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Feature Article of Wednesday, 2 November 2005
Columnist: Azindow, Yakubu
Why Ghana Opted For SAP
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Ghana?s Decision To Implement Structural Adjustment Program (Sap), 1982-1992.
Ghana?s interaction with the IMF and the World Bank dates back to the late 1960s when the National Liberation Council (NLC) toppled Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana?s first president, in a bloodless coup d '?tat. The NLC became pro-IMF and revised Dr. Nkrumah?s state-oriented policies. In the 1970s, intense resistance from domestic social forces compelled successive leaders to rescind their decisions to implement rigorous neo-liberal economic reforms. Between 1983-1992, however, the military government of the PNDC turned around and accepted Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). SAP involves both economic and political dimensions. They both contain specific sets of prescriptions linked to the conditional loans of the IMF and the World Bank. The economic dimension involves such market-oriented policies as trade liberalization, privatization, and fiscal discipline. The political dimension, on the other hand, involves a process where government is structured in favor of the governed -democratization. This essay, however, focuses on the economic dimension of SAP. My objective is to assess how well the dependency theory and the bureaucratic politics model explain the

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