Wishing Ghana Was Like America: Will Our Greed Take Us There?

A busy coastal town of Ghana

I have not travelled the whole of Ghana my beloved country. Not even half of it, let alone having the privilege to cross border into neighbouring African countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo and La Cote d’Ivoire. But thanks to technology which makes it possible for me to know almost everything that happens in all the regions of my country each day, either through the internet, radio or television news. With these as my sources of information, I can state without a doubt that Ghana is by far one of the places in Africa where its citizens dream so BIG of all the good things that will make life comfortable, to the extent that we want to be like the Americans or any developed country in the West.  

Indeed, we’re good dreamers but hardly does our dream as a people translate or mature into reality. Wanting to be like the Americans is not enough. And besides, it did not take the kind of attitude that we Ghanaians have adopted since independence for the Americans to reach where they have reached currently in terms of development.

Since independence in 1957, our forebears and political leaders had dreams to transform Ghana into an economic superpower nation in Africa through an industrial revolution. Even though this industrial revolution, championed by our first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his Convention People’s Party (CPP) government started on a good footing with the intention to bring relief to all Ghanaians and perhaps Africans, some disgruntled and shortsighted citizens refused to help him to succeed in his vision. They’re those who thought Ghana was never ready for independence at the time and so therefore, should continue to serve the whiteman.

And that conundrum or spell of a sort have since the days of the founding president of Ghana who was overthrown by those disgruntled and shortsighted citizens, has continued to linger on. So, how can we be like the Americans or the British, who have built their respective countries brick by brick through the spirit of sacrifice and commitment deeply rooted in continuity from one government to another up till date?

Records available show that ever since the overthrow of President Nkrumah, successive governments, whether elected or military rule, decided to abandon all the development programmes started by the CPP Administration, and even industries that were yielding dividends to the country, they mismanaged them and eventually declared them malfunctioned. The end result is that, some of these successive governments later privatized and/or sold most of these industries to their cronies and family members. 

Akosombo Dam built by Prez Nkrumah

Dear countrymen, I have also heard of a very funny statement purported to have been the usual mantra of the President of Burkina Faso His Excellency Blaise Compaoré. According to the one who told me this, he said President Compaoré would often tell any delegation from his country to Ghana for a conference: “Take pen and paper. And when you go, write everything they (Ghanaians) discuss and bring it back for us to implement. Ghanaians are very intelligent people. They have good ideas but they’re not able to implement them very well.” 

Whether this is actually how President Compaoré perceives Ghanaians to be or not, in my candid opinion, I think that is how we are as a people. Ghana has some of the best technocrats who consult for many African countries and other nations across the world to make progress in their quest for development. However, when they consult for Ghana, you wonder whether the powers-that-be (political leadership) actually go by what they (technocrats) have suggested. The question some will ask is what has gone wrong? Or is it the selfish desires of our leadership that are impeding the development that we need as a sovereign country? 

I hesitate to ascribe to what my good friend comrade Jomo, a diehard CPP supporter always say and I quote: “The spirit of Nkrumah is what is haunting us that is why we are not developing very faster like other nations who don’t even have half of the natural resources that we are blessed with.” The old man, he would say “didn’t deserve to die so early, yet we (Ghanaians) killed him and as if that was not enough, we also killed his vision and here we are today at the crossroads biting our fingers and looking so confound.”

So now, with the help of the notes that they have been “copying” from us over the years through international conferences, Burkina Faso has been able to built two hydro electricity dams, the Bagre and Kompienga dams –which only do not generate electricity for them, but also serve irrigation purposes. Citizens of this desert-like country particularly those residing close to the two dams, can now farm all year round from tomatoes to cabbage, carrots, okro, cucumber, green beans, pepper, green pepper, onions, maize, groundnuts, beans, yam, potatoes, cassava, pawpaw, millet, rice, among others in thousands of hectares. Makola women, market women– from Accra and their counterparts in Kumasi always travel as far as over 900 kilometres to Burkina Faso to buy tomatoes and other exotic vegetables and bring them to Ghana to sell. 

