GCDC rekindles hope for local entrepreneurs

By Kofi Akordor
There was ample evidence of the entrepreneurial acumen of Ghanaian industrialists many years ago.  Those were the days many indigenous Ghanaians were able to set up manufacturing companies whose products offered stiff competition to those of the multinationals manufactured locally and those imported from outside.
Industrial giants such as Tata Brewery Limited owned by Mr J.K. Siaw, the International Tobacco Ghana Limited (ITG) owned by Mr B. A. Mensah and Kowus Motors, owned by Mr E.K. Owusu, and Boakye Mattress owned by Mr E.O. Boakye to name but a few readily come to mind.
It was obvious that Ghanaian entrepreneurs were gradually building their capacities and filling the gap where foreign multinationals were unable to satisfy local demand and in some cases turning out products with superior qualities to emphasise  the country’s independence and industrial prowess until two violent military interventions sent local industry and entrepreneurship into gloomy darkness.
In 1979, after the military mutiny by junior ranks of the Ghana Armed Forces which some chose to describe as a revolution, a lot of local entrepreneurs lost their businesses and other properties and this aborted any dream that others were nursing to join in the effort to expand the industrial horizon of the country.
Strangely, some of the industries seized and confiscated from indigenous entrepreneurs by the state found place in the bosom of multinationals who were objects of attack during the coups of June 4, 1979 and December 31, 1981. 
Of particular interest is the case of Tata Brewery Limited, once one of the biggest breweries in the West African Sub-region, which after many tortuous routes finally became part of Guinness Ghana Breweries Limited, itself a minute part of the Diageo Family, one of the largest multinationals in the world.
With such a heavy blow dealt from within to the local industry, it was not surprising that even those who had the financial and instinctive ability to go into industry recoiled and the few brave ones decided to go into trading in imported items.
The state itself lost control over the industries established under the Nkrumah regime to give the country a starting  leverage in the manufacturing sector and either sold them or allowed them to rot just like that.
If today, after half a century of political independence, we have to import everything including toothpicks, it is because at one stage in our political history, we decided to treat local entrepreneurship with scorn and disdain and even made it dangerous for those who wanted to brave the weather and start something on their own.
The 1992 Constitution which restored the country to democratic governance grants us a lot of freedoms including the right to establish business.  But we are still not out of the era of political vindictiveness where people are not seen for their worth but more for what political lineage they are suspected to be supported.
Most of our politicians in spite of the loud talks of supporting the private sector as the engine of growth, are still prepared to front for a foreign company than to assist a local person to establish, nurture and expand a local industry.
In the last few years, against all odds, some Ghanaians are crawling out of hibernation and beginning to show the resilience and fortitude of the past to venture into industry and other major commercial ventures.
It is in this vein that the boldness and efforts of a wholly Ghanaian-owned company, the Great Consolidated Diamond Company Limited (GCDL),  to own and revamp the Akwatia diamonds needs to be commended.  Coming from the stable of Zoomlion, the company that has visibly made an impact on refuse waste collection in Ghana and other African countries, there is no doubt that GCDL will not be lacking in inspirational and managerial direction and competence.
Most of the mineral concessions have gone to foreign companies with the argument that we lack the technological and financial capacity and capability to operate mines.
Unfortunately most of our mining communities, especially Obuasi, once reputed to be one of the richest goldmines in the world, do not reflect  the reality of their natural wealth.  So, while as a country we paint a picture of mineral wealth to the world, our national coffers do not emphasise this.
Moreover, while our mineral wealth have made others rich we only suffer the consequences of mining, including environmental degradation and health hazards associated with the sector.
The emergence of GCDL may be the beginning of taking full control of our mineral resources and whose financial returns will reflect in the lives of Ghanaians.  No one is against foreign investment in our economy, be it industrial or commercial.  But where the relationship had always been that of master-servant with Ghanaians being the servants, it cannot be described as the best.
