Ghana's Burgeoning Middle Class Must Get Off The Fence

- & Speak Out More Against Bad Leadership

By Kofi Thompson

According to a conspiracy theorist I encountered the other day, were our system as transparent and our society one that frowned on corruption, perhaps Ghana would be as free of corruption as Botswana is.

In his view, it is precisely because our system is opaque and principled individuals often regarded as awkward customers, in a society that worships wealth - regardless of how it is acquired - that high-level corruption persists in Ghana.

To him, it is instructive that to date not a single presidential candidate has publicly published his net worth (and that of his spouse). And neither has any political party revealed the sources of party funds.

That political parties can get away with ignoring this fundamental 21st century transparency requirement, says a lot about the byzantine nature of our national life, according to him.

He was adamant that as things stand, should there be a change in government after the December 7th 2012 presidential election, the only thing that will change is that a new ruling party will replace the previous regime and become the recipient of the munificence of the wealthy and ruthless special-interests for whose benefit he believes the Ghanaian nation-state now exists.

And under the guise of public private partnerships, he predicts that our nation's wealth will gradually be transferred to the powerful few with greedy ambitions - to whom our political class and the parties they belong to are all beholden, and whose ambition is to own our homeland Ghana.

In the process, those with access to the president, and some of the leading lights in the new ruling party will grow super-rich - advancing the interests of the few faceless and powerful individuals who actually control our nation's destiny - regardless of what our rulers say in public.

It may be a rather cynical view of our country, but it is a snapshot of what the post-Nkrumah Ghanaian nation-state has become.

It is said that when good people shun serving their nation, it often falls into the hands of those who do not deserve to lead it. Food for thought for Ghana's burgeoning middle class perhaps.

They ought to get off the fence and speak out more about what goes on in Ghana - and demand competent leadership from those at the helm of affairs in our country. Let them take a leaf from Pastor Otabil's book. A word to the wise...

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