How to Build Modern Ghana

I am directing this article principally at President John Mahama and I hope he reads it. I also intend that the points I have raised here will be debated by students of political science, political economy and economics in the country. Mahama appears confused and subdued in recent times simply because it seems he does not know what to do to move the country forward. This is because Ghana has reached a stage in its development where “tinkering at the edges” is no longer an option. We need a Great Leap Forward. A bold new measure is required for Ghana at this stage in its development. Mahama must read the mood of Ghanaians: Ghanaians are tired of shoddiness and are ready for the Great Leap Forward, and are crying for a leader to lead them to take on the world. Ghanaians want to join the progressive nations of this world and contribute their fair share to the advancement of the frontiers of science, technology and engineering. We Ghanaians are sick and tired of remaining inferior vis-à-vis the progressive nations of this world. One can see the signs of this restlessness in our journalists, especially when they are questioning our politicians about corruption and their corrupt practices. They may, occasionally, ask the odd or wrong question, but who cares? At least they are trying to find the right answers.

Is Mahama a Leader?
Is Mahama the right personality to lead us to the Promised Land? I doubt it, but he is, in my view, the best of a bad pack (including Nana Akufo-Addo and the NPP) we have at present. I do not think the NPP will do any better if given the chance. Although Nana Akufo-Addo is an unknown quantity, my guess is he will not be any better. Nevertheless, the energy crisis (nick-named dumsor) has so belittled Mahama that people are beginning to give Nana Akufo-Addo a second thought. If Mahama leaves the energy crisis to drag on, and if Nana Akufo-Addo can stick around till 2016, I will not be surprised if Ghanaians decide to give him a chance. Africa woefully lacks leaders. There are people who are hungry for power, but do not know what to do with it once they get it. This is true of our present crop of politicians (and is typical of the whole of black Africa).

But what is this thing about Mahama and God? Can someone please cure him of the God-disease? I cringe anytime he takes to the stage talking about God. We do not want to hear childish talk about God from our president; what we want from him is leadership. He is more comfortable at intercessory meetings than he is at anywhere else, including the recent NDC congress in Kumasi. It is almost as if he finds Ghana's problems so overwhelming that he is calling for divine intervention to help him solve them. In his heart of hearts, he believes that he won the 2012 election because God preferred him to Nana Akufo-Addo and as such he is emotional when he reminisces. Yet a little critical analysis would reveal to him that he won the election because Ghanaians gave the NDC Party a “sympathy vote” because of the sudden demise of John Atta-Mills. There is one thing for sure: Mahama will have to earn the 2016 victory; it will definitely not be handed to him again on a silver platter because the majority of Ghanaians are enraged about the present state of the country. However, he seems somehow oblivious to this, perhaps because of the sycophancy around him.

In the recent past he said: “God has been kind to us [Ghanaians] that ebola has not reached us…” I find it incredible that a president can talk in such simple terms in this day and age, yet nobody challenges him. Does it mean that God has not been kind to the Guineans, the Liberians and the Sierra Leoneans that is why they are being ravaged by ebola? We are all children of God, are we not? We Ghanaians are not that special to God, are we? I have no idea why we Ghanaians are so obsessed with God to the extent that we think we are special people in the eyes of God. Why should we be? What is so special about us Ghanaians? Mahama describes himself, and is described by others, as a “communication expert”. If so, why does he come out with these dreadful, vacuous God-statements?

It is dirty living that causes diseases such as ebola; it is nothing to do with God. Does Mahama not know this already? It is only a leader who is bankrupt of ideas who keeps calling God's name all the time. Does Mahama want to be one of the charlatan pastors who have overrun the country? I would have thought he would want to distance himself from them rather. But it appears he wants to be our pastor-in-chief rather than our president. If so, he should exchange his presidency with a cassock and hit the streets running with his evangelism. My advice to him, however, is that he should leave God, Jesus and the bible to the maniacal Men of God we already have in abundance in the country and concentrate on his presidency.

On 30 December 2013, I wrote an open letter to President Mahama about the state of the country. It was published by ModernGhana.com on its website the same day. By then my tone was appreciative, persuasive and hopeful. Twelve months on, Mahama has not done much for the country: the potholes in the roads have deepened, the dirt in our towns and cities has gone bigger (resulting in a cholera outbreak and the eventual declaration of “national sanitation day”), the energy crisis has worsened, prices in the shops have almost doubled and are in complete disjunction with wages (imported inflation, which is the result of excessive hankering for foreign currencies such as the dollar), high-profile fiascos such as the 2014 Brazil World Cup Football involving the Black Stars, and many more. Consequently, my tone in this article is different: it is that of disappointment and frustration, and it is these glaring failures that have forced me to put pen to paper once more.

What Ghana needs right now is a tough, bright, visionary and “abrasive” leader to resolve its problems. I heard a Ghanaian MP – he probably has a law degree! – say recently that people whose only study (at university) is politics or political science should not be allowed to be MPs unless they have other vocations outside of politics (quoting this man roughly). The pomposity of this statement is breath-taking. Nevertheless, the irony of it is even worse: the fact of the matter is the majority of Ghanaian MPs (including this pompous one) do not understand politics that is why our country is in such a mess. If Mahama understood politics, he would have had a vision or a plan for Ghana and would have tried to lead us towards his vision. As things stand right now, he has no vision or plan and is only preoccupied with the IMF! He has been doing economic fire-fighting since he came to power and seems to have no time to think about the big picture. The fact of the matter is great leaders always have time for big ideas however difficult the political terrain during their time in office. See what Obama has to wrestle with: he has to wrestle with home-grown white racism, turmoil in the Middle-east, turmoil in Ukraine (Russian made), an advanced and sophisticated (US) economy in trouble and a myriad of other problems around the globe. Ghana's (economic) problems pale into insignificance and, as such, there is no reason whatsoever why Mahama should not get over them if he is worth his salt.

