chose to advance on all fronts with complex reform programs, although the experiences of mature public administration reforms attest policy and institutional reforms can have positive impact on our sustainable development endeavors when the longer duration of reforms are recognized and progressed incrementally. Second, the efforts for grounding reforms in African experiences and generating African solution for policy and institutional problems have long remained unsuccessful while it is indeed necessary for African policymakers to anchor reforms in African reform practices and experiences committed to the generation of theories and concepts that will make reforms more relevant while at the same time increasing the scope for exploiting productive implementation outcomes.

 

Public Sector Reforms in Africa: Challenges and the Ways Forward: A review of selected reform experiences from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda

This study will attempt to review reform experiences of five countries, namely, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. While there are variations in each of these countries in terms of elite ideologies dictating reforms, country political and administrative history that shaped them and commitments to reform, these countries share striking similarities in many ways. Discussions shall reveal that the path to public sector reform (PSR) in Africa tends to be a lot more daunting than elsewhere in the world. It seems that PSRs in the region are swimming against the strong currents of falling capacity and weak socioeconomic conditions resulting in a fragile basis of legitimacy and accountability in the system of public administration. The dismal socioeconomic base may have even more aggravated the tensions between the growing demand for services and a proportionally weaker capacity of the public sector to deliver. This paper shall also delve into the major circumstances which have been in the way of productive implementation outcomes that have contributed to reform failures in Africa in general, and in the intimated countries in particular. Chief among others, despite the fact the African public sector face enormous challenges that manifest in the form of weak socioeconomic foundation, limited capacity and scarce resources, governments have rather been pushing through a wave of radical and grandiose reform programs. In other words, African policymakers chose to advance on all fronts with complex reform programs, although the experiences of mature public administration reforms attest policy and institutional reforms can have positive impact on our sustainable development endeavors when the longer duration of reforms are recognized and progressed incrementally. Second, the efforts for grounding reforms in African experiences and generating African solution for policy and institutional problems have long remained unsuccessful while it is indeed necessary for African policymakers to anchor reforms in African reform practices and experiences committed to the generation of theories and concepts that will make reforms more relevant while at the same time increasing the scope for exploiting productive implementation outcomes.