Public Administration and the Development of Africa: A Critical Assessment

Abstract

This article explores Africa’s development challenges from a public administration service delivery capacity perspective. The paper contends that African countries lack a well-coordinated central policy making machinery of government which has the capacity to set major development objectives of government and ensure service delivery consistency. The paper further notes that an efficient public sector is a prerequisite to any meaningful development in Africa. Public bureaucracies are viewed as the vehicles through which the struggle toward development and national building can be achieved. The paper has relied on documentary sources and the contribution represents a modest attempt to shed some light on the ongoing debate on the efficacy of Africa's public management institutions.