COVID-19 and the state in Africa: The state is dead, long live the state

Abstract

In this article, I am concerned about how countries around the world have coped and are coping with the unprecedented COVID-19 turn of events, which has brought all life to a screeching halt. The state everywhere has been called upon to respond effectively to the associated morbidities and mortalities and plot for a post-COVID-19 era. My interest lies in how the weakening of the state in Africa in the last 30 years complicates the continent’s capacity to confront the pandemic adequately. I focus primarily on the Ghanaian case as my analytic reference. I argue that in spite of the attempts in the public administration literature and neoliberalization policy formation to undermine the African state as a key vehicle for development, this pandemic brings it right back to the center of things.