ISSN 2360-7998
Abstract
Accepted 21st March, 2020.
Foreign aid has been criticized for being ineffective in helping countries develop in Africa. The debate on how these aids can be effective and contribute to development is, however, still ongoing without any clear way forward. There are high volumes of literature on the impact of foreign aid on development in Africa, yet not many have recognized all the factors that contribute to aid failure. The focus is often on macro-economic indicators that do not fairly represent the realities of poverty and suffering in many African countries, particularly Ghana. This paper sets out to examine the impact of foreign aid on development in Africa using recent policy pronouncements by the President of Ghana. Is 'Ghana beyond aid' pragmatic or mere rhetoric? Drawing on documentary and empirical analysis, the study argues that foreign aid in itself is not necessarily the problem in the developing states but the management of these aids determine success or failure, and that, Ghana cannot do without foreign aid due to the state of the economy and the nature of the political system practice in the country. The paper recommends that for Ghana to go beyond aid (do without aid); it has to build its institutional capacity, strengthen its ideologies, and invest a lot on its financial resources.
Keywords: Foreign Aid, Political Rhetoric, Agenda, Growth, and Development.