Public Sector Reform Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Today there is widespread consensus in circles of practitioners and academics that “dysfunctional” state bureaucracies constitute the biggest impediment to development (Gerhard and Anders 2005). Excessive red tape, opaque procedures, and corrupt civil servants are perceived to delay and reroute badly needed development. The WB report (1989) blames “bad governance,” a bloated bureaucracy, patrimonialism, and corruption for the elusiveness of economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1980s and 1990s. In subsequent years, however, the concept of good governance was developed as a remedy to these problems. By the end of the 1990s, the concept constituted one of the central elements of international development assistance in sub-Saharan Africa (Abrahamsen 2000). Available evidence suggests that African governments have pursued political and economic reforms since the late 1980s in a bid to promote economic growth, reduce poverty, and encourage popular participation and good governance (Kayizzi-Mugerwa 2003, 1). Although many of the sub-Saharan African countries were and are still experiencing tremendous hardships with both their political systems and their bureaucracies also not delivering, very few saw or have seen the need to internally reform their systems. This is mainly so because the prereform practices across the sectors are a product of colonial practices, post colonial nation building, and the current international conventions.

Elephants and public organisations have something in common. Elephants are believed to be slow and insensitive creatures, when in fact they can run very fast and are very sensitive. Similarly, public organisations are believed to be low-performing and unresponsive, when in fact many public organizations perform very well and are models of responsiveness.

—Brewer and Seldon (2000, 685)