Profile

Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole is a Professor of Public Administration and Management at the Department of Public Administration at the University of Ghana Business School. He had his primary, middle school and secondary education in Yeji. Professor Bawole was the first student to obtain a distinction in the O-Level Certificate Examination at Yeji Day Secondary Technical School in 1992. After earning a Teachers’ Certificate ‘A’ from Wesley College (1995), he completed a Diploma in Public Administration with Distinction (1999) and obtained a First-Class in BSc Administration (2003) at the University of Ghana, receiving multiple academic awards. He went on to earn an MPhil in Public Administration (2006), serving as President of the Public Administration Students Association. He earned his PhD in Development Policy and Management from the University of Manchester, UK, under a GETFund Scholarship. His thesis received an A1 grade (passed without corrections).

Pedagogy, Supervision Mentorship and Intellectual Footprint Teaching remains the heartbeat of Professor Bawole’s career earning him the name “Teacher Bawole.” At the undergraduate level he has taught courses such as Management of NonGovernmental Organisations, Environmental Management and Introduction to Ethics in Administration, working with various cohorts of students to establish their own NGOs. At the Masters level he teaches Ethics in Administration, Green Business Management and Leadership Development, while contributing to UGBS’s doctoral core (Philosophy of Management Research). Professor Bawole has supervised 17 PhD candidates to completion with four more currently in progress, He has also served as an internal or external examiner for nearly forty PhD theses at universities in South Africa, USA, France, the United Kingdom and Ghana. At the Masters level, he has supervised 28 MPhil dissertations and over 160 MBA, MPA and MSc projects. He has mentored several young academics who are spread across the world. 

Research and Scholarly Outputs

Professor Bawole’s publication record is both extensive and policy-relevant, covering diverse areas in Public Administration and Governance; Public Sector Ethics, Leadership and Performance Management; Development Policy and Management; Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability, Civil Society, NGOs, and Philanthropy. He has nearly 100 publications comprising peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and technical reports. His articles have been published in some of the leading journals in his areas of research interest including International Review of Administrative Sciences, International Journal of Public Administration, Cities, Journal of African Business, Development Policy Review, Journal of Asian and African Studies, International Journal of Public Leadership, Journal of Academic Ethics, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly and International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. Professor Bawole has also co-edited four books including Development Management: Theory and Practice (Routledge); New Public Management in Africa (Palgrave); and Reimagining Civil Society Collaborations in Development: Starting from the South (Taylor & Francis). 

Institutional and Academic Leadership

Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole has served two terms as Head of Department for Public Administration and Health Services Management and two terms of six years as Dean of one of Africa’s largest and prestigious Business Schools, the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), stewarding both scholarly excellence and transformative projects that visibly uplift the UGBS in Ghana and beyond. His tenure as Dean is widely regarded as a transformative period, marked by resilience, innovation and strategic leadership. Assuming office during a turbulent time, he provided stability and elevated the School’s stature as a leading institution for business education in Africa. In the area of teaching and learning, Professor Bawole steered a shift toward a student-centred model, championed digital transformation and led UGBS through the COVID-19 crisis by implementing hybrid learning and initiating a “Laptop Library” to support disadvantaged students and computerised accounting training. He championed UGBS’s internationalisation—joining AACSB accreditation and the Global Network for Advanced Management—while rebranding the school, expanding media presence and securing industry partnerships. His leadership yielded major infrastructure development, notably a five-storey graduate complex and over 50 staff scholarships. He also founded the UGBS Innovation Hub and supported rural entrepreneurship. To meet emerging industry needs and strengthen academic relevance, he led the introduction of 15 new academic programmes, including a fully virtual master’s degree, positioning UGBS as a continental hub for specialised professional training. His tenure also saw significant technological transformation, notably the installation of Smart Boards in lecture halls and the adoption of automated administrative systems. He launched the Annual Ethical Leadership Conference for student leaders, promoting a culture of integrity across the academic community.

