I have read and reread Mr. Sam Jonah’s presentation to the rotary club as titled above and I can’t but agree with most of his arguments though I do have some different views on certain aspects of his presentation. I must say the unwarranted attacks on his person though unnecessary, were anticipated by him in the same presentation. He alludes to similar attacks rained on him in the 90’s during the Rawlings era when he expressed similar views. It is therefore not peculiar to this generation, the attacks on him. It is a Ghanaian thing to insult and attack you if you have a different opinion.
The conclusion I draw from his presentation however, is a self-criticism of his stewardship as well as of governance in Ghana over the years especially since the start of the 4th Republic and to some extent some self-indictment of his role or the lack of it in this governance process. It is therefore, unfortunate that his speech has since taken partisan lines and depending on which side of the divide you are on, he is either vilified or praised. You can be partisan and yet sensible to realize that neither the NDC nor NPP wins or loses in speech. He indicts all governments and to some extent himself, which I will come to in this write up.
I dove my hat to Mr. Jonah for his self-deprecation even though he may not have done so consciously. The accomplished statesman takes us down memory lane to the 90’s where South Africa was the world’s leading gold producer with over 25% of the market share of some 80 million ounces of gold produced annually and Ghana was nowhere to be found per his own account. The fact remains that Mr. Jonah was one of the leading players in the industry in the world and he played a major role in South Africa attaining that feat. If my memory serves me right, it was when Mr. Jonah oversaw the takeover of Obuasi goldfields by Anglo-gold which became Anglo-gold Ashanti, a merger which made it the second largest mining company in the world, that South Africa cemented its place as the number one producer of gold in the world.
Whilst contributing to the dominance of South Africa in the gold industry in the 90’s, Mr. Jonah fails to indicate the role he has played in the reverse dominance of Ghana as the world leading gold producer today. Note that the same Obuasi gold fields which he sold off and which collapsed within ten years of the merger has since been revived by the current government contributing to the number one status of Ghana in gold production today. The fact however, remains that Ghana’s mining industry has become more destructive than constructive in the past decade due to ‘’Galamsey’’ and the earlier we found solutions to it, the better for us and our children’s children.
The efforts of government in tackling the problem though commendable, more can be done to bring it to fruition and it is heartwarming to note the President doubling down on his quest to resolve galamsey before he leaves office. Mr. Jonah will do well to bring up some useful proposals to aid the government in this fight considering his enormous experience and knowledge in the sector and whilst at it, he will serve Ghana well as a leading investor to court investors into value addition of our beloved gold.
Further to his speech, he makes the point succinctly on our over reliance on natural resources. Gold, oil, cocoa and how the Chinese have helped us destroy our cocoa industry through galamsey while they venture into cocoa production with their first export to Belgium recently.
There has to be a paradigm shift from the resource curse to a more sustainable development path which he rightly identifies as industrialization. Mr. Jonah notes the positive impact of the One District One Factory to Ghana’s industrialization drive though he points out that it is inadequate. The reason for this conclusion of inadequacy is based on some estimated 100 import substitution industries Dr. Kwame Nkrumah implemented across Ghana over the period of his presidency. In the last four years President Akufo-Addo has established an estimated 232 industries of various kinds at various stages of completion with some 76 in full operation, 107 under construction with a further 49 ready for construction in 2021. If every government since 1992 was putting up industries at this rate, Ghana should have over 1,000 industries by now and this problem of industrialization would not have been a problem in the first place for Mr. Jonah to refer to.
On the matter of the culture of silence, I find it difficult to associate with Mr. Jonah that it is a new phenomenon that has suddenly crept upon us. The media, the clergy, civil society organizations and well-meaning Ghanaians without guns put to their heads all of a sudden cannot speak their minds? I beg to differ. Two examples will suffice in making this point. AGYAPA and PDS are two major policies if not the two most important policies of this government that have not seen the light of day because civil society, media and Ghanaians in general opposed them. In the case of PDS, I played no mean a role in shooting it down on the grounds of principle as my agitations against it started during the previous administration into the current administration and I have correspondence from the previous Energy Minister, Boakye Agyarko to prove. This government is tolerant of divergent views even internal opposition and it is unfair to say otherwise.
The situation where people out of the own eagerness and misinformed loyalty, attack, insult and denigrate people with opposing views must stop but this did not start with this government. The attempt to assign political intolerance to Akufo-Addo and his government is a mispresentation of history. Every government has fringe elements, hawks, attack dogs, social media armies. These are mostly unemployed idle youth with time to burn trying to catch the eye of the powers that be for positions or favors and it is incumbent on us to engage them in meaningful work if this is to stop. I have personally suffered this based on my anti-corruption crusade and a few examples will help here.
When I brought my cases against Hon Muntaka Mubarak, Hon Mahama Ayariga, Dr Stephen Opuni and Madam Lorretta Lampety, the then CHRAJ boss on corruption, I was variously attacked physically and issued threats via phone calls and text messages and I did in two instances report to the Nima and Airport police stations. I sincerely do not believe that those who were threatening me did so with the knowledge of the people I was having investigated but it did happen. In the case of GYEEDA, when I first released the details and embarked on a media campaign, the threats ironically came from the ruling government of the NDC and members of my own party who were in opposition with me and their claim was that I was destroying the business of a Godfearing man who contributes to the party as well. This phenomenon continues and you are on the wrong side of it depending on which government is in power.
By Richard Nyamah