Africa’s natural resource-rich countries tend to combine mismanagement of their “windfall” with poor record of democratic governance. Yet, for Ghana, which has recently become an oil producer, the prospect of escaping the “resource curse” is decent—largely on account of its current status as an electoral democracy. While the prevailing democratic political environment has contributed positively to the crafting of policy governing the new oil sector, and legislation and nascent institutions partially justify such optimism, severe deficiencies in contemporary Ghanaian politics, together with the new resource’s aggravation of the country’s patronage-fuelled democracy and acrimonious political competition, give cause for caution.
About the Authors
E. Gyimah-Boadi
E. Gyimah-Boadi, former professor at the University of Ghana, Legon, is cofounder and executive director of Afrobarometer, as well as founder and former executive director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana). His books include Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa (2005).
H. Kwasi Prempeh, professor of law at Seton Hall University, is former director of legal policy and governance at CDD-Ghana and was a 2011 Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow.
With longtime ruler Jerry Rawlings obeying constitutional term limits, the opposition won a narrow electoral victory, bringing Ghana its first peaceful transfer of power since independence.
