Dr Kofi Amoah has attributed the seeming decadence, underdevelopment, joblessness and wanton corruption in Ghana and across many African countries to the lack of interest by the majority of the citizenry.
The businessman asserts that until there is active participation by the citizens, where public officeholders are held to account for their stewardship, the progress expected of the continent will not materialize.
In a long epistle on microblogging site X, Dr Amoah who is the CEO of Progeny Ventures, is beckoning all citizens, particularly the youth, to lead the charge in seeking accountability from public office holders.
Dr Amoah also postulates that it is this shirking of responsibility by the citizens that has emboldened politicians, some of whom he says have evolved into a ‘gang of thieves.’
The former Chairman of the CAN 2000 Local Organizing Committee said citizens have become enablers due to their lack of interest in the governance of the state.
He also laid some of the blame at the doorstep of the media, some of whom he alleges have been bribed to turn a blind eye to the looting of state resources.
“We turn around to finger point and blame, not accepting that we have been their enablers to steal our wealth and our future. In many instances, our media have been bribed and hence failed us.”
Dr Amoah who is also affectionately called Citizen Kofi has for the last few years been trumpeting the need for a paradigm shift which will see Ghana and Africa harness its resources to the benefit of all. His belief in home-grown solutions is well documented.
He has also been a champion of decent wages for the Ghanaian worker.
Read his full epistle below
“Which Way Do We Turn, AFRICA? At a time when governments seem broken, instead of them inspiring hope and progress, we must still invest our collective interests and power in our governments and “MAKE” them become forces for good. But this will require an active and participatory citizenry to work. And it is this shirking of citizen responsibility, that has reduced some govts into gangs of thieves for personal enrichment.
Because we have all become intoxicated on the easy ways to riches, the govts dash out easy money (from our own public purse) to silence us into sycophantic cowards whilst they cart away loads of our tax revenues and loan funds.
We turn around to finger point and blame, not accepting that we have been their enablers to steal our wealth and our future. In many instances, our media have been bribed and hence failed us. There’s the need for a simple yet powerful social contract between African govts and their citizens in which contract the citizens wield the power as the employers of the paid politicians but then the citizens must also act as such and execute their responsibilities as the EMPLOYERS and not the other way around.
We need the media to educate the people on this. Making our govts responsible and accountable is the necessary first step before we can make our govts the key drivers of our economic and social advancement. And this is important in Ghana and Africa because the refrain of “the private sector is the engine of growth” is like telling a bootless man to pull himself up by his bootstraps (a la MLK).
The private sectors in Africa are weak, financially vulnerable, unsupported by native financial institutions, killer loan interest rates etc and hence pushing such existential responsibility “as the engine of growth” is frankly unthinkable, unworkable and therefore no wonder the teeming youth are unemployed, importation skyrocketing and national currencies are under stress and constantly devaluing. We need to change the formula and make our govts invest our collective wealth in developing our natural resources (and not sell them raw to be carted away but via a JV to do the processing and finished goods production at home, creating good jobs at home), vast fertile lands and attract our brawny youth eager to work at decent, living wages into production of goods for both the local and export markets and become a rich country, like all those Asian countries from Japan to South Korea to China who adopted this same strategy.
This is not to deny participation of the private sector and govt support of the private sector in production activities but it is to firmly state that the govt must be the senior partner (as the trustee of or collective resources and manager of our public purse) with the private sector being the junior partner in the initial stages of economic and social development.
Japan, S. Korea, China, Malaysia, the US and many others have all used this approach in their initial stages until a solid and pervasive private sector emerged to become the senior partner to govt, expanding and absorbing trained and graduating youth into productive activities with decent wages to support the purchase of houses, automobiles, appliances, etc which feeds the demand of these items for companies to hire more people to produce these items and at this point, the engine of economic and social progress has been built and operating efficiently and effectively to support decent lives in all aspects of human endeavour - housing, transport, health, banking, food production, clothing etc etc.”
Part 1
— CitizenKofi (@amoah_citizen) February 17, 2024
Which Way Do We Turn, AFRICA?
At a time when governments seem broken, instead of them inspiring hope and progress, we must still invest our collective interests and power in our governments and “MAKE” them become forces for good
But this will require an active and…
Part 2
— CitizenKofi (@amoah_citizen) February 17, 2024
WHICH WAY DO WE TURN, AFRICA?
The proper historical experiences of other nations and your own applied to your present circumstances will beget the workable ideology for you which will birth the practical and pragmatic formula for wealth creation through decent-paying…
KOD