We challenge this and all other governments to go beyond the rhetoric and give practical support to entrepreneurs and private enterprises that have exhibited the readiness to face the challenge and ventured into major industries.
We must encourage local entrepreneurs to do what Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung and LG have done in South Korea or TATA is doing in India.  Maybe we should have been where they are today, if we had not destroyed and mortgaged our industries and haunted our entrepreneurs out of the country to die as paupers in other countries.
Even though history may be a guide, there is no need crying over spilt milk.  If yesterday, we lost Kowus Motors, Tata Brewery, International Tobacco and others to foreign interests who are reaping where our hardworking entrepreneurs have planted, today we must encourage and support the likes of Zoomlion and its new baby, the GCDL, and others that may follow not only with words but with deeds to attain, in the words of the late General I.K. Acheampong, “the commanding heights of the economy”.
If we have learnt from the bitter experiences of the past, then the re-emergence  of local entrepreneurial efforts should also be a re-awakening and a realisation that society thrives on its resources, both material and human, and no amount of foreign or external assistance will drive this nation forward if we ignore and even try to destroy local ingenuity, industry and resourcefulness.  We wish the people of Akwatia and its environs the best in this new effort to bring back life to the people.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Decent language, clean campaigning please

Almost to the last person, it has been generally acknowledged that the political atmosphere of the country has been polluted with insults and other violent words that place our democracy under severe threat.
While there is a common agreement that most of our political commentators have become aggressive and reckless in their choice of words, there is a rift as to how to end the practice. Our President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, has on many occasions condemned the culture of political insults, which has become pervasive in the last few years and is assuming alarming proportions each passing day.
Unfortunately, the President has fallen short of displaying his abhorrence for the practice by not making any public pronouncement on verbal excesses from his government officials and party activists.
This apparently might have emboldened those on the other side to put on full display their skills in abusive language, citing the President’s silence on similar infractions from his camp as the motivation for doing what they are being accused of doing.
As a nation, we cannot continue to allow people who claim to be fighting for our national interest to engage themselves in verbal assaults while the real issues are sidelined. The beauty of democracy is that it creates the platform for political parties to trade in alternative policies and programmes which will ultimately give good health to national development.
Unfortunately, in our case, the emphasis is shifting from this noble objective with political parties trying to undo each other in the exchange of insults. This trend does not only harbour the potential of triggering violence but also has the tendency to undermine the confidence people have in the democratic institutions enshrined in the 1992 Constitution.
Already some people are questioning the integrity of the media to play any meaningful and active role in fostering good democratic practice in the country because of the way media freedom and freedom of expression have been abused, particularly on radio and television.
Some people who foresee danger ahead are even suggesting the extreme that media freedoms should be curtailed if it means sanity can only prevail under restrictive laws such as the Criminal Libel Law which was repealed in 2001 by the Kufuor Administration.
Incidentally, all media institutions, including the National Media Commission (NMC), which has constitutional mandate to streamline media practice, do not have sanctioning powers. The others such as the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the Private Newspaper Publishers Association of Ghana (PRINPAG) and the Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA) could at best only condemn while leaving the rest to the conscience of those involved.
Fortunately, it appears we are getting close to the realization that our democracy can only mature and advance our national aspirations if we play the game by the rules. Last week, some of the political leaders spoken to by the Daily Graphic admitted that the culture of insults was doing a lot of harm to our democracy and threatening to destabilise national cohesion, peace and security. They have all agreed that the best solution to the problem is to isolate and publicly denounce party activists who will breach protocol by using abusive words against political opponents during discussion programmes in the media, especially radio and television.
To cement this resolve, the parties have committed themselves to decent conduct and electioneering campaign in the run-up to the 2012 elections. Under the aegis of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the National Democratic Congress, (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the People’s National Convention (PNC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), the EGLE Party and the United Renaissance Party (URP) have set out a code of conduct which will govern their conduct of political activities in the country.
In a communique issued at the end of a workshop organised by the IEA, the parties have asked their leadership to use responsible language and condemn those who use abusive language against political opponents.
