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24.10.2014 Opinion

The IEA Is 25  

By Daily Guide
The IEA Is 25
24.10.2014 LISTEN

'The Institute of Economic Affairs-Ghana is Ghana's premier public policy Think-Thank. The Institute was founded in 1989 with a mission of carrying out research and advocacy to inform public policy. The IEA has developed into a leading public policy centre, supporting the maturation of democracy in Ghana and in the sub-region, by providing a model for national discourse and consensus-building and producing transformational policy alternatives on economic, political and social issues.'

Twenty-five years in the life of a public policy institution in Ghana is such a long time even though elsewhere, such institutions have existed for a hundred years and more. No wonder in the U.S.A. for example (note that the IEA has its roots in Virginia, U.S.A.), institutions of state are so strong and virtually run that great nation and not strong men who operate whimsically and capriciously.  The effects of the myriad of such public policy institutions on almost each single area of human endeavour, from archaeology to zoology, virtually dictate the line of governance and not the strong men in public offices.

I came into contact with the IEA during my internship at the then Graphic Corporation as a reporter in 1991. The IEA was located at Dzorwolu, reasonably far off from the centre of Accra and the famous Graphic Road. One had to pick a cab or tro-tro from the Graphic Road to Kwame Nkrumah Circle, pick another car to Pig Farm, then a cab to the premises of IEA. I did not have that much money, but was always eager to be there.  In that modest edifice, some of Ghana's finest brains in academia, industry, politics, trade and commerce as well as finance were regularly assembled to discuss burning issues of the day.

I had the opportunity to meet and sit around tables to listen to great people like Justice Taylor, ex-President Hilla Limann, Hayford Benjamin, Prof Folson, Prof Kofi Kumado, Mr Kwesi Jonah, Dr Jones Ofori Atta, Mr J.A. Kufuor, Mr J.B. da Rocha, Prof Albert Adu-Boahene, distinguished career diplomats and a host of other well-meaning Ghanaians, some of whom time has unfairly dampened my memory of.

Those were the heady days of the nation's transition from dictatorship to multi-party democracy. Those were also the days when this country was gradually disentangling itself from the eclipse of the culture of silence. So many people felt uncomfortable discussing issues that could be considered unpalatable to the government. For me as an up and coming journalist, the IEA offered a wealth of knowledge I believe I could not have had from any classroom.

Apart from the personal 'free' education I was getting from the IEA, I realised for the first time that our governance system was seriously defective in terms of institutional structures, their independence and autonomy from state controls. Not a single of the structures of state did the regime at the time not have a finger to manipulate. Those were the days when the media was by and large the Graphic , The Times , GNA , GBC Radio and Television .

The work of the IEA was virtually blacked out by the state owned media for either fear of retribution from the powers that be or as a result of unmitigated censorship by spineless Editors at the helm of affairs. I remember in Graphic , the then News Editor, Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, persistently sent stories from the IEA Round Table discussions to the Editorial Conference, but the then Editor, Mr Sam Clegg, is reported to have told Mr Ayeboafo that he should wait until he (Ayeboafo) became the Editor of the paper to publish those stories.

Ironically, Mr Clegg's son, Robert Nii Arday Clegg, a very hard working and intelligent chap, at a point in time worked with the IEA. Mr Ayeboafo was not perturbed; he went on presenting stories from the IEA discussions for Editorial Conference until one day Mr Sam Clegg saw something of news value to him and used the story. That day broke the jinx. People in government at the time had nicknamed the IEA as 'Fanti Confederacy' because many of the initial discussants on various critical topics happened to be Fantis. Trust the PNDC, each round table discussion had a representative of National Security in our midst.

This reminds me of a round table discussion the IEA organised for MPs and other bodies in Akosombo. The media as usual this time was fully represented. During the introduction of the personalities in the room, a gentleman introduced himself as coming from the GNA . I was sitting close to the GNA guy who was my very good friend. So I told myself this guy cannot be from GNA . During coffee break, I confronted him and said he was an imposter and that if he did not declare his true identity to me, I was going to expose him when the session resumed. He was humble and honest enough to tell me he was from the BNI. We became friends subsequently.

In 1993, the first Parliament of the Fourth Republic was born; it was the weakest Parliament this nation has ever had. This was partly as a result of the boycott of the parliamentary elections by the opposition political parties and also because the 11-year-old PNDC regime, which metamorphosed into the NDC, did not have a store of independent minded intellectuals to draw from. Cadres and praise singers of the regime filled Parliament to make laws they did not understand for us to obey.

Overtime, some of the parliamentarians chose the platform offered by the IEA to educate themselves on various issues of national importance. The experts invited to discuss the issues were apolitical and presented the facts as they were to the admiration and education of these parliamentarians. For me, one of the major services the IEA has done for this nation is the education it gave to our MPs and Ghanaians generally at the time a Bill which was to set up the then Serious Fraud Office, EOCO, came into being.

The 'Independent' Newspaper, under the Editorship of my good friend and elder brother Cabral Blay -Amihere, had published the threats the Bill posed to us if passed into law. The IEA organised a discussion on the subject for MPs and others. A lot of issues were raised on the Bill. The sore point of these healthy discussions was that Dr Tony Aidoo, who had elected himself as the hatchet man for the NDC, decided to have the side of government on the matter heard.

At that forum were, as usual, eminent persons like Prof Kofi Kumado, Dr Jones Ofori Atta, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe, Mr J.A. Kufuor and many others. Dr Tony Aidoo's paper had been distributed to all of us, and the diction for such an intellectual forum was good for the jungle. It was so abusive and diversionary from the subject matter itself. Indeed, at certain points in time as he was reading his prepared paper, he kept on skipping and replacing words he himself had written. His excuse was that the paper was meant for a particular forum.

His approach to the discussions elicited advice from Dr Jones Ofori Atta and Prof Kofi Kumado, but Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe was not in that category of tolerant individuals. He rained insults on Tony Aidoo. But for the intervention of Dr Charles Mensah, Mr Kufuor and a few others, Nyaho-Tamakloe was ready to pummel the lanky Tony Aidoo to pulp. The above distraction aside, IEAs discussions on the SFO Bill saw, I understand, about 23 key amendments to the Bill which later became a law.

During the second Parliament of the Fourth Republic, the IEA provided Research Assistants to Parliament in the promotion and entrenchment of our democracy. The IEA offered an intellectual platform for this nation; it gave opportunity to young graduates as 'apprentices' in governance issues and as a source of employment as well for young people. The IEA is not just an Institute, but an Institution of its own.

It always draws on the knowledge and intellect of the best Ghana has provided for the good of Ghana. Its selection transcends political, geographical and ethnic borders. It is a truly national institution working for the good of the nation. I humbly wish the IEA a happy 25 th  Anniversary celebrations. What next in the next 25 years?

From Kwesi Biney

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