Can Botchwey be President?

Former Finance Minister, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey may be desperately trying to become the president of Ghana on January 7, 2005 but the question “The Insight”, a private newspaper is asking is, “does he have what it takes to be the primus inter pares in a country which has been run down by colonial politics?

Dr. Botchwey first caught public attention as a Marxist law lecturer on the campus of the University of Ghana where he joined other colleagues and radical students to propagate the ideas of Marx and Engels and Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in the 1970s.

He appeared to have an aversion for mainstream politics and did not join any of the fledging political parties at the time. Along with Professor Kwame Karikari, Dr. Yao Graham, Mr. Akoto Ampaw, Mr. Fui Tsikata, Kwame Mfodjo and many others, Dr. Kwesi Botchwey helped form the left wing group, the New Democratic Movement (NDM) in 1980.

Even in those days when “Afro Moses” (a popular haircut) in-thing for the left, Dr. Botchwey stood out from the crowd with his trademark jeans and expensive shirts. He drove a flashy American car.

Kwesi Botchwey was fervently opposed to military coup and insisted that the neo-colonial army cannot be relied upon to prosecute a revolution. He provided critical support for constitutional rule after the exit of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and publicly distanced himself from apparent attempt to topple the Limann administration.

“It therefore came as a surprise when in February or March 1982, he allowed himself to be persuaded by radical elements like Zaya Yeebo, Chris Atim and Kwasi Adu to take up his first appointment in the PNDC as chairman of the National Youth Organising Commission (NYOC) It was from this launching pad that Dr. Botchwey later in the same year frog leaped to the position of PNDC Secretary for Finance and Economic Planning, a position that had initially been earmarked for Dr. Joe Abbey.

The left of the regime was worried about the possibility of the PNDC accepting an IMF/World Bank style economic arrangement which would entail the devaluation of the cedi, privatization of state enterprises, mass retrenchment of labour and the withdrawal of subsidies from the social sector.

Given the credentials of Dr. Botchwey as a Marxist intellectual, the left mistakenly saw him as a bulwark against Structural Adjustment and lobbied to push Dr. Abbey out. Soon after taking office, Dr. Botchwey switched sides and teamed up with Dr. Joe Abbey to argue for and to implement one of the most debilitating neo-colonial economic packages.

The Economic Recovery Programme (ERP), which the Botchwey-Abbey duel got the PNDC to adopt in 1983, went against everything Dr. Botchwey had stood for and contradicted every known Marxist principle.

The ERP entailed the mass retrenchment of labour, the privatization of state enterprises, the liberalization of both internal and external trade, massive devaluations of the cedi and the withdrawal of subsidies on social services.

In no time, Dr. Botchwey had become the chief advocate of neo-colonialism and his earlier known rhetorics about mass participation in the decision-making process and power to the people had evaporated.

Dr. Botchwey enjoyed his new status as the darling boy of the West until he resigned in 1996 or thereabout, accusing Mr. Jerry Rawlings of ill-informed interference in the management of the national economy.

Dr. Botchwey’s record as the longest serving minister of finance in Ghana’s history cannot be said to be impressive. By January 2001, the country’s external debt amounted to US$6 billion and the internal debt was put at ?41trillion. Interest rates were hovering around the region of 45 per cent and inflation was said to be above 35 per cent.

20 years of ERP/SAP had only brought more misery to the Ghanaian people and Dr. Botchwey as the advocate and engineer of the programme cannot escape responsibility for the present sorry state of the national economy. “The question, which has been posed after Dr. Botchwey’s declaration of interest in the presidential candidature of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is; “what will he do differently this time?, The Insight asks.

Indeed, if Dr. Botchwey has not changed his views on the direction of the national economy, then his presidency will be most dangerous for the well being of Ghanaians. Secondly, Dr. Botchwey’s prescription for national economic recovery is not substantially different from what is on offer from the New Patriotic Party (NPP).

Dr. Botchwey has already given an indication of what his presidency will offer by arguing that there is nothing wrong with the frequent trips abroad by Mr. Kufuor. He has also said publicly that the national economy is on course.

Dr. Botchwey has a major hurdle to clear. He has to convince the mass membership of the NDC that he is a loyal member of the party, which he denounced in 2000. In an interview with JOY FM, Dr. Botchwey claimed that he had never been a member of the NDC and that if he had to join any other party, it would be either the Convention People’s Party (CPP) or the National Reform Party (NRP).

“The question is, when did Dr. Botchwey changed is mind about the NDC and why? In terms of the constitutional requirement of this country, Dr. Botchwey is like all other presidential aspirants qualified to become president of Ghana. He is more than 40 years old, he is a registered voter and is of a sound mind. He also has may things going for him. He is charismatic and eloquent, he speaks many Ghana languages and is likely to attract large doses of finance and resources for his presidential campaign. The real problem is whether he will manage to go over all the hurdles of mistrust and become the NDC’s presidential candidate to start with?”