A tale of one country, two perspectives

By: Richard Ellimah

A week ago I left Ghana to participate in an action research training workshop in Colombia organized for human rights activists working in the extractive industry in the Global South. The workshop is being organised by Dejusticia with support from the Ford Foundation.

After going through an agonising security search at the airport I found myself wishing I had not accepted to attend the workshop. This is the first time I have been subjected to such a humiliating search at the airport. Every piece of item in my luggage was checked. But then again I remembered my destination may have triggered this whole security paranoia.

In the plane, I found myself sitting with a Liberian civil servant who told me he is a Director at the Ministry of Mines and Natural Resources. With ebola around us I can never be too careful. So I generously sanitised my hands before shaking hands with him! He simply couldn't stop talking about Ghana in such glowing terms. The expression "You Ghanaians are lucky" flowed effortlessly from his mouth on countless occasions. Not even when I explained that we are going through difficult times did he change his mind about Ghana. He only chose to offer explanations for our misery as a country. All fresh oil producing countries face high inflation and the economies are not in good shape. But with time you will be fine, he assured. Yes I know, the resource curse syndrome!

In one breadth I felt proud as a Ghanaian. In another I felt sad for Africa. If the mediocrity around us, and which we live with on a daily basis is being celebrated as a success story by other African countries then I am afraid we have a long way to go. Mind you, in Africa Ghana is in a class of her own. I believe it is time we told the world that our classmates are the Malaysias, South Koreas, Singapores, and Brazils. The only fair assessment we can do of our performance as a country is through the mirror of these countries we started life with and actually stayed in the same classroom with and studied under the same teachers. Why are they streets ahead and we still struggle with the basics of development?

Well, just when I was getting carried away with my Liberian acquaintance's flattery I get to Bogota and I am sad again. Colombia is also a developing country. They also have the same challenges we have in Ghana. The socio-economic indicators are not too different from Ghana. But you cannot help but admire the way they have organised their airport. It is a world class airport by any standards, not the chicken coop we have back home. As we drove through the city Margerita my contact person would not stop chattering about her country, how beautiful it is, some of the places I should be visiting and the sacred duty to taste the famed Colombian coffee before I leave! I enjoyed the ride, except that she did not understand a word of English! As she kept chattering away into the night I could not help but simply keep nodding and smiling through my tiredness. I was only able to pick one or two words with similarities in English to understand what she meant.

I am yet to visit the hinterlands (will do that when we fly to Leticia on Sunday) but two things struck me. One was the nature of roads. There are well planned streets wide enough to accommodate large volumes of traffic that are typical of a country with a growing middle class. There are dedicated bus lanes that have not been colonised by other vehicles. The taxis are metred and are registered with well-dressed drivers (in black suit with tie) who are very polite, not those who spew obscenities back home. Then I saw their bus stations. Colombia runs a very efficient public transportation system. There are bus stops at reasonable intervals and most importantly, passengers who are patient enough to wait for their scheduled buses.

Am I being cynical? Well, I have no problem if you describe me that way. Fact is that I believe Ghana deserves better than what we have now. Successive governments have lived in the IMF - World Bank inspired delusion that we are a success story. Instead of taking inspiration from countries we started life with but who have bypassed us, we allowed our heads to bloat with praises from external institutions and individuals who cannot be more concerned about our development trajectory than our own people.

It is time to raise the bar on development discourse in this country. We cannot be happy distributing free school uniforms, free shoes and eliminating schools under trees and describe them as success stories. Political commentators should spare us the heartbreak of using these as a measure of our success as a country. It is good to eliminate schools under trees. It is good to clothe school pupils. It is good to feed pupils. But this is a stage we should have gone past so many years ago. In this age, every Ghanaian must have a minimum level of education. Every Ghanaian must have access to cheap, quality healthcare. Every Ghanaian must have access to good quality sanitation facilities.

Ghana's success story should be measured by the number of Ghanaians who have been lifted out of poverty and are making meaningful contribution to national development. We need to see a lot more indigenous companies being supported to expand and employ a lot more people. We need to see the government creating the right business environment for indigenous businesses to blossom. To achieve this, government should confine itself to providing first class infrastructure that can support business growth like reliable power, good motorable roads, credible and fast business registration process and elimination of corruption. I was pleasantly surprised to realise that the yoghurt and bottled water Delta Air served on board the flight from Accra to New York were made in Ghana! At least that is a ray of hope.

Finally, I think a review of our educational system will also be helpful. Ask the Malaysians, Koreans and Singaporeans. A serious look at the use of ICT will help.

For now, let me rush for my cup of coffee before the restaurant clears the table for breakfast!!