IMANI’s List of 2010’s Most Inspirational Public Sector Leaders

* in Ghana*

In the finest tradition of civil society activism, the right philosophy is

to be critical of government, in all its forms.

In liberal democracies, like Ghana has gradually become, the government pays

enough people to sing its praises that civil groups who spend their time

flattering the incumbent administration would very quickly become redundant.

Evidence-based criticism is a niche that groups like us have been rushing to

fill ever since our democracy matured in the late 90s. Even where government

has been manifestly successful, we rarely see the need to offer praise,

since it is the moral duty of a government to do right by its citizens. In a

democracy, the government does not conduct itself creditably because of its

magnanimity. It does so to survive, which by definition cannot be considered

praiseworthy.

When they fall short of the glory of the constitution, however, it is

important that we are loud in our reproof. For, it amounts to a breach of

great oaths, which they have voluntarily taken. Our culture, at least,

frowns on breakers of oath.

All the above notwithstanding, sometimes, praise can be utilised for

critical purposes. By highlighting good behaviour on the part of specific

institutions and individual actors, the spotlight necessarily turns

afterwards to the failing conduct of other institutions and actors. That is

to say, it is possible to highlight in order to contrast.

That is why for the first time IMANI-Ghana has decided to release a list of

the top 5 most inspirational public sector leaders in Ghana for the year

2010.

In the finest tradition of rating lists, the assessments implied by the

rankings reflect the opinions of those keen observers of the public sphere

who were approached. They reflect a review of media accounts, policy

statements, public records and documented outcomes from the perspective of

independent researchers who nonetheless would have their personal biases as

to what constitutes “accomplishment”.

The methodology undergirding this ranking is quite straightforward,

actually. We graded a vast number of public sector institutions according to

our three-prong criteria:

*Independence*. Has the institution demonstrated significant independence

from the central government to the extent that the resulting autonomy has

shielded it, to a reasonable extent, from the arbitrary will of

partisan-minded politicians?

*Public Engagement*. Has this institution avoided easy and convenient

propaganda and focussed on providing information to the general public that

is reliable, accurate, thoughtful and useful for the purposes of assessing

the institution’s challenges, performance and objectives? Have they told the

citizenry the hard facts of policy choices and kept away from gratuitous

controversy?

*Promise of Transformation*. The challenges that confront all facets of our

national life are many, deep and complex. Even great leadership would not

succeed in delivering instant results. However, has the institution under

consideration articulated by dint of hard work and persuasive argument an

end in sight that is uplifting and empowering such that its followers and

the general public can dare to hope that transformation may be imminent?

But this is a list of leadership, to wit: inspirational leadership. Thus,

once the institutions had been agreed upon, the rake that was used to winnow

the list down even further was that of clear and unambiguous evidence that

leadership is at play here. Our bias was to look for evidence of exemplary

leadership by the Chief Executive though we were also quite ready to concede

that in some instances leadership appeared to emerge with collective

features. But that is where the quibbling over leadership theory ended.

We all know leadership when we see it. Has this public sector leader

demonstrated resolve in leading her institution to pursue a clearly

articulated vision even in the face of limited resources and the pressures

of conformity in an environment of cheap politics?

When all was said and done, our team and external consultants settled on the

following inspirational leaders of 5 promising state institutions.

1. *Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur*, Governor of the Bank of Ghana

The Governor impressed us with his conduct of the affairs of the Monetary

Policy Committee in particular, though there is evidence that other aspects

of the Bank’s work, such as banking inspection, have also improved. Despite

pressure from political forces to go beyond moral suasion in compelling the

banks to reduce interest rates, the Governor has been unwavering in going

where the evidence leads. Diplomatically, he has rebuked the government to

pay the contractors and stop dithering, since this has an effect on

non-performing loans in the system, and by extension lending rates. In the

words of Friedman, “inflation everywhere is a monetary phenomenon”. What

this quip means in this context is that the Governor’s conduct of monetary

policy has more than contributed to the era of stable inflation and the

stable national currency. His attitude to his duties has helped stem the

loss of investor confidence that marked the early months of 2009. He may be

dour, but only in a manner quite becoming of a guy who has his fingers on

the nation’s purse strings.

1. *Alfred Oko Vanderpuije*, Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan

Assembly

After a number of false starts, the Mayor quickly settled into the hot seat

of managing the affairs of the country’s most politically sensitive city. We

were unimpressed in the early months of his administration, especially

during the botched decongestion exercise, and we still have a few unresolved

policy differences with him about the right approach to urban “planning”.

The jury is also still out on his sanitation policy, which some have

interpreted as a “get Zoomlion” strategy, and also on his outdoor

advertising directives. But the Mayor is fast learning to focus the energies

of the assembly on the big picture. His symbolic raids on government

agencies in pursuit of property rates arrears and his optimistic courting of

Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium City initiative are all testimony to a

determination to “transform” how city management is done in Ghana. He has

refrained from involving himself in petty partisan squabbles and maintained

a balanced posture with respect to Accra’s many chieftaincy and other

sectarian faultlines. He wants greater devolution of power from the central

government to the towns and regions, and he has even begun developing

investment plans for some of the most challenging sectors under his

jurisdiction. The results are yet to change the fortunes of the city, but we

were inspired by his energy and commitment.

1. *Akwasi Osei*, Chief Psychiatrist, Accra Psychiatric Hospital

For many years, the Chief Psychiatrist was almost a lone crusader for mental

health policy reforms in this country. Today, he has been joined by a number

of non-governmental organisations and won the attention of the President.

Some have faulted his professional diplomacy skills, following persistent

falling outs with the sector Minister. But what the Chief Psychiatrist lacks

in negotiation skills, he more than makes up for it with relentless focus,

determination and dedication. His knowledge of psychiatric issues and the

policy environment is encyclopaedic, even daunting. He has also shown that

he has a streak of positive opportunism in him. Seizing on the Anas Aremeyaw

exposes, rather than feel indicted by it, he has forced mental health issues

up the media’s priority list for the health sector, bringing into sharp

focus such matters as alcohol regulation, substance abuse, and

community-based care. And by reminding all of us that there is one

psychiatrist for every 2 million Ghanaians, Akwasi Osei has changed the

terms of the debate. He isn’t bringing a neglected issue to our attention;

he is exposing the hollowness of our Ghanaian civilisation.

1. *The Commissioners* of the Commission for Human Rights &

Administrative Justice

CHRAJ’s managers never hide from the fact that there is a host of human

rights issues across the breadth and depth of this country that their

limited resources and personnel prevent them from even remotely addressing.

But there has never been a doubt about the organisation’s direction. This

year, they have navigated political controversy and militant cynicism, and

come out with their reputation intact. They have been vocal in urging

greater speed in prisons reforms, and been loud in their denunciation of the

mob mentality that still dogs nominally liberal-democratic Ghana. They have

firmly planted the issue of disability rights in the labour reform agenda of

Ghana. When “decongestion” became a lazy excuse for haphazard demolition

activities, CHRAJ descended upon municipal authorities, giving much impetus

to public interest activists who took to the Law Courts to redress the

excesses of these so-called “urban planning” programs. CHRAJ has never

missed an opportunity this year to paint for all of us what a “decent and

humane society” looks like.

1. *The Frontline Staff* of the National Disaster Management Organisation

NADMO failed to take major steps towards achieving the organisation’s own

objective of transforming into a comprehensive risk preventive system for

the country from its current status as a disaster response agency. But the

organisation’s field staff need to be commended for their valiant efforts

this year in responding to multiple incidents, predominantly

flooding-related, across the country. Lack of policy robustness

notwithstanding, these underpaid personnel responded quite creditably to

tragedies across the length and breadth of our nation, from the marshy banks

of the Volta to the arid grasslands of the Savannah. Many risked their

lives, as they wrestled against the elements, working without the right

equipment and protective gear. Their actions are the stuff of which genuine

patriotism is made of, and not the bombastic rhetoric of the Accra elite.

So there you have it.

As we said at the very beginning, this is a list of the most inspirational

public sector leaders 2010 gave us. And that indeed is the focus of this

report, but we couldn’t help taking a jab at some of the public sector

institutions that have been most egregious in flouting the list of 3

“virtues” we outlined earlier on. If we were compelled to produce a list of

the 5 least inspirational institutions, we would have gone for the

following:

1. *Ghana Statistical Service:* for mucking up a vital national exercise

as the Census (none of the authors of this report was “counted”), and

generally larking about with essential public communications of crucial

policy relevance, such as the rebasing fiasco.

2. *Brand Ghana Office*: for raising our hopes of a new era of strategic

national image development, and promptly dashing all of them. True, several

public sector institutions seem dormant too. Forestry and Wildlife

Commission; Water Resources Commission; Chieftaincy Secretariat etc., are

just a few examples of dozens of lazing bureaucracies maintained out of

public funds to what purpose only God knows. But Brand Ghana takes the can

because of the fun fair which surrounded its launch and the audacity of the

PR fraud that was perpetrated on us, the poor citizenry of Ghana. No doubt

its managers shall blame their abysmal performance on resource constraints,

but there are many civil society and private sector organisations labouring

under similar challenges that nevertheless “makes an effort” to be relevant.

At any rate, we feel that this phantom state body is a good placeholder for

the many state institutions that hide behind the “no money” slogan to waste

our time and limited resources in this country.

3. *Public Utilities Regulatory Commission*: not that we have any

disrespect for the very capable professionals who are in charge of this

body. But the truth is that we have seen little in the way of clear

regulatory decision-making about how to improve on the quality of the

service delivery of the vital utilities. Next year, we hope they up their

game.

4. *National Communications Authority*: for the creeping signs of

regulatory interference in market phenomenon best left alone. Compulsory SIM

card registration, for instance, was an unnecessary burden on the system.

There appears to be renewed political domination of the regulatory process,

and an alienation of the private sector in the telecoms space. We all know

that many things could be changed for the better in this critical industry,

but the quality of the change is important too.

5. *Ghana Police Service*: the reformist instincts of the Inspector

General of Police notwithstanding, this security establishment got itself

involved in too many controversies for its own good, in some instances

actually damaging its credibility in the public’s perception.

There are certainly a number of organisations that came to our attention

that we decided to somewhat “ignore” in this report. We have always

respected the National Development Planning Commission’s senior staffers,

but we also felt that the organisation is very much in flux at this time and

it would be best to give it a bit of time to settle. The GNPC puts us off by

their secrecy and aloofness and undemocratic attitude to public

accountability. First oil, notwithstanding, we decided that they do not

merit our ink, positively or negatively. Perhaps, who knows, 2011 may be

different.

*Courtesy AfricanLiberty.org and IMANI, Foreign Policy Magazine’s fifth most

influential think tank in Africa in 2009 ***

Respectfully yours,

Franklin Cudjoe

Franklin Cudjoe is head of Ghanaian think tank, IMANI, a non-profit,

non-government organization dedicated to fostering public awareness of

important policy issues concerning business, government and civil society.

He is also editor of AfricanLiberty.org The Foreign Policy Magazine named

IMANI, the fifth most influential think tank in Africa in 2010. Franklin was

named Young Global Leader 2010 by the World Economic Forum.