One thing I know for sure is that when I speak for Ghana I speak to Africa in general. Corruption is endemic in African politics thanks to colonial mentality. The colonial structures and institutions handed over at independence breed corruption and inefficiencies in government.
For example, the African Head of State, like the Imperial colonial government wields too much power. Until the colonial structures and institutions are reformed to reflect the African culture Africa and for that matter Ghana may be running in circles. In this article I make the case for new bread of leaders for Ghana and Africa in general. Our leaders would have to break from the status quo and come out of the "Club? and identify with the needs of their people. Since the Establishment (neo-colonialist) are not willing to sacrifice their stomachs for the good of the nation they must be voted out by the electorate and replace them with new breed of leaders with progressive ideas and vision.
The problem, though, is the leaders who inherited political power from the colonialist would not make any effort to change or reform the system because it enables them to get rich overnight. The system has a lot of loop holes which enable politicians to loot all they want without any accountability.
Africa, and for that matter Ghana needs an honest enough President and Head of State who would put in place effective measures to check corruption to ensure that the nation's resources are used in the best interest of the masses and not the few. Africa needs new breed of leaders who will appointment honest and competent people and hold appointees accountable on the job, not incompetent and dishonest cronies to positions in government.
The presidency must be about "ideas and principles instead of thievery and personalities. It must seek to lift the nation's sight and spirit and move them to higher grounds. It must be about the true aspirations of the ordinary people rather than the ambitions of politicians"(Dr. Kobina Kennedy). A president must be visionary enough to strengthen the capacities of anti-corruption agencies in the polity; in the case of Ghana CHRAJ and SFO. As Dr. Kobina Kennedy argues, a government must assemble a team that looks like our nation and has more women in positions of responsibility than at any time in our history. A government must honor our values and lead us into the future and make ournation proud. A government must set a standard in good and responsive governance for our continent, not just for our age but for the ages and seek to build and strengthen institutions throughout our nation.
In pre-independence era Ghana?s economy was purely agrarian and produced only raw materials to feed the British or imperial industries. Ghana had every enviable raw material anyone could think of-gold, diamond, timber, cocoa, bauxite, aluminum and many more. These products would be bought very cheaply from Ghanaians and processed in Britain and returned to Ghana?s market at a very high price, say 400% profit margin. For instance, while a 100 pound sack of cocoa was 2 British pounds a box of chocolate would also be sold around the same price. Just think of the many boxes of chocolate one can make out of a 100 pound weight of cocoa seed. The same applies to Ghana?s timber. It would be cut at a very low insignificant price shipped to Britain to process as plywood and shipped back to Ghana for 100 times the price. The same is true for hydro-electric power. Valco, a multi-national company would use up more than 60% of plant energy and pay less than a fourth of the total cost of electricity in the country.
Nkrumah would pursue industrialization and make every effort to see Ghana process her own raw materials. He would build the Tema Chocolate Factory, Tema Steel Works, Kumasi Jute Factory, Nsawam Canary and many others. Although some of the locations were suspect, Nkrumah had a vision of building Ghana into a truly independent country. In his 5-year Development Plan Nkrumah would build many industries in Tema including silos to store Ghana?s crops in times of harvest and abundance. To succeed in finding ready-made market for Ghana?s goods Ghana would need the cooperation and participation of neighboring African nations. Hence the call for the total liberation of Africa, ?Our independence is meaningless without the total liberation of Africa,? Nkrumah would argue.
Britain and her Western allies would play geo-political games with African countries to frustrate Africa?s development. So Nkrumah sought for African unity. However the colonial administration and the imperial Western governments would do everything to sabotage Nkrumah?s vision of self-reliance. The goal is to make Nkrumah come short of the African Unity dream. Suspicion and personal interests of the African Heads of States became apparent. For example France placed an embargo on all her colonies that wanted independence and when Guinea pursued independence [in 1958] France had to take out all her infrastructure away leaving Guinea with no legacy. Nkrumah had to quickly come out to bail Guinea out with 10 million British pounds (almost billion dollars in today?s currency).
Nkrumah would soon lose some of his Western friends as he sought to extend himself to the East as well. Although Nkrumah maintained Ghana was nonaligned (to any bloc of power, east or west) Nkrumah would soon be branded as communist and his ejection sought. All this contributed in Nkrumah using various means to solidify his rule. Among these was the One Party state and the PDA. These two provisions have met a lot of criticisms branding Nkrumah?s government as highly undemocratic which is true by the way. Soon Nkrumah would control the media and information in Ghana bringing about a reign of fear. However, the British and other interest groups would soon help to overthrow the government of Nkrumah. This was accomplished in February 24, 1966.
Nkrumah?s overthrow, on one hand was possible because of the mentality of the elite?s of the day. It must be noted that the Ghana intelligentsia and elite have been brainwashed by the British to accept everything British as superior and anything Ghanaian or African as inferior. [This must ring a bell on why our government would rather employ Western consultants over Ghanaian experts today). The education received from the colonial government was devoid of entrepreneurial skills. After all, this was not in the interest of the colonial administration.
Our elite have been trained to work for the colonial regimes and they pride themselves for being her majesty?s loyal servants. These leaders would not seek vision or leadership qualities but as a loyal servant of the imperialist a good paycheck would do; and so long as they could convince the people that anything indigenous was (and is inferior) the imperial government of the Brits (or West) would not mind paying the price. In effect African leaders and for that matter Ghana leaders have become stooges of the West. The pervasiveness of the bureaucracy, the seat the elite occupy and the inherited characteristics of the colonial administration have become endemic in Ghana. These bureaucrats continue to work with the Imperialist to loot from Africa.
In effect, they (imperialists) have succeeded to defame Africa as a land of lesser minds who cannot take their destiny in their own hands. For Ghana therefore to break the shackles of corruption, poverty and mismanagement Ghana would need a new crop of leaders who would have a mind of their own and not dance to the music of the Imperialists. A new breed of leaders with vision, ideas, integrity and a determination to succeed; a new breed of politicians who would not see politics as a money-making business but service to the nation and look up to history to be their judge.
Our leaders would have to break from the status quo and come out of the "Club? and identify with the needs of the people. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore had to do without the status quo in order to bring Singapore to the first world status it enjoys today. Lee Kuan Yew had to pay a price though, a price the Establishment would not like to hear about- sacrifice.
No wonder corruption is endemic in Ghana Politics. It has grown worst in our governments since February 24, 1966. [For example, the Former Chief Executive of the Divestiture Implementation Commission (DIC) , Emmanuel Agbodo and Ms Sherry Ayittey, a director of Caridem company and other directors of Caridem (all of the NDC) now runs the former state-owned Nsawam cannery they supervised its liquidation. The former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings together with a former Minister of Finance in the government of the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kwame Preprah has been accused of mishandling the divestiture of the Nsawam Cannery. Mr. Preprah and Mr. Totobi- Quakyi also former NDC Minister of Information are expected to face trial for their roles in the divestiture of the Ghana Film Industry Corporation (GFIC) to TV3 Malaysia (GNA April 10, 2006). Now it is the turn of Kufour (another product of the Establishment) and the NPP to toy with Ghana Airways assets liquidation and now trying to get a foothold of Ghana International Airlines before they leave office in 2008.
Secretary, Ghana Leadership Union
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