Corruption, politics and tribalism destroying Ghana

Ghana’s political direction in the past 20 years of democratic rule has shaped by corruption, politics and tribalism without serious look at the country’s future economic development, says industrialist and statesman, Akenten Appiah Menka.

He feels “disillusioned and frightened” because the gains in private entrepreneurship and multiparty democracy made under the 1992 Constitution are being besieged and attacked by what he terms the three explosively destructive evils creeping into the Ghanaian body politics.

According to him, the Fourth Republic over the last 17 years is being “shamefully brutalized and overtaken by the triplet evils of massive corruption, naked and shameless vocal practices of tribalism and conscienceless political party polarization of all national issues and concerns”.

He has therefore enjoined all interest groups in the national polity to take bold steps in addressing the challenge.

Mr. Appiah Menka has been addressing the 8th Re-Akoto and Seven Others Memorial Lecture to mark the Annual Law Week of the Ghana School of Law.

His subject was: “The Law and Private Entrepreneurship Development – the Essential Tool for the Promotion of Multi-Party Democracy; Case Study, Ghana”.

The Senior Lawyer chronicled the country’s checkered political history and legal journey in relation to the promotion of private entrepreneurship and concluded there is a change in the horizon with the choice and presentation of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and Kwesi Amissah-Arthur as running mates for the 2008 and 2012 Presidential Elections.

Mr. Appiah Menka is optimistic such personalities will play above politics to bring their indepth knowledge in solving development problems to bear in developing the private sector.

“The future of the nation then, from this 2012 is going to be determined by which of the political parties can best solve the problems of the private sector to enable Ghana get into the trail of Korea and the Asian Tigers for our development”, he noted.

The business magnate however cautioned that if the triplet evils are not uprooted, Ghanaians “shall behave like the animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, where in the end the animals outside looked from man to pigs and from pigs to man and from man to pigs again, but it was already impossible to find which was which”.