The communique enjoined all the parties to demonstrate their commitment towards enforcing and implementing the code of conduct by educating their membership and supporters on its provisions.
One needs to commend the political parties and their leaders for the initiative and hope they will be able to stick to their own set rules in the coming days when the political atmosphere will be charged the more with the approach of the 2012 election. The communique also called on the media to play its role to ensure a decent atmosphere for political discourse and this is where the danger lies. So far, the media, whether deliberately or out of ignorance, have failed to play their role as independent and neutral moderators in public discussions and have offered the platform for invective and other uncivilised behaviour to manifest on the public stage.
We are missing a lot that could be gained from a good democratic practice as a nation because of the hostile atmosphere needlessly created through the abuse of media freedom and it is the expectation of every Ghanaian that the media, especially those who are privileged to be hosting programmes on radio and television, would support the determination of the political parties to distance themselves from insults by ceasing to be the conduits for bad news.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Crawling out of the dungeons of slavery

By Kofi Akordor
One of the most fascinating things about last week’s media encounter with the Minister for Tourism was the revelation by the Minister, Ms Akua Sena Dansua that the Cabinet had given APPROVAL (caps mine) for local dishes to be served at official functions. This, according to the minister, is to give local and international recognition to Ghanaian dishes. What a pity! I do not know whether to clap or weep at this announcement, coming 54 years after we raised our national flag at the Old Polo Grounds and lowered the Union Jack to signify our statehood and sang our own “Lift high the flag of Ghana” in nationalistic tones as we celebrated independence. Why should it take us so long to see the need to patronise what is our own and not only that but also making others savour our dishes just as we have relished those of others? That brings us to what our independence is really about not only for us as a country but as a people seeing how we crazily adore foreign things, including the food we eat. We have wondered why even under extreme hot temperatures, the standard for the educated and enlightened remains the three-piece suit and the tie virtually strangling us to death? We kept blaming our woes on slavery and colonialism for the evil they had done to our psyche and social cohesion, yet we do not make any conscious effort to overcome that colonial mentality which does not make us see anything good about ourselves. Everything is good about things that come from outside. Recently our men in cassock and clerical collars joined others to voice their abhorrence for homosexuality and lesbianism which appear being forced on us by superior human beings from the West. Most of the critics declared with one voice that these twin evils were not only unreligious but are against our cultural norms and moral values as a people. The question again is, since when have we realised that as a people made in a special image of God, we have certain cultural and values that must be protected in their sanctity and acceptance and practice? These values did not germinate overnight. They were part and parcel of our existence as a people. Many years ago, we relinquished our authority over ourselves and accepted these values that we are making much noise about today as satanic, barbaric and primitive and abandoned them for something more saintly and elevating from the colonialists from the West. Today, the same people who some time ago brought the Bible and told us everything about us was heathen are the same people who are not only trying to convince us, but are actually cajoling us to accept homosexuality and lesbianism as normal and so should be tolerated. They are telling us that as God’s creatures, we have the freedom to do anything, including co-habiting with the same sex or entering into intimate relations with same sex. There are even veiled threats that there is a harsh penalty to pay if we continue to resist homosexuals and lesbians. Knowing our propensity for begging, our political leaders are severely constrained to raise their voices against the growing phenomenon which threatens the social fabric of our country. The clergy who have mustered some courage to attack the menace are quoting copious verses from the Bible support their argument against the growing menace. What is our moral ground to quote from the same Bible brought to us many centuries ago by a people who have virtually embraced homosexuality and lesbianism regardless of what the Bible says? Now it is not only ordinary Christians who are gays but pastors and bishops of accredited churches. Are we quoting from the Bible they brought to us or another one created by us? If it is the same Bible, then we cannot pretend to know it better than those who wrote it and brought it to us and used it to make us unhinged us about our very existence and created a whole new identification for us. Maybe the homosexual doctrine is telling us something we lost several centuries ago — that after all, God made us in His image as blacks with our distinct moral, cultural and religious