Ghana's President Is Naked!

One of my favorite tales growing up was Hans Christian Andersen’s ‘Emperor’s New Clothes’. The story is about a self-centered Emperor who is deceived by two weavers into believing they have made a new set of clothes for him that is invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, are stupid or are incompetent to occupy the offices they hold. While the clothes are being worked on, the Emperor who cannot see the clothes pretends he can for fear of being branded incompetent to occupy his office. His Cabinet also buys into the game of pretense acting as though they can indeed see the clothes and that it is the most beautiful thing they have ever seen. Soon, the two weavers report to the Emperor that they have finished working on the clothes. They mime dressing him. The vain Emperor, motivated by the remarks of His Cabinet decides to hold a public procession to show the whole world his new clothes.

The Emperor then parades in his new clothes, which in actual fact is no cloths. His Cabinet and courtiers are careful not to point out to the Emperor the fact that he is walking around naked lest they be called ‘stupid, unfit for their positions or incompetent’. They therefore pretend that they can see the Emperor is dressed in the most wonderful clothes even though the Emperor is stark naked. The townsfolk also pretends that they can see the clothes and praises the quality of work done.

But a small child however, uncontaminated by the curse of flattery or bothered by the tag of ‘stupid, incompetent and unfit to occupy public office’ shouts ‘But the Emperor has no clothes on at all’. All at once, the Emperor realizes that he is naked. The Cabinet realizes that indeed the Emperor is naked. The people also grasp that the Emperor who they have been flattering as being beautifully adorned is naked. The Emperor, though realizing he is naked, continues with the procession amidst a general consensus that the Emperor is naked.

Though this story was written over a hundred years ago, the concept is so true of the kind of government we have in Ghana today. We, as a nation, have had one too many ‘Emperors’ as Presidents and leaders. An unpardonably vain leader who surrounds himself with people who see everything he does as right. The President at once attains an infallible nature with regards to judgment. His absurdities are rationalized by a litany of toadies. Once in a while, a ‘child’ arises who points out the obvious, that child if he is in government is quickly dealt with and if out of government, is branded with his suggestion being treated with contempt. And so has it been, arguably since independence, our Emperor-Presidents have paraded around naked with everyone applauding him. Remember the STX Housing Deal and the $3 Billion CDN Loan?