THE ODYSSEY OF GHANA

...from the shackles of colonialism to democracy
Published: Thursday, June 26, 2008-06-27
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
51years after gaining independence from the shackles of colonialism, the Executive Director of Imani, the Centre for Human Education, Franklin Cudjoe believes Ghana still has a few more hurdles to cross.
In an interview with The Chronicle, he did a cursory analysis of the transformation processes that Ghana has undergone over the years till date, recollecting how the very leaders who promised paradise during the struggle for independence with chants of ‘we prefer self-government in danger to servitude in tranquillity’ decided to throw overboard all-inclusive approach to managing our resources.
According to him, the various reform programmes, from the citadel of Harvard through the Bretton Woods Institutions (International Monetary Fund and the World Bank) were all flung on faces of Ghanaians.
“From Structural Adjustment Programmes, Programmes of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment, heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative to a host of poverty alleviation garb made the rounds in the country’s economics books”, he said.
For him, all these reform programmes achieved little by themselves, stressing that “the aid attached to them were mere government-to-government transfers, ending up in the pockets of politicians because they were not centred on the common man in the streets.”
That notwithstanding, he noted that a good effect of these reforms was to help open Ghana’s economy to the rest of the world since the conditions for receiving foreign aid was to democratise and liberalise.
Although in fits and starts Ghana’s liberalisation efforts has been boosted by information technology through the use of Information Technology (IT), Mr. Cudjoe said Ghana could improve its economy’s mainstay-agriculture.
“Should excessive tax compliance rules be relaxed, the importation of advanced and superior agricultural technology could boost buffer stocks in maize and rice”, he noted.
Whilst appreciating the fact that technology was being employed to compile a database of lands to establish true ownership and the same technology was helping to computerise the court system to dispense over 60,000 land cases which stand in the way of development, he noted that Ghana’s efforts in the banking industry have been rewarded with a cautious entry of international banks, mostly Nigerian.
Juxtaposing Ghana’s current challenges with what exists in the rich west, according to him leaves the country without any doubt as to which path to follow.
Considering the fact that potential can only unleashed when Ghanaians are allowed to think freely, he emphasised that qualitative nurturing of the mind is important to achieve this progress.
For this reason, Mr. Cudjoe was of the conviction that Capitation Grant purported to achieve higher enrolment numbers in primary schools defeats this important resources since according to him “the cacophonous chaos in the classrooms is a sure recipe for mediocre development of the mind of our young ones.”
In order for Ghana as a country and Africa as a continent to achieve their goals, Imani’s Executive Director noted that incidents of corruption, which accounts for almost 25% of the continent’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) needs to be uprooted from the system.
“Perhaps the booty from grand corruption could buy a used computer and printer each for our police stations to keep records of complaints instead of using cheap log papers that tire under wear and tear.”
He further stated that the energy situation in the country could get Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah turning in his grave, considering the fact that not a single mega watt of power have been added to what we already had.
He could also not fathom why access to quality water remains a dream for many Ghanaians whilst diseases of poverty still afflict people.
Mr. Cudjoe could not ask rhetorically “what then are the pillars for a modern economy to take off?”
“Perhaps comparing ourselves to the United States is unfair. But wouldn’t it be laughable to compare ourselves to the very countries we started independent life with-South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia”, he stressed.
At 51, he said, “we need government to stop pretending to be everybody’s keeper and focus on its role of providing protection for privately created wealth while enforcing the rules of just conduct.”
He thus stressed the need for government to leave wealth and job creation to Ghanaians and instead encourage individual efforts at providing superior goods to Ghanaians under humane tax laws.
Above all, he emphasised that government must translate its theoretical understanding of decentralisation into practice and give back economic and political freedom to those who employed it, the masses.