Political transitions and commissions of inquiry: the politicisation of accountability in Ghana

Abstract

What role does a commission of inquiry (COI) play in delivering accountability? In theory, when the public delegates power to political leaders to formulate and implement policies, they seek political accountability in return. Using Ghana as a case study, this study examines how the operations of COIs may deliver accountability. Principal–agent theories of accountability and African conceptions of legitimacy are incomplete on their own and need to be integrated into an explanation of political accountability that takes into consideration political transitions and the role of COIs in delivering a minimalist form of accountability. This study argues that a COI is an instrument of regime legitimatisation. The demands by citizens for political accountability in Ghana correlate with political transitions. Accompanying each power alternation was a different model of political accountability. To understand the predominant applications of accountability, we emphasise the politicisation of accountability.

Keywords:

• commission of inquiry
• political accountability
• principal–agent theories
• African conceptions of legitimacy
• legitimatisation of power
• two-party politics

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Naomi Adarkwa and Phyllis Kyei Mensah, who compiled the data for this study, and participants at the 57th Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association conference, Indiana (22 November 2014), where a version of this study was presented. We are grateful to the editor and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 These are payments made out of the consolidated account after contractors or persons who suffered some form of injury have petitioned government.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

George M. Bob-Milliar

George M. Bob-Milliar is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His areas of research cut across three related disciplines: political ethnography, history and development studies.

Ali Yakubu Nyaaba

George M. Bob-Milliar is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. His areas of research cut across three related disciplines: political ethnography, history and development studies.

Ali Yakubu Nyaaba is a Social Historian by training. He has over seven years of professional experience in research and teaching in the Department of History and Political Studies, KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana. He is interested in the social and political history of Ghana/Africa (especially northern Ghana).