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Daniel Appiah

Lecturer

Office Location:
UGBS Graduate Building. Email: dappiah@ug.edu.gh



Current Roles
Coordinator, Master of Public Sector Management Programme

Areas of Expertise
Public institutional analysis, Civil service capacity building, Local government reform, Public accountability and anti-corruption reform, Chieftaincy and traditional governance, Land administration, Gender inclusiveness

Research Interests
Public Service reform, Civil Service reform, Local Government performance, Public accountability and anti-corruption, Chieftaincy and traditional governance, Land administration, Gender equality in governance

Daniel Appiah

Daniel Appiah is a Lecturer of Public Administration at the University of Ghana, Department of Public Administration. He received his PhD in Politics from the University of York in the UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship programme. He holds an MPhil in Public Administration from the University of Bergen (under the Norwegian Government Quota Scholarship programme), and a BA in Political Science (Major) from the University of Ghana. He has expertise in public sector reforms focusing on civil service administration, democratization, local governance, public accountability, traditional governance, land administration, gender inclusiveness, and public value governance. His recent research on state effectiveness have been published in Public Organization Review and Public Administration and Development. Dr. Appiah values human well-being, truthfulness, and transparency in social and professional relationships.

Ongoing Research/Projects

  1. Research project with Ellen Lust (University of Gothenburg) and John-Paul Adjadeh (University of Texas) to understand the factors affecting chieftaincy succession turnover in Ghana.

  2. Research project with local and international partners to understand factors affecting Local Government Performance in Ghana and other African countries. 

RESEARCH PUBLICATIONS

 

Nyadzi, B. K., and Appiah, D. (2025). ‘Impacts of IMF loan conditionality on impartiality in civil service personnel administration in Ghana’, Public Administration and Development, Vol. 00, 1–15 Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/pad.70013

 

Abdulai, A-G, Appiah, D. (2023). The politics of public financial management in Ghana: what can a political settlements approach offer? Journal of African Political Economy and Development, Vol. 8, 15–28. https://afec-japed.org/article/politics-public-financial-management-ghana-what-can-political-settlements-approach-offer 

 

Appiah, D., and Abdulai, A-G. (2023). Conceptualizing and measuring state effectiveness as impartiality. Public Organization Review, Vol. 23, 1417–1436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-022-00681-2 

 

Agomor, K. S., Appiah, D., and Gati, N. K. (2020). Challenges to Improving the Financial Regulation Regime against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa. GIMPA Law Review, Vol. 5, 132-144.

 

Appiah, D. and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (2018). ‘Politicization of Bureaucracy’, In Farazmand, Ali (Ed.), Global Encyclopedia of Public Administration, Public Policy, and Governance. Springer Nature. https://link.springer.com/rwe/10.1007/978-3-319-31816-5_682-1 

 

Appiah, D. and Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai (2017). ‘Competitive Clientelism and the Politics of Core Public Sector Reform in Ghana’, ESID, Working Paper No. 82.

 

Sakyi, E.K., Agomor, K.S., and Appiah, D. (2015). ‘Funding Political Parties in Ghana: Nature, Challenges and Implications’, IGC Working Paper.

 

CONSULTANCY PROJECTS

 

  • Team Member, 2023/2024, Independent Verification Agent (IVA), World Bank sponsored Public Sector Reform for Results Project (PSRRP) being implemented by the Government of Ghana. The project is expected to end in 2024.

     

  • Lead Facilitator/Consultant, 2022 & 2023, Training of Assembly Women, NALAG & GIZ Capacity building training workshops on SDG 5 Gender Equality for District Assembly Members in 261 Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs)

     

  • Won UK-DFID funded consultancy (with Prof. Emmanuel K. Sakyi and Dr. K.S. Agomor) in 2015 to conduct a research titled ‘Funding Political Parties in Ghana: Nature, Challenges and Implications’. Research was Coordinated by the International Growth Centre (IGC) and directed by London School of Economics and Political Science and University of Oxford. (Project Budget, £12,950)

     

  • Won UK-DFID funded consultancy (with Prof. Abdul-Gafaru Abdulai) in 2017 to conduct research titled ‘Competitive Clientelism and the Politics of Core Public Sector Reform in Ghana. Research was coordinated by the Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID). See Working Paper No. 82. Funded by UK-DFID. Directed by University of Manchester. (Project Budget, £10,000)

     

  • Research supervisor, UK-DFID funded Public Servants Survey in 2017 for understanding public sector management practices in Ghana. The survey covered 1,400 public servants across public sector Ministries, Departments, and Agencies.

     

  • Part of the 2016 team that reviewed of the Government of Ghana DELIVER project implemented by the Office of the President Policy Delivery Unit and Cabinet Secretariat. The DELIVER Project was aimed at strengthening the role of the Centre of Government to implement and deliver their top development priorities through better tasking, supporting, and monitoring of the relevant areas of government and the wider public sector.