values and embraced something that separated us from our spiritual roots. If today, those who brought us the Bible can warn us (remember the British Under-Secretary’s warning two weeks ago), then it stands to reason that with time other things condemned in the Bible will become virtues while other vices may become virtues as well. In recent times, we have seen in this country what so-called men of God are capable of doing, things our cultural norms and religious values, which are embedded in the law of Kama or retribution will not tolerate. If in the past, some of these criminal activities and practices were being suppressed and kept away from us the ordinary people, today they are being brought into light and we should be wiser by these revelations and begin to look within. If we think by abandoning everything about us we are making a better impression about ourselves, we are making a terrible mistake. Serving local dishes at official functions should not have been by Cabinet approval. It should have come as natural as others have accepted theirs and made people like us to accept them as the best. This applies to other things including our dressing, which is a gift from God to suit our climatic conditions. If we as a nation can rise up and condemn homosexuality and lesbianism as an affront to our cultural and moral values, then with the same voice we should rise against all forms of foreign domination that have made us second-rate citizens in our own land. We can maintain the sanctity of our cultural and religious values if we can tell the rest of the world that we are a distinct people and cannot remain in the shadows of others just us the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and the Arabs have done.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Lamentations of David Cameron

By Kofi Akordor
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, while on an African tour last month had the opportunity to address very important personalities at Nigeria’s Lagos Business School. He used the occasion to say what has become a refrain of many Western leaders by  warning African countries to be careful about the Chinese invasion of Africa.
Ever since China’s dominance on the world stage became a phenomenal reality, leaders of the big powers in the West have not spared the continent the warning against the Chinese scourge because of its communist ideology and disregard for human rights.
Western propaganda against China started many years ago and got to its peak during the Cold War when it pitched camp with the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). They even came close to sabotaging the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games which ended up showcasing the might of China.
One of the greatest crimes committed by Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President, was his association with China and countries of Eastern Europe under the Soviet orbit.  The story was that Nkrumah was about introducing communism into the country on the lines of  China’s communist system.
The establishment of the Ghana Young Pioneers Movement as it were, by Nkrumah to instil discipline, nationalism and patriotism in the youth and other socialist movements such as the Ghana Federation of Women and the Farmers Council greatly lent credence to the anti-Nkrumah propaganda.
When the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) finally toppled Nkrumah using local collaborators, there was celebration of a good riddance of a bad lot.  Many years later, China defied all odds to blossom into a world economic and industrial power that no country including the Western democracies could ignore.
China’s rise to world economic power did not happen by accident.  It was a deliberate policy to attract foreign investment capital coupled with determination by a hardworking population.  But should China’s growing influence be a worry to the West?
Unlike the West which set preconditions for aid, using democracy, human rights, rule of law and others as an excuse, China has nothing to bargain for, but to go into direct business with its African counterparts.  Instead of pretending to be crying for Africa, the West will do well to worry over their dwindling influence on a continent they have controlled and pillaged for  centuries.
Looking back, many African countries have suffered more from the long association with the Western colonialists than could be imagined.  The Chinese are not in Africa for pleasure and no one should expect them to come and sprinkle money around without returns.  But their approach to development projects is quite different and more mutually beneficial and should be exploited by African countries.
In Ghana, the Chinese are helping with the construction of the Bui Hydroelectric Dam.  They are very much present in the transport sector, since most of the vehicles being used by the Metro Mass Transport come from China.
Hopefully, the Eastern Corridor road project and other major projects will see the light of day, after the Chinese loan package is approved by parliament.
In any case, the West cannot claim to love Africa more than the Chinese, since for every dollar given as aid, three dollars are taken away from Africa, leaving the continent in perpetual debt.  Moreover the West has never been interested in infrastructural development on the continent, preferring to support those projects that would boost the continent as producers of raw materials.
