Magic of leadership

Leadership plays a crucial role in propping an otherwise natural resource-deficient country. That was a worthwhile lesson hordes of Ghanaians from all walks of life learnt when they converged on Asante Hall, Alisa Hotel, to grace the launch of the co-edited compendium on Ghana’s economy by Dr Mahamudu Bawumia and his colleague last week.

It was good and interesting observation by former President John Agyekum Kufuor when he said the large turnout which filled the huge hall to its seams was indicative of a population eager to find a way out of the mess it finds itself in—and we add, through no fault of its.

Without good leadership as exemplified by President John Agyekum Kufuor and his team of public servants such as Dr Mahamudu Bawumia at the apex bank among others, the yet-to-be-rivalled feats chalked could not have come about.

When therefore Dr Bawumia, the former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, commenced to lay out the feats chalked under the financial sector improvement modules and the fact that good leadership was the underlying impetus, it was not difficult to determine the role of leadership in making it to that enviable level.

Not all the advanced European countries are endowed with as much natural resources as their African counterparts, Ghana not being an exception. Yet these countries have managed their human resource and in some cases the little non-human factors at their disposal so well that they are ranked among the most advanced countries in the world.

Is it not ironical therefore that these countries continue to support our annual financial budgets, even with their knowledge of how inefficient and corrupt we are as a people?

We do not have to look further to determine why within eight years of his stewardship President John Agyekum Kufuor and his dedicated team achieved so much.

There was a dose of nostalgia when during his brief presentation at the book launch the former Bank of Ghana Deputy Governor recalled how a prudent management of the economy and the unfurling of innovations led to the rare chasing of workers at their workplaces by profit-making financial institutions with loan offers.

The economy had been cured of an ailment before then through a disciplined fiscal management. As observed by the banker/economist/politician, the demand for quality service by the president was a source of the diligence. No wonder a bemused director at the apex bank, after considering the quantum of fiscal achievements chalked and still counting, asked Dr Bawumia whether there wasn’t going to be something left for their successors to work on.

Without good quality leadership, the endowment of natural resources, regardless of their value and quantum, would not bring about the necessary fillip for development.

With the proceeds of a newfound natural extractive resource and other monetary dividends – the largest for a government in contemporary Ghana – the Mahama-led administration should not be suffering such financial tribulations.

The absence of the strident leadership required in a developing country like ours is the reason why corruption has hit an endemic level. Painfully, the fight against the cankerworm continues to be a public forum subject attracting more talk and no action at all from government appointees considered the worst perpetrators.

A leadership deficient country would soon be plunged into darkness, the management of its energy sector itself suffering massively the fallouts of concentrated incompetence.