EVEN THOUGH denied, there have been signs of a nation in crisis everywhere you turned – unsustainable indebtedness and threats of default, deteriorating socio-economic infrastructure, turmoil in the markets, and growing joblessness among our youth. So much to do, yet no jobs! And now, business failures are threatening more job losses. We have failed miserably and have fallen far behind our neighbours.
Consequences Of Failure
The consequences of these failures have been mass suffering and growing frustration, leading Ghanaians to leave the country in droves in search of greener pastures, preferring xenophobic isolation abroad to the stifling conditions at home. The suicide rate has been rising, and so has the crime rate, with dire implications for our peace and security.
Over the last two years, hundreds of experienced medical professionals, trained at the expense of the state, have left Ghana for care-home jobs in the United Kingdom. By the way, the government itself is facilitating the exit of our nurses to countries that have relatively more.
As I said in September 2021, during a courtesy call by the Speaker of Parliament, Ghana would have filed for bankruptcy if it were a company. This is effectively what we have done by going back to the IMF, and the Debt Exchange Programme.
How Did We Get Here?
Understanding our difficulties is the first step in the search for solutions. Our chaotic economic situation is the product of a toxic mix of, among others, our dishonesty; partisanship, cronyism and tribalism; greed-fueled corruption; lack of proper planning, and the consequent episodic approach to economic management; and bad monetary policy that has indexed our future to the past. The situation is worsened by our attitudes and beliefs, and by a constitution that has outlived its usefulness.
Respect For The Truth, And The Rule Of Law
Whilst we project ourselves as very religious, we have little respect for the truth. People are not ashamed to invoke the name of God to back the lies they tell, destroying whatever is left that is good in our value system. The way people shamelessly defend wrongdoing is worrying.
Today in Ghana, one is confused as to what the truth is, depending so much on who is talking. Some have become so self-centred that even an obviously wrong action is the best so long as they benefit from it.
Such dishonesty has undermined the principles of fairness, equality before the law, and our democracy, and has adversely impacted our peace, unity, stability and development. Truth and accountability are the foundations of democracy and development. That is why the most developed countries are the ones where the law works.
Even in managing our current crisis, we have not been served with the truth about the government’s intentions.
Divisive, Tribal, Winner-Takes-All Politics
Today, everything is seen through political lenses. The anti-nation, winner-takes-all brand of politics has politicised development, granting of tax and duty waivers, award of contracts, and appointments, and even recruitment into the security services. It is shocking that even some aspirants to the Presidency shamelessly advocate for the exclusion of non-party members in the award of contracts and jobs, promising same when elected to power. So, the wrong people get the contracts, and the wrong people get the appointments. The result has been pervasive mediocrity.
Whether it is about development projects, fighting corruption, dispensation of justice, fighting Galamsey or dealing with the consequences of COVID-19, parochial political objectives have taken precedence over national interest. This has been the major factor in our acrimonious and divisive politics.
Indeed, some of our people have a false sense of ownership and entitlement and have become so accustomed to privilege that exclusivity is bad unless they are the beneficiaries. Discrimination has stifled hard work, initiative, and creativity, and has prevented the country from benefitting from all the skills and talents available.
Our constitution advocates a system that is all-inclusive and provides opportunities for all. But we do not have a model or formula for the allocation of the nation’s resources, for example, to ensure equity. Politics has become an end, losing its development objective. Our leaders have shown more commitment to remaining in power than to the development of the country.
Greed, Corruption, Transparency and Accountability
Ghana Integrity Initiative estimated that Ghana “loses close to $3 billion to corruption annually”. There is no doubt that our budget deficit would have been narrower, and we probably would not need to borrow from external sources, if honesty and prudence had guided our spending.
The resort to single-sourcing or limited tender in the award of contracts, under false certificates of urgency, has been harmful. It has allowed a few to deploy foul means to secure contracts for relatives and cronies at inflated prices that hurt everybody. While some exploit “urgency”, other officials hide under “confidentiality” to appropriate our limited resources into personal wealth.
Lack of accountability has allowed a few people, with predatory and parasitic tendencies, some of whom come into leadership or public service with the objective of enriching themselves, to profit at the expense of the majority.
Corruption has been stifling and disruptive. Some of our leaders suddenly become businessmen. They obstruct genuine entrepreneurs, frustrate them, or steal their ideas. Their methods stifle initiative and hurt the growth of the private sector. They deprive the country of development by syphoning money that could have built the roads, schools, and hospitals, and are the main reason why our economy is in such a deplorable state.
But corruption is not limited to the public sector. It is pervasive and has undermined productivity in both the public and private sectors because corrupt officials do not achieve much on the job. They spend most of their time plotting to take from the pie, instead of increasing its size. I liken them to termites at the woodwork, eating at the very foundations of our development.
Greed and the fight for control of resources has bred so much partisanship that political opponents are seen as enemies, even when the public posture is different. Our educated elite have replaced the colonialists in a more painful new scramble for our resources, raping our country mercilessly.
As someone wrote in a comment on a news article, “Corruption was not in the news in Gold Coast, but corruption has flooded the news in independent Ghana.” We have succeeded in making a once clean Ghana, another word for corruption.”
BY Togbe Afede XIV