A former Nigerian Finance Minister, Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, speaking for Africa said, “China knows what it means to be poor and has evolved a successful wealth creation formula that it is willing to share with African countries”. It is up to individual African countries to negotiate and enter into agreements with their national interests being paramount.
Incidentally, the Western countries  which are crying  their head over Africa’s association with China, are desperately relocating most of their industries in China.  Africa cannot afford to remain victims of Cold War propaganda about its relations with China.
African countries, however, have a big lesson to learn from China.  That over-reliance on external assistance does not help.  African countries must begin to chart a path of independence and self-reliance while collaborating with others.
African countries have more resources than China and if there are any lessons to be learnt, it is that China refused to accept its fate as a poor and primitive country that cannot make it without succumbing to capitalist interests.
As for David Cameron and his like who think China’s link with Africa is a “new scramble for Africa”, they should spare us that agony.  They say man under water fears no cold.  We have suffered enough from colonialism to worry about what the Chinese will do to us.  So far, the Chinese strategy of give-and-take has worked for all the parties and Africa can position itself properly to make the best out of the China alliance.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
kofiakordor.blogspot.com

Betrayal of the national cause

By Kofi Akordor
THE President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, was not a happy person when his effort to retool the Ghana Air Force was mired in muddy waters of partisan politics. He got the opportunity to express his displeasure when he toured the flood areas in the Fanteakwa and Atiwa districts in the Eastern Region. He used the disaster situation in the two districts and other parts of the region to draw attention to the need for everyone, especially political leaders, to be circumspect and objective when discussing matters that were purely of national interest and separate them from what were for mere political gratification. In defence of the decision to purchase five aircraft to re-equip the Ghana Air Force, the President wondered why almost all important national issues were given political twists and colouration, saying the five aircrafts were not meant for the comfort of the presidency. Apart from their military use, experience had shown that in times of disaster such as what we are experiencing in most parts of the country now, military aircraft, especially helicopters, come handy to evacuate the injured and stranded and also ferry relief items to victims of national disasters. This is the reality that should inform all our discussions on the subject of equipping all our national institutions. In a similar vein, President Mills will by now begin to appreciate the frustrations and may be the humiliation former President John Agyekum Kufuor went through when he sent a similar application to the House in 2008 and put forward the same arguments that the aircraft earmarked for the Ghana Armed Forces were not for the aggrandisement of the presidency nor the political leadership but in the supreme national interest. There are many in the NPP who have still not forgiven former President Kufuor for introducing that package for the Air Force during those crucial moments close to an election which promised to be close and tough. Some were even more cynical, claiming former President Kufuor did that deliberately to destroy the chances of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in the 2008 elections. As a nation, we should decide whether we desire a military establishment with an Air Force or not. If we agree to have an Air Force, we should inform ourselves that the Air Force does not operate with wheelbarrows. It is a unit that executes its military operations mostly from the air and, therefore, necessarily must have military aircraft to execute that mandate. The argument yesterday that there was hunger and poverty in the country and that many schools were without good infrastructure are very relevant today. The most important thing is that every country can march on all fronts at the same time provided it is able to harness its resources and manage them well. We can debate cost and choice of aircraft dispassionately and objectively devoid of partisan motives. If we decide not to have an established military, that will be a different matter. In that case, we should be prepared to mobilise our Asafo companies to defend the country against external aggression whenever it becomes necessary. Until we make that choice, we should be able to equip our Armed Forces to the best of our ability and with enough firepower so that they can provide us with the protection we need as a sovereign nation. Throughout our history as an independent nation, almost every government has suffered condemnation, one way or another, for its plans, programmes and projects. The person who was vilified the most and became the biggest victim of this phenomenon, as many would agree, was Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first President and the man whose vision and ideas became an inspiration to not only countries on the mother continent but also all Black communities globally. Interestingly, almost everything initiated by President Nkrumah was condemned by a section of the population