Poor maternal health care, hunger and poverty, gender inequality, high child mortality rate, high rate of unemployment, these are but a few of the arithmetic’s that qualify countries as underdeveloped.
Based on these parameters, Ghana cannot be said to be a developed country, and indeed we are not. Having gained independence in 1957, that is nine years before Singapore attained independence, it is evident by all indicators that Singapore is leaks ahead of us in almost all indicators of development.
This has caused both national and international actors to engage in colossal steps to ascertain the main reason behind Ghana’s inability to address her developmental challenges.
Interestingly, these researchers and writers have identified many diverse reasons why Ghana finds it difficult to address her developmental challenges, among them are; the perennial problem of brain drain, colonialism, international aid, lack of technology, etc. Nevertheless, one phenomenon that seems to have featured in all results posted by the several researchers and writers is the lack of effective leadership. Hence, unless incidental, this paper would strictly concern itself with how bad leadership is the bane of Ghana’s inability to solve her developmental challenges.
However, before I delve into providing reasons to buttress the aforementioned claim that Ghana’s inability to address her developmental challenges is as a result of bad leadership, hold on tightly as I explain what the phenomenon denotes.
Bad literally means, something which is negative or unfavorable whilst leadership is the capacity to lead. Therefore lacing the two terms together denotes ‘having the negative capacity to lead’.
Having succeeded in defining these terms, let us now concern ourselves with the development retarding attitudes of Ghanaian leaders; the principal reason we can’t address our developmental challenges!
To begin with, the greedy control of power and resource allocation by Ghanaian leaders is one issue that hinders the development of mother Ghana. Ghanaian leaders are wontedly at the helm of affairs, both internally and internationally. However, the tragedy of their mutilated system of rule is what has called for just another note. My ‘honorable’ leaders, kindly accept my plea in case you find this phrase insulting, but you Ghanaian leaders rule on the system of ‘create, loot and share’. This is indubitably the hard truth! Knowing vehemently that it is your duty and privilege to serve the Ghanaian citizenry, you absolutely deviate from your thesis of rule by distributing the national cake unequally. Consequently, resources that are due the state and should be used for their fine purposes are rather wasted on parochial interest of you our leaders. In an attempt to facilitate your greedy diabolic intent, you drafted and enacted a constitution to satisfy and prevent checks from citizens. In fact, even though it is theoretically encroached that citizens would serve as a check on the activities of governments and their leaders, it sorrowfully has not been so. This is evident in the 1992 fourth republican constitution of Ghana where almost all powers of appointments are made by the president. Just in an analytic paper I wrote only recently, I bespoke the actual vileness of the insurgence of vigilante groups as ‘the power-drunk appointment privilege’ reserved for the President of our Motherland.
Indeed, this has not helped our current bewail any better.
Moving away from that, the status quo has made it rather accepting for corruption to be rampant in our country, mostly among our leaders. Following that there is a very good grounds for Ghanaian leaders to steal resources we entrusted into their care, their incessant self-satisfying attitude just doesn’t leave them there. A very good epitome of the circumstance set forth is the corruption scandal associated with Madam Lauretta Lamptey the then CHRAJ boss under the Presidency of His Excellency John Dramani Mahama when she allegedly spent 1,700 Ghana Cedis daily as rent in a hotel. How tragic! I definitely was not surprised when I set my eyes on the Anas expose about the Judiciary of our dear country. This is an institution that we hold in high esteem because of the diligent job required of them, so if such an institution mars itself with some of such unacceptable actions, where lies the fate of our country? It just baffles me so much how leaders we have chosen to man and chair our affairs have taken the ordinary citizen for granted. Indeed if anything must change at this time, then it is our leaders and our self-seeking attitude.
In due course, it is also only most reasonable to mention that Ghanaian leaders are just incapable and short-sighted. This originates from the very fact that they decide wholly not to work for the betterment of their country but for their own gluttony. At a millennium summit in September 2000 the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the UN millennium declaration, committing their nations to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out deadline of 2015, they have become known as the millennium development goals. And for fifteen good years, Ghana among some other Sub Saharan African countries had not been able to achieve these goals. This evident in the said problems still prevalent in our country. A reason for the establishment of the Sustainable development goals! It is worthy of mention that scholars again attributed this inability to bad leadership. If not, why then is it that all countries were given equitable resources yet Ghana failed to achieve the said goals.
Also, Ghana is blessed with lots of natural resources , naming a few; bauxite, silver, diamond, gold, etc. and cocoa, larger water bodies, timber and only recently the discovery of black gold (oil). Ghana is currently the second largest producer of cocoa in the World behind Ivory Coast. It is also Africa’s largest miner of gold behind South Africa. In the faces of all these, Ghana still struggles in the ruins of underdevelopment. Comparatively, all reasons still boil down to the inappropriate management of these resources by our leaders.
Suffice to say, it is true that several reasons amount to the inability of Ghana to address her developmental challenges. However, all these problems can be solved if we have good leaders. Bad leadership can be equated to leaders who are poor at organizing resources and effectively utilizing them for the benefit of the majority. That is, if you have a bad cook in the kitchen then ill prepared food is what would be served.
Indeed, every country runs on very sound and carefully thought through policies. When we have the reverse of this we can be sure of the country’s’ resources not yielding any positively in the lives of citizens and the country no matter how abundant they are.
Leaders are at the helm of affairs. Hence, bad leadership means bad decisions leading to bad everything. So in order to solve our developmental challenges we need good decisions which bad leaders lack. Per the aforementioned arguments, it must be overemphasized that bad leadership is actually the bane of Ghana’s inability to address her developmental challenges. Until Ghanaian leaders help a halt to majoring in the minor and minoring in the major, our underdevelopment problem still smacks of pervasiveness.
For God, Country and Posterity.
BAYUONI DRAMANI MAAZU
Student, University of Ghana
0209780338
maazubayuoni@gmail.com
