“They are my people, add them!” The politicisation of poverty reduction programmes in the Global South: Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty cash transfer programme in focus

Numerous impact assessments have shown that Ghana’s cash transfer programme, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), has contributed to poverty alleviation and improved schooling. Although the LEAP programme has been extensively evaluated, its political dimensions have been under-researched. Within this context, the present article aimed at understanding the pathways of politicising the LEAP programme. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 25 LEAP beneficiaries and 5 programme officers, the data demonstrates how the political actors abuse the targeting system by prioritising “their people” at the expense of other beneficiaries in five districts of northern Ghana. © 2023 Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID).