In Ghana, we 'target, destroy wealth every 4, 8 years' – Duncan-Williams

“There is a vicious cycle” pervasive in Ghana and some other African countries where the governments in power target and destroy businesses as well as wealth created by private businesspeople during the tenure of the immediate-past predecessor-regimes, a situation which is causing Ghana not to be able to create ample job opportunities in the private sector to absorb unemployed youth, founder of Action Chapel International (ACI), Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has observed.

The cleric told his congregation in Accra on Sunday, April 22 that: “Until we understand what we are dealing with in its entirety and attack it from the roots and stop dealing with it from the branches, we will never create wealth in this country. We’re not creating wealth as a people. We destroy wealth every four years and every eight years. And it’s not just Ghana, you watch Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria, La Cote d’Ivoire, similar incidents there because I’ve churches there, I’ve networks all over these places and I deal with businessmen and women and politicians in all these places.

“Anytime there is a new regime, the new regime comes and will destroy anyone that was connected to the old regime and benefitted from the old regime, they’ll destroy all their wealth, forgetting that you’ll be in office for only four years or maximum eight years. And then another regime comes and will destroy anyone that benefitted from the old regime, so, every four to eight years, we kill and destroy those who have created wealth”, Archbishop Duncan-Williams complained.

Caveating his concerns, the man of God said his comments should not be misinterpreted as an endorsement of corruption or wrongdoing, but rather a warning about the destruction of the private sector which has the potential of providing jobs for over 95 per cent of employable graduates and secondary school leavers, since, according to him, the public and civil service has room for just about five per cent of all employable Ghanaians.

He also cautioned that the fight against corruption must be devoid of ill motives.

“Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t deal with corruption, and we shouldn’t deal with wrong people, and we shouldn’t pursue people who are wrong, but I’m saying that we should check our motives, because if we begin with the motive that somebody is guilty from the beginning and we have to bring them down because they were connected to the regime before us, we will always find something. And even if we don’t find something, we’ll find a way to still bring them down.

“So, it’s the motive and the mindset that we have to check. When people are wrong, even God in heaven, even though His seat is mercy and He seats on the mercy seat, when Satan misbehaved, He cast him down, so, I’m not saying when people do wrong don’t deal with them, but I’m saying we should check our hearts, we should check our motives, the reasons for going after people, not just Ghana, all over these African countries. It’s very very important we check our motives as a people because for whatever reason, we are not creating wealth, we are destroying wealth as a nation”, he noted.

Buttressing his point by using what pertains in the United States of America as an example, Archbishop Duncan-Williams said: “If you look at the West and you look at America, Trump has come into office, the people in Trump’s party are going to have the bigger share of the cake, but Obama’s party people, for whatever reason, will still be in business, they [Trump’s government] won’t kill them, but they won’t get the biggest share of the pie like they used to, but they will not be killed, their wives and children will not be starved, so, they’ll still be relevant and they’ll still be there until it’s their turn and they’ll also go for the bigger share of the cake, but they won’t destroy them, but in Africa it’s not so, in Africa, we destroy, we bankrupt, we starve them, we wipe them out, so, every four to eight years, we kill everyone who has created wealth, and the new people come and they create new wealth and another four to eight years another group comes and wipes them all out, so, we are not creating wealth. We are destroying one another, that vicious cycle must be broken”.

Archbishop Duncan-Williams also warned that if the vicious cycle is not ended anytime soon so that the private sector could be allowed to flourish to provide enough job opportunities for the hordes of students who come out of school at different levels, then an African version of the Arab Spring was imminent.

“The Arab uprising is something that is in the pipeline and it’s coming to West Africa. Between the next five and 10 years, it is coming to West Africa, write it down. I’m talking as a student of history, prophecy and paradigms.

“We have a very serious situation here and we have to look at it long-term. The private sector is not creating wealth because for whatever reason, we are destroying the private sector through this vicious cycle. If you go to the bank to take a loan, you’ll pay 30 per cent interest, so, it’s difficult to go take a loan to create wealth because of the interest, you can’t pay anything. For whatever reason, the private sector in other countries are helping to develop the country” and, so, wondered why the situation is different in Ghana.

He used the recent public sector recruitment into the Ghana Immigration Service and the Ghana Police Service, where, out of about 90,000 and 140,000 respective applicants, only 500 and 4000, were taken.

To him, the surge in armed robbery and rape of innocent women and girls, can be linked to the lack of jobs for the youth.

“These are issues we are not addressing, so, I’ve been very worried about this armed robbery situation and the rape of women. It’s really bothering me because it’s happening every weekend and it’s worrisome.

“Apart from our own problems, we have people coming from other nations because Ghana is a peaceful nation. And they come with their baggage and their problems. How are we going to address some of these issues?

“It’s time to cry for mercy, it’s time to pray for mercy because too much is at stake. And please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying we shouldn’t check corruption, but if we come to office and to power – I’ve been preaching for 40 years in this country and I’ve seen governments come and go, from CPP, my father’s government, and NDC and NPP, they are here I’ve seen them over the 40 years – and this thing where we come into office with vindictiveness and bitterness because of the way we’ve been mishandled and mistreated, and we target people to go after them, settle scores, I pray that during the reign of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, because of the fight and the betrayals and the suffering and the pain he went through to become president, he will not allow his presidency to be used by people who have problems with others and their opponents to settle scores, but that during his watch and his reign, that vicious cycle would be broken in the name of Jesus; that every Ghanaian, irrespective of your political party, if you’re doing the right thing, you’ll prosper”.