Public-Policy Engagement and Consultancy Practice

Professor Bawole is a prominent policy adviser. He co-chaired the committee that developed Ghana’s Public Sector Reform Strategy and is Vice-Chair of its successor strategy. He was the Lead Consultant for World Bank-funded Independent Verification Agent under the Public Sector Reform for Results Project and oversaw reform verification. He led the design of Ghana’s Climate Finance Monitoring Reporting Verification System fund by UNDP. As a Consultant to the Private Sector Anti-Corruption Group (PSACG), an initiative of the UK-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, he authored a policy paper on corruption and business in Ghana with practical proposals to mitigate corruption’s impact on private sector growth and investment. Further, Professor Bawole led two teams to develop the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework and the Performance Assessment Framework for Ghana’s decentralisation Sector-Wide Approach, key instruments for aligning donor support with local government development priorities. Between 2018 and 2021, he served as local consultant and platform coordinator for the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs’ Ghana Private Sector Competitiveness Programme (GPSCP), which focused on regulatory reform, value chain enhancement in the cashew and palm oil sectors and marketresponsive skills development. He regularly facilitates capacity-building training for Parliament, Civil and Local Government Services, and is known affectionately as “Nyaama-Nyaama.” 

International Academic and Professional Engagements

Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole has showcased his research and thought leadership at numerous prestigious international academic and policy forums. In 2024, he was invited to the World Bank Public Administration Global Forum in Washington, DC, on “Transforming Governments for a Livable Planet.” In 2018, he delivered a keynote at the Global Health Professions Conference hosted by Grand Valley State University, USA. His address, titled “Our Globe, Our Profession and Our Influence,” critically explored the paradox between healthcare advancements and persistent global health inequities. He notably predicted the growing isomorphism of global health practices, a trend realised during the COVID-19 pandemic. He is a regular presenter at the ARNOVA Annual Conferences in Washington, Austin and Grand Rapids in the U.S. and the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM) annual conferences in Hong Kong, Prague and Birmingham. In the UK, he has presented at multiple Development Studies Association (DSA) conferences and is a founding convenor of the DSA Africa Group. Prof. Bawole also contributes to the African Studies Research Group on Management of Organizations in Africa. He serves on the editorial board of Human Resource Development Review, is a peer reviewer for international journals and sits on the Strategic Committee of the Education Collaborative led by Ashesi University. 

National, University and Community Service

Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole has played a significant role in governance across Ghana’s public and private sectors. From 2021 to 2024, he served as a Commissioner on the National Development Planning Commission, contributing to strategic national policy and development planning. He currently serves on the Governing Councils of the National Banking College, Reach for Change Ghana and Pentecost University, and sits on the boards of Pentecost Hospital, Madina, Pentecost Schools, Madina and the Church of Pentecost’s Research and Development Committee. He is also Vice-Chairman of the Madina Area Scholarship Committee and has held past leadership roles within the Church, including District Secretary and Executive Committee Member of the East Legon District. At the University of Ghana, Professor Bawole serves on key governance bodies, including the University Academic Board, the College of Humanities Academic Board and Executive Committee, and the Business and Executive Committee. As Dean of UGBS, he chairs the School Management Committee and serves on many committees on appointments and promotions. He co-chaired the University’s Teaching and Learning Policy Committee and chaired the Internship Policy and Transport Committees, as well as the committee to establish fuel stations for the University. He is an external examiner at institutions including GIMPA, UDS, UBIDS and Central University and regularly reviews academic promotions and GTEC accreditation portfolios. Professor Bawole is Founder of the Centre for Poverty Policy Studies (CenPoPS), dedicated to addressing policy issues affecting disadvantaged populations. His earlier leadership includes roles as Millennium Club Secretary and board member of Yeji Secondary/Technical School and Pentecost Schools in Yeji.

Grantsmanship and Resource Mobilisation

Professor Bawole has an impressive track record in grantsmanship and resource mobilisation. During his tenure as Dean, he led an aggressive internal revenue mobilisation drive by expanding the School’s special programme offerings, which generated significant savings that were subsequently committed to the construction of the UGBS Phase II Office and Lecture Hall Complex. He has also been part of successful international grant-winning teams, including a €1.49 million EUfunded Horizon 2020 project titled “Globalised Governance Norms and Local Management and Business Practices in Africa and the Arab Peninsula.” In addition, he was a member of the consortium that secured a €1.3 million grant under the Horizon 2020 programme for the project “Harmonization of Entrepreneurship Education for Sustainable Development in Africa (HEEDAfrica).” He has mobilised significant amount of resources from corporate Ghana for UGBS.

Family Life and Religious affiliation.

Professor Bawole is married to Mrs. Janet Mengbah Bawole and they are blessed with three children, two boys and a girl namely Joshua Kidisil Bawole-Nyigmah; Michael Nkam Bawole-Nyigmah and Precious Bigido Bawole-Nyigmah. He comes from a very large extended family and his mother was the fourth out of five wives of his father, but he was the only child that had formal education and is the first to receive university education. Professor Bawole is an elder of the Church of Pentecost and worships at the East Legon Worship Centre.