Fellow countrymen, lest I forget, Burkina Faso is not only excelling in agriculture, but am reliably informed by colleague journalists in that country that they have succeeded in combating desertification. And the simple truth is, cut down even a dead tree without obtaining a permit from local authourities and you will spend years in prison. But what do we see in Kwame Nkrumah Ghana? Some citizens still have the penchant to cut down live shea and mango trees and use them as fuel. Can’t Ghana also have a visionary leader like President Compaoré who would bring improvement in Ghana even though he also has his own barrage of problems?      

In the heat of the US Presidential campaign and election that almost got completely disrupted by hurricane sandy which hit the states of New York, New Jersey among others, I was in the city of Atlanta on the invitation of the United States of America Poultry and Eggs Export Council (USAPEEC) on a study tour of the US poultry industry. Unfortunately, I fell sick two days after arriving there and had to return to Ghana before time to seek medical care. But what I was privileged to see with my naked eyes, I would share with you here.

As expected of every developed nation, I saw the neat and well marked streets with no single potholes, well planned infrastructure, splendid landscaping, high rising buildings, parks and recreational centres, overhead bridges and interchanges, effective railway transport system, among others.

I visited the world of coca-cola, studios of CNN headquarters, Piedmont Park, and many other places of interest of my few days stay in the city of Atlanta. What stunned me most and perhaps will remain in my mind in several years to come was a bridge just behind the hotel in which I was lodging. It is boldly inscribed on the concrete and steel bridge 1968 as the year it was constructed. This particular bridge is as new as any of the newly built overhead bridges or roads in our nation’s capital, Accra in recent years. Unless some natural disaster strikes, that bridge as well as several other bridges in Atlanta will be there for centuries to come. Folks, just go to the US Embassy in Accra and take a good look at the walls of that superstructure and you’ll understand what am talking about. Am told every piece of material for the construction of that edifice was imported except the water for their concrete work. I dare say that it will be hard for a bullet released from an amour car to penetrate the walls of that building. 

How many bridges in Ghana can last that long? Even the Adome Bridge which is the oldest has been renovated on several occasions, and still drivers are griped with fear anytime they ply that route. Many of the road infrastructure built in our country should have lasted beyond three generations, but for the selfish interest of some public officials who will not let go kickbacks in order for citizens to get quality. Almost every construction in Ghana now is replete with clear signs of shoddy work at the expense of the Ghanaian tax payer. Fellow citizens, unless some of these public officials at the helm of affairs are “exterminated”, our beloved country can never be like the America we dream of. 

The leadership of successive governments of America and like many developed nations is like a prophet of God. Any infrastructure they provide to their citizenry, they take into consideration about five generations yet to be born. The reverse is what successive governments do in Ghana and the guiltiest of all the regimes are the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and New Patriotic (NPP). Each of these two political parties have had at some point in the running of the affairs of this country, abandoned or discontinued projects initiated by its predecessor and started a new one altogether just to score cheap political points for itself. Both parties have the chronic and petty desire to provide educational and health facilities that would in a short time require major expansion in order to cater for large numbers. Is that visionary enough?  

In conclusion, I would like to share this food for thought with the NPP and NDC as well as any political party that would ever be so lucky to rule Ghana. Statistics from the Ministry of Roads and Highways shows that maintaining a paved road for fifteen years costs about US$60,000 per kilometre. If a road is not maintained and allowed to deteriorate over time it will cost about US$200,000 per kilometre to rehabilitate it. If gravel roads are maintained for ten years it costs between US$10,000 and US$20,000 per kilometre depending on traffic volumes and climate. If they are not maintained for ten years, the cost of rehabilitation is about US$40,000 per kilometre.  

Nonetheless, I salute Dr. Alfred Okoh Vanderpuije, Mayor of the City of Accra. Sir, it’s my prayer that you become president of our beloved country one day. You’re by far the best and you have even performed better than most ministers of state in the Mills-Mahama administration in the last four years, judging by the kind of development you brought to your people. You’ve shown that you have positive character and a clean conscience to serve your people.