GLOBALIZING THE INFORMAL CITY: NEOLIBERALISM AND URBAN TRANSFORMATION IN ACCRA, GHANA by Abdul Alim Habib A thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Queen’s University Kingston, Ontario, Canada (November, 2013) Copyright © Abdul Alim Habib, 2013 Abstract Over the last decade, and particularly the last five years, state officials in Ghana’s capital city, Accra, have intensified their resolve to ‘modernize’ the city and make it a competitive destination for global investments. In the same period, exercises by city authorities to remove or at least suppress practices of ordinary residents in the informal sector have become more frequent and intensified. Groups such as street hawkers, market women, and slum dwellers have become the main target of periodic ‘decongestion exercises’. In this dissertation I investigate how the policies and practices associated with the ‘globalizing’ and ‘modernizing’ ambition of the state intersect with the interests of the majority of urban residents whose everyday social and economic practices are concentrated in the informal sector, a sector deemed to be deleterious to the desired image for the city. I argue that contemporary city-making in Ghana is driven mainly by a combination of economic, nationalist and individual interests. In examining how cultural and social locations such as gender and ethnicity mediate the relationship between the state and residents, I demonstrate how contemporary forms of neoliberal urban governance shape, and are being shaped by, the unique historical, cultural and developmental dynamics of African cities. i Acknowledgements I am, first all, profoundly grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Beverley Mullings, for her excellent supervision and guidance. Her extraordinary patience with me, especially her willingness to accommodate my decision to change the course of my dissertation midway into my Ph.D. program, was particularly appreciated. And her constant encouragement, even when my work was manifestly disappointing, has helped sustain my interest in the study, to which the successful completion of this dissertation bears testimony. Beverley, you were indeed there for me. I am also grateful to my dissertation exam committee members, Dr. John Holmes, Dr. David McDonald, Dr. Leela Viswanathan, and my external examiner: Dr. Ian Yeboah for their insightful comments and valuable feedback. I equally thank Dr. Barry Riddell, Dr. Laura Cameron, and Dr. Steve Gyimah (posthumously) for serving on my qualifying examination committee. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Riddell for his occasional supply of valuable academic literature to assist my work. My deep appreciation goes to the Geography Department and Queen’s University for funding my studies. The assistance provided by Sheila MacDonald, Joan Knox, Kathy Hoover, and Sharon Mohammed is deeply cherished. I also thank Samah Affan for editing part of the dissertation. I am deeply grateful to the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for funding the fieldwork of this dissertation. My fieldwork would not have been possible without the support of many people. I particularly thank my research assistants, Halidu Danjoma and Kasiratu Abdul-Razak, whose hard work and dedication made the fieldwork less burdensome for me. My special thanks go to Mr. Timothy Oman and Mr. Nii Teiko Tagoe, both at Accra Metropolitan Assembly; Mr. Mohammed Alhassan, Town and Country Planning Department; ii and Mr. Mensah Owusu, People’s Dialogue on Human Settlements for providing valuable information and leads. To the numerous respondents who generously shared their time, knowledge, and experiences with me I say a big thank you to you all. You enriched my academic life in ways you could never imagine. I owe a debt of gratitude to my family for their support, materially and spiritually, during my long years of education. I single out two of my elder siblings, Hisham Habib and Zariatu Habib, for praise for their material support when conditions were tough. I am deeply indebted to my mother, Rakiatu Abubakar, and grandmother, Hajia Fatimatu Yusif, for laying my educational foundation on which I am currently building. To my dear wife Kasira and precious children, Ramzy Toure and Nusaiba Toure, thank you is hardly enough. You all have endured my erratic schedules with remarkable patience. I look forward to a better and more stable family life together. To all my friends who in their diverse ways contributed to making me who I am today, I say thank you. I am most of all thankful to Almighty Allah for His constant watch over me. iii Dedication To the memory of Abdul-Razak Issahaku, my childhood best friend whose promising life was senselessly cut short by a thug. Zakus, as I used to affectionately call you, rest in perfect peace. I have missed you dearly. iv Table of Contents Abstract .i Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ ix List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... .x List of Acronyms .................................................................................................................. xi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.0. Introduction and research questions.. ............................................................................. ..1 1.1. Accra: the study area ...................................................................................................... 11 1.2. Chapter outlines ............................................................................................................ 15 Chapter 2: Theoretical/conceptual framework of the study 22 2.0. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 22 2.1. Globalization, Neoliberalism and the City ..................................................................... 23 2.1.1 Capital, neoliberalism and the city ............................................................... 25 2.1.2. The neoliberal experience of African cities ................................................ 30 2.2. ‘Actually-existing neoliberalism’ in Africa: capital, nation, and culture ....................... 33 2.2.1. Developmentalism and urban entrepreneurialism ....................................... 34 2.2.2. Informality and urban entrepreneurialism ................................................... 36 2.2.3. Ethnicity and urban entrepreneurialism ...................................................... 40 2.3. Revanchism and Governmentality in the (informal) African city.................................. 41 2.4. Conceptual framework for the study .............................................................................. 44 Chapter 3: Research Methodology 48 3.0. The approach .................................................................................................................. 48 3.1. Research design and process .......................................................................................... 51 3.2. In-depth interviews: gaining entry, building rapport, and trust ..................................... 55 3.3. Data analysis and presentation ...................................................................................... 66 v Chapter 4: Ghana: the development experience 70 4.0. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 70 4.1. Ghana and the quest for development: 1957-1983 ....................................................... 71 4.2. The neoliberal turn, since 1983 ...................................................................................... 73 4.2.1. Macro/microeconomic impact of reforms ................................................... 74 4.2.2. Social and spatial impact of reform ............................................................. 80 4.2.3. Urbanization and urban development in Ghana .......................................... 84 4.2.4. Decentralization and rescaling of the Ghanaian state .................................. 87 4.2.5. Neoliberalization of the state and the convergence of political ideologies ................................................................................................. 89 4.3. Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 92 Chapter 5: ‘Modernizing’ and/or Neoliberalizing Accra 94 5.0.Introduction ..................................................................................................................... ..94 5.1.Understanding the entrepreneurial city: the African perspective .................................... ..95 5.2.Global (re)positioning of Accra: tracing the neoliberal discourses................................. ..98 5.3.Urban entrepreneurialism in practice in Accra .............................................................. 113 5.4. The entrepreneurial Accra: re-imaging and re-presenting the city ................................ 124 5.4.1.From phantasmagoria to reality: the everyday practices of city modernization ............................................................................................