ABSTRACT

Our Corruption, Our Ethics, Our Public Administration: Wicked Citizens, Wicked Problems, and

Stagnating Development In this deeply reflective and provocative inaugural lecture, Professor Justice Nyigmah Bawole challenges the prevailing assumptions about underdevelopment in Ghana, proposing that the roots of stagnation lie not only in policy or technical deficits but in a pervasive ethical collapse embedded across individual, institutional and societal levels. Framed around the themes of corruption, ethics and public administration, the lecture explores how Ghana’s developmental trajectory has been undermined by what he describes as “wicked citizens confronting wicked  problems within a weakened public administration.” Historically, Ghanaian society maintained strong moral codes rooted in indigenous ethical systems—emphasising honesty, respect and communal accountability. These were enforced through the chieftaincy system, proverbs, taboos and the spiritual authority of elders. However, modern bureaucratic institutions, though legally structured, have failed to replicate the moral grounding that once underpinned societal order. Instead, they operate in ethical vacuums, often reduced to ritualistic caricatures rather than principled governance. Professor Bawole contends that Ghana’s post-independence administrative architecture remains largely colonial in form and alien in spirit—symbolically modern but substantively hollow. At the heart of the lecture is a candid examination of corruption in Ghana, described not as a deviation from the norm but as a normalised mode of operation. Drawing on national incidences, global indices and empirical research, including the lecturer’s own research, the evidence reveals that corruption in Ghana is generational, institutional and disturbingly routine. From the petty bribes at checkpoints to high-level procurement scandals, the rot runs deep. The so-called institutions designed to fight corruption along with their designers pretend to fight corruption and show either real or feigned political obstruction, inadequate resourcing or public apathy. The lecture’s most unsettling claim is that citizens are not mere victims of corruption, but coauthors of its endurance. In what he describes as “the wickedness of citizens,” Professor Bawole recounts how ordinary Ghanaians—market women, civil servants, parents, students, clergy and professionals—enable, excuse and participate in everyday acts of moral compromise. Empirical findings from studies conducted with Ghanaian university students demonstrate a troubling willingness to engage in corruption when circumstances permit, thereby perpetuating a morally ambivalent culture across generations. A major section of the lecture is devoted to diagnosing the failures of public administration. While lauding the commitment of public servants who operate under challenging conditions, some are actively dramatising charades of pretense so they can dip their loaves into the stinky juice of corruption. Professor Bawole critiques the broader administrative system for its inertia, politicisation, and inability to enforce ethical behavior. Drawing on his own published works, he illustrates how Ghanaian public administration has become a dual system—formally structured but informally manipulated. Bureaucrats operate within a “prismatic” space, where written rules coexist with unwritten expectations and where survival often trumps service. The lecture revisits the concept of “wicked problems”—deeply complex challenges such as corruption, youth unemployment, policy inconsistency and institutional decay—arguing that

Ghana’s reliance on technocratic fixes misses the ethical and cultural roots of these issues. Citing thinkers such as Rittel and Webber, Keith Grint and Robert Merton, Professor Bawole warns against the illusion of reform through policy alone which often reveals a system more invested in appearance than in substance. To arrest this moral and institutional drift, the lecture proposes a tripartite agenda: civic reeducation, ethical leadership and institutional ethics infrastructure. Civic re-education calls for the revival of traditional values alongside civic education that fosters ethical consciousness from childhood. Ethical leadership must be redefined as courageous, consistent and morally visionary, rather than merely competent or loyal. Finally, institutions must embed ethics not just in codes of conduct, but in daily practice—through transparent recruitment, value-based training, and protections for whistleblowers. The lecture closes with a call to moral awakening. Citing empirical insights and philosophical reflections, Professor Bawole asserts that development in Ghana will remain an illusion unless it is anchored in ethical renewal. Acknowledging that Ghana possesses the policy frameworks, human capital, and resources needed for progress, he argues that the missing link is moral courage—both in leadership and citizenship. Reforming institutions without reforming the values that sustain them is, he warns, an exercise in futility. Ultimately, this inaugural lecture is not merely an academic reflection, but a national provocation. It calls on citizens, policymakers, scholars and public servants to look into the mirror of “our corruption” and choose a different path—one grounded in justice, integrity and collective responsibility. Ghana’s public administration, if reimagined with ethics at its core, can serve as a bridge to a more equitable and prosperous society. But without such transformation, it will remain a relic of control rather than a vehicle for change.