ABSTRACT
The chapter assesses Ghana's experiment with the new aid framework being promoted by donors within the rubric of poverty reduction strategies. It traces the evolution of the recent poverty reduction policies to the implementation of their earlier structural adjustment policies. The chapter highlights the social limits of neoliberalism in Ghana as reflected in the country's inability to bridge the rural-urban poverty profile and to provide for the basic social services to the majority of its citizens. The transformation of the Organization African Unity to the African Union with structures identical to some of Nkrumah's original ideas is an enduring testimony to Nkrumah's vision and astuteness. Ghana's political economy in the post-Nkrumah era was an abysmal failure. Development policy making continues to be a largely centralized process negotiated by key ministers and public officials, working in concert with donors. The new poverty reduction framework of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have emphasized national ownership and policy space as means for achieving economic development.
