The politics of public policy termination in Ghana: Is it a case of whoever pays the piper calls the tune?

Abstract Policy termination is assumed to be a rational or ideological exercise in which a policy is done away with, as demonstrated in most developed countries. Unfortunately, this does not seem to stand up to further scrutiny in developing countries, as some scholars wonder whether developing countries make policies or are just bandwagoners in the first place. Be that as it may, policy termination still takes place in these countries. How, then, can one explain policy termination in these countries? Using the termination of Ghana’s Gold4oil policy as the case, one can argue that policy termination does not necessarily follow the rational model or the ideological perspective, but rather, it is a case of “whoever pays the piper calls the tune.” In other words, policy termination in developing countries is pushed by international actors, mainly financial and aid institutions, which have become their developmental financiers. These international actors can cause the termination of certain policies for several reasons, when they deem these policies unfavorable to their interests, or when they believe this policy is fraught with some negative issues, such as transparency and risk of illicit financial flows, among others. The study is qualitative. Data were collected using the specialized interview technique and snowballing approach. The study found the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was influential in the termination of the policy due to factors including the lack of transparency and perceived corruption, the lack of policy consultation, and geopolitical factors.