Grammy and Assane (2006) showed that improvement in income distribution was the key channel for poverty reduction. Using data on sixty-six developing countries over the periods 1970-1979, 1980-1989 and 1990-1998, they noted that growth accompanied by improved distribution worked better than either growth or distribution alone, and that provision of civil liberties and political rights enabled people to participate more actively in reducing poverty. Conversely, poverty-reduction efforts have been observed to falter in countries with large inequalities, weak growth or inadequate social protection programmes (Fosu, 2011, Besley and Burgess, 2003, White and Anderson, 2001, Bruno, Ravallion and Squire 1996).