ACCRA, Ghana -- The good news from Ghana, the West African state from which so many black Americans trace their roots, is that after decades of political mismanagement it is finally following the first rule of holes. The first rule of holes states: "When you're in a hole, stop digging."
Having had its first-ever peaceful, democratic transition from one elected government to another last December, Ghana's new president, J. A. Kufuor, has a clear mandate to stop digging. Mr. Kufuor was elected by a solid majority by calling for improved governance, an end to official corruption and a renewed effort to expand trade and attract foreign investment. That's the good news.
The bad news is: The hole Ghana has dug itself into is really, really deep. Half of Ghana's government budget goes to pay just the interest on its domestic and foreign debts, accumulated over years of idiotic African Socialism, plunder by leaders and weak governance, compounded by poor oversight by the I.M.F. and World Bank.
"The problem for us," President Kufuor said in an interview at his home, "is that you feel like you're in a hole, and you want to get out, and you hear all these noises an d all this activity coming from the top of the hole. It leaves you feeling that everyon e up there is busy and active and you feel very much alone. I want to feel that there is someone out there with some humanism to stretch back to me and help me out."
What is encouraging about Ghana is that the impulse for reform here was driven by the people below, not just the pols above. What worries Ghanaians, though, is that after so many years in the third world they may not be able to compete in the Fast World.
I gave a talk at the University of Ghana, and afterward one student asked me: "Will the world have empathy for us?" — as Ghana tries to go down this new path. "No," I said, "the world will have no empathy for you, but that's not what you want anyway! You want to appeal to greed. You want to create a sense of opportunity here that will attract wealthy Ghanaians to bring their money back home and create jobs. You want investment, not pity." The dependency culture here is so deep, though, this logic is very new.
Then another student asked: If it's true that in the age of globalization the big don 't eat the small but the fast will eat the slow, what is Ghana to do? "We're naturally slow here," he said. "We eat slow. We talk slow. We sing slow. We like things slow. How will we compete in this world?"
Direction is more important than speed, I argued. Ghana has been on the wrong road for so long its per- capita income is now $1 a day. It needs to get on the right road and go at any pace it can.
Ghana is rich in human and natural resources. What it has lacked are good fundamentals: institutions, decent schools and legal frameworks to get the most out of those resources. The secret for success in globalization is all about building goo d fundamentals — not modems or bandwidth. "The lack of good governance is the bane of Africa," said Papa Owusu-Ankomah, deputy majority leader of the Ghanaian Parliament. "Without strong institutions we can't check abuses of power, and that has been the source of all our problems."
But generating institutions is not easy. Historically there are two ways: One is the way America got them — through evolution: 200 years of slowly evolving the habits and laws to govern a modern society. The other way is how India or postwar Germany and Japan got them — through imperialism: someone comes from abroad and imposes democratic structures until they take root. The problem for Ghana, and the rest of Africa, is that it is too early for evolution — that takes decades — and it is too late for imperialism.
It will have to find the energy from within. Mr. Kufuor's election signals that Ghanaians want to try. Mr. Kufuor says he intends to try. The Bush team should go out of its way to help Ghana — now — with conditional aid. That is, aid, and debt relief, tied to the building of real institutions.
The dawns are always spectacular on the vast African continent, but false dawns abound here as well. Just look at Nigeria and South Africa, whose democratically elected leaders are slowly sinking away. Ghana now offers the best chance to establish an African model for free-market democracy. Here comes the sun. Let's hope it's really rising, and if it is, let's do our part to keep it up there.