just to make him unpopular. Even the Accra-Tema Motorway, the Tema Harbour, the Volta Dam at Akosombo and the now Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) were described as grandiose, misplaced and not in the national interest at the time. Today, I am wondering if any person with an objective mind can confidently describe any of these national projects as grandiose and not in the interest of the nation. So soon we have come to realise how inadequate the facilities we thought were over abundant yesterday have become today. One of the crimes General Ignatius Kutu Acheampong was accused of committing was the decision to purchase an aircraft for the Ghana Air Force which became the presidential jet. General Acheampong never travelled on that aircraft, partly for his phobia for flying. Incidentally, the person who amplified the accusation of Acheampong for profligacy was Flt Lt. J.J. Rawlings, who made good use of the aircraft from its prime until it became known as the Flying Coffin due to old age. It was this flying coffin that was to be replaced by the Kufuor regime when he ran into problems with the then opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). As fate would have it, the NDC, now in government, also took a package intended for retooling the Armed Forces to Parliament when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) felt it was an opportune time to return fire. Some of us expected that that chain would be broken, since we know it is not in the national interest. But no! The NPP wants to exact its pound of flesh, if even at great cost to the nation. As to cost and due diligence, some of us would not want go there, since we do not have the competence. But by all means let Parliament do its part by scrutinizing documents before it to ensure that the country is not short-changed in the transaction. But that should not take away the necessity of ordering the aircraft for the Air Force. By now we should be able to determine what we want as a nation and pursue those goals in a non-partisan manner and stop the unnecessary politicisation of serious matters. When the NDC administration first introduced the Value Added Tax (VAT), it was vehemently opposed by elements in the NPP parading under the umbrella of the Alliance for Change (AFC). Precious blood was shed and a few people paid the supreme price for what they thought to be a justifiable cause. The souls of those who died in the Kume Preko demonstrations will be turning in their graves upon the realization that the leadership of those demonstrations which turned violent and cost their lives, including Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Yves Wereko-Brobby and Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, later were part of a government which increased the percentage of the VAT. We did similar things upon the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) which has proved to be the backbone of the educational sector today. They are dead and gone, leaving behind their friends and relatives in misery, while their leaders have lived long enough to taste the sweetness of political power for eight years and are preparing feverishly for another round if Ghanaians so permit. The NDC, while in opposition, also walked out of Parliament when the debate on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which was its own baby when the party was in government, got to its crucial stage. Now back in government, the NDC is doing everything to streamline the operations of the NHIS. Maybe things would have been better for the scheme, and for that matter Ghanaians, if the party had allowed its input to enrich the debate. Our lives as a people cannot be allowed to go on this way. In a democratic environment, there is bound to be disagreements. In fact, disagreements and dissent generally are some of the strong pillars on which rest the fundamentals of democracy. These disagreements, therefore, if genuinely informed by the quest for accountability and concern for the general good of the people, will be articulated in a manner as will enrich debates on national issues, at the end of which the ultimate objective of making this country a better place will triumph. We may score cheap political points today, but if disagreements are not based on objective analysis of things but bear the fruits of mischief, malice and self-interest, it will always bring us to the situation where, instead of moving forward, we will constantly retrace our footsteps. If the NPP will admit that they made a mistake during the introduction of the VAT and the NDC will admit mixing serious national issues with narrow political interests during former President Kufuor’s attempt to purchase aircraft for the Air Force, this country will be learning useful lessons that will propel it to move on in the right direction. There are numerous examples but the few mentioned will illustrate the phenomenon which is not healthy for our political and overall national life. The politics of tit for tat is negative, must be condemned and not countenanced by all serious-minded people. If we continue to pursue that path, we will only succeed in betraying the national cause for the sake of narrow and sectional interests. Political parties are national institutions that are supposed to make the national interest the core agenda. If we depart from this goal and adorn party garbs at the least opportunity, we will do more harm to the democracy we claim to cherish so much and in effect destabilise the national development agenda. fokofi@yahoo.co.uk kofiakordor.blogspot.com