A generation of lost promises and opportunities

A couple of weeks ago, I had an opportunity to interact with a prominent member of the Ghana Political class (who also happens to be a successful Businessman). Inspired by his frankness and depth of knowledge about issues of economics and governance, I asked him a very direct question: How does he feel when he steps out into town in his V8 and observe the poverty, chaos, and mess his generation of leaders have tipped the nation into?

He admitted, rather surprisingly, that the political elite has failed the nation. He was, however, optimistic that all isn't lost yet; that we still can transform the nation, in his lifetime. I disagreed with him on that. I opined that it would take a lot more time, hard work, and some kind of a miracle to dig ourselves out of the massive hole we've dug ourselves into by the failures of successive governments.

The fact is that the generation governing this nation today is the most privileged one. They avoided all the turbulent global political and economic upheavals which preceded them: The Colonial Wars, the first and second World Wars, the fight for independence, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, etc.

They enjoyed the benefit of a newly independent and rich nation. They were given so much and what positive thing has been given in return? Nothing.
There, however, abound several pieces of evidence regarding how low they've taken the nation; the latest brawl in parliament is just one of them.

Let me provide some context by first admitting that the democratic experiment is difficult. If it works well, one should expect sharp divisions on the means to perfect it - healthy 'conflicts' are therefore an essential part of the process. So, the crux of the matter here is not so much about the disagreement between the two major political parties, which played out with such dishonour in the honourable house.

It is about the nature of the object of their contention: an arguably counterproductive e-levy which should have never made its way to the floor of the house in the first place had we utilised the numerous resources of the nation efficiently in the years prior.

An important lesson we ought to have learned, especially in the wake of the discovery of oil in commercial quantities and the subsequent development of the upstream petroleum industry is that windfall revenue, without the necessary systems and financial discipline to manage it, will not matter much in our quest for socio-economic development. At best, all our inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption will simply increase to accommodate the additional revenue. In the end, it won't matter, and we would grasp at straws for additional revenue to keep our economy from tanking.

At this junction of our nation's journey, a brawl in parliament ought to have been on much weightier matters which are central to the progress of our people. Many of these relevant issues cannot even be listed here because our society has not transitioned to the stage where we can have such conversations and debates without sounding out of touch with reality.

For instance, how do we debate the most effective way to educate the next generation to participate in this rapidly changing world of ideas and knowledge when we are still experimenting with a better way to fix potholes which develop on roads within just a couple of years of constructing them? How do we take a seat at the table of other respected nations in the fields of science and technology when many of our people are still working 'overtime' just to satisfy the most basic human need of food and shelter?

I believe that two important factors have kept this nation afloat all these years of gross mismanagement by the political class. One is the sheer resilience of our ‘uneducated’ population, especially of our hardworking farmers, who have carried this nation on the back of their sweat and tears. The second is the abundance of resources the Almighty blessed us with, which ensure that one party can loot and have enough left for the other, in this musical chair of leadership failure masquerading as a democracy.

An important point we often miss is this: the trend of all the negative macro indicators ought to scare anyone who calls this nation home: youth unemployment is going to get worse; the Ghana cedi is going to depreciate further; inflation and general cost of living are going to get worse; the debt burden is going to get worse. The security implications of these, coupled with the ripple effects of regional instability, are going to get even direr. If you think things are bad now, imagine Ghana in say the next twenty years if we continue to play the ostrich.

The reality remains that, despite the numerous challenges we face as a nation today, this is the best time and perhaps the only window of opportunity we have to work assiduously to turn the fortunes of our nation around. The challenges we face today are but a microcosm of what lies ahead. In twenty years, we would have lost the leverage.

Over the past years, I’ve been privileged to gain a deeper understanding of how this nation works, of the kind of systems we've created to govern ourselves, both in public life and in the private sector. I've come to one conclusion: ours is a system designed to aid crooks to thrive. It is a system that doesn't believe in accountability, that incentivises wrongdoing and punishes the upright. A nation founded on such principles and without any desirable national values is akin to a ship without a rudder on the high seas.

The fact is that irrespective of what party is in power, especially if it's the NPP or NDC, the kind of socio-economic system we've invented for ourselves cannot deliver the needed efficiencies which are required to lift a nation out of poverty. We, as a nation, have to begin the process of a renewal of our mindset, of our values and institutions, devoid of the usual politicking.

We have a 'mutual enemy' of poverty and social instability, who is getting stronger by the hour. It is, therefore, suicidal to keep our weapons pointed at each other. For those who believe that their wealth and power would shield them from government failure, I say the daydream is already turning into a midafternoon nightmare.

So, how do we reorient our nation, its culture and institutions, and the nature of its leadership? I don't have the answers. I think that theme should be the key anchor of our national dialogue. A dialogue without brawls.