Emerging dynamics in long-standing challenges in local governance participation in Ghana a case of the Ahafo-Ano South-East District

Abstract

Notions and associated practices of political decentralization have gained prominence in lieu of the Huntingtonian Third Wave of Democratization. In Africa, many countries have experimented with decentralization and recorded mixed results. However, the assumed advantages of decentralization, such as political participation, accountability, and development, are stifled by important challenges, including partisanship, misappropriation, and the lack of resources, which negatively affect grassroots participation. In a case study of the Ahafo-Ano Southeast District-Ghana, this article presents long-standing and emerging empirical evidence on crucial challenges to grassroots participation in decentralization. Through surveys and semi-structured interviews, we found that the mode and frequency of engagements at the local assembly promote old and new hindrances to citizen participation, namely unidirectional communication channels and political interference, which impede meaningful participation. It was also found that partisan influence in local government setups leads to elite capture of political participation at the local level, weakening meaningful participation. This contributes to the literature on decentralization and local governance in Ghana, where such hindrances are not offered significant empirical analysis, especially concerning emerging dynamics.