“We Are not into Politics, but Politics Is into Us”: The Politicization of the Ghana Armed Forces Through Patronage Exchanges between Political Elites and Military Leaders

Abstract

Throughout Ghana’s political history, soldiers have inspired socio-political change. Based on fieldwork with the Ghanaian military, this article contributes to literature on militaries and civil-military relations in Africa. Agyekum analyzes how the politicization of the military impacts dynamics within the barracks, while highlighting how the country’s political class endeavors to diminish the armed forces’ societal and political influence as a way to gain control over the institution through patronage exchanges. Since the early 2000s, the elite’s strategy entices individual soldiers as well as the whole institution through the politicization of promotions and appointments, recruitment, better service conditions, and infrastructural projects in the barracks.