Ghana's problems can only be resolved long-term because we (like the rest of black Africa) have left the problems to fester for far too long. Nevertheless, we need to make a start, and then build on it thenceforth. Before I lay out what I think Ghana's problems are and how we should go about resolving them, I want to give a short preamble on political science and political economy. Having said that, this disquisition is not about writing a fine, stylistic academic paper; this is about putting down on paper practical steps Ghana has to take in order to move forward (or develop as a country).

Politics and Economics
The political system the whole world has adopted apart from China, North Korea and Cuba is called democracy. Even Russia pretends it is practising democracy. And the economic system the whole world has adopted apart from North Korea and Cuba is called capitalism. What about China? China has become a manufacturing giant, but it is not claiming to be practising capitalism. If not, what then is China?

After years of trial-and-error, the world has mainly agreed that democracy, despite its imperfections, is the most conflict-free system of governing people and as such most countries are committed to it and try to reinforce their institutions to enhance democratic governance. Ghana too has finally adopted democratic system of governance after many years of strife and coups. Looking at Ghana today, one would not know that we had a troubled past ravaged by coups. Democracy means that we choose those who govern us in a ballot (one man/woman one vote). However, democracy means more than just one man/woman one vote; it also means accountability and transparency when in power.

To be able to account and to be transparent, we need to reinforce our institutions such as the courts (the judiciary), the police, Parliament, and so on, so that these institutions can, in turn, reinforce our democratic governance. It is imperative, therefore, that we make these institutions zero-tolerance-for-corruption institutions to start with. Botswana (a fellow black African state) has a zero-tolerance-for-corruption policy, and, as such, has made great strides in the fight against corruption. The Batswana (people of Botswana) have posted notices that read “Zero-Tolerance-Corruption” in every public office, and they are succeeding in their fight against corruption. Mahama could learn something from these people. It is often said that Botswana is the least corrupt state in sub-Sahara Africa. Is it really? If it is, then can we do the same? That is posting the same notices in every police station, every law court, every civil service office and every public service office as a daily reminder to people. It will not constitute the whole fight against corruption, but weak-minded people need to be constantly reminded that the state will punish corruption severely. And corruption must be totally defeated otherwise we cannot industrialise the country or even embark on the journey of industrialisation because corruption means indiscipline, and undisciplined people cannot organise themselves well enough to industrialise their nation. Industrialisation calls for a very high level of discipline and organisation (of people and of the means of production). Our country is chaotic because we are undisciplined people.

For a country to develop, it needs an efficient and corruption-free police force and judiciary. If citizens feel that they can get justice when the need arises, then they will go about their duties as citizens diligently and confidently. A corrupt police force and judiciary are absolutely no use to anybody. Mahama must be ruthlessly intolerant of corruption; it must have no place in modern Ghana. And Mahama must show zest anytime he is talking (to the nation) about corruption because we want to believe and see (in his eyes) he means business about getting rid of corruption. Corruption cheats citizens, and nobody likes to be cheated. What is more, corrupt people are morally bankrupt people and as such we must have no place for them in modern Ghana. A democratic system of governance in which corruption is tolerated is no true democracy. However, what we modern Ghanaians are aiming for is a true democracy. I am sure Mahama has got the picture by now.

We can also reinforce our democracy further by vigorously educating Ghanaians so that during elections they vote on policy lines rather than on tribal lines? This, however, calls for a high level of education (not necessarily academic education) of the masses. At present our politics is too tribal and, as such, is fragile and immature. We can educate Ghanaians through television, radio and newspapers (and even in school) to have a better understanding of democracy and the democratic process so that we can continue to change governments in future peacefully through the ballot rather than with bullets and mayhem. I am lingering on this point because without a stable system of governance we cannot develop our country; no country can develop in upheaval.

Democracy and capitalism go hand-in-hand. It is the twin tools used by today's nation builders. All over the world (in almost all countries), a democratic system of governance is presiding over, or is managing, a capitalist economy. Yet, although we try to explain to people in Ghana what democracy is (by giving them the vote), we never explain to people (especially our youth) what capitalism (our economic system) is, and that capitalism produces rich and poor people (the capitalists and the workers), so that people can prepare themselves for what is ahead. This is an omission, and one that confuses people, especially young people; we must start teaching capitalism in our secondary schools.

Capitalism succeeded mercantilism (which modern countries like Ghana have not experienced, but which countries like Britain, France and other imperialist countries have). After a lot of soul-searching, the world has come to the conclusion that despite all its faults and faultlines, capitalism is a very productive and innovative system of organising production in society. (Communism, the alternative to capitalism at one point, died because it was not innovative. Take a look, for example, at Cuba (which still practises communism); they still drive very old and rickety American cars. This is because the system (communism) is unable to innovate and invent.) Indeed, Cuba is a stark reminder of what capitalism can do despite its many faultlines. The downside of capitalism, however, is it creates poor and rich classes, and it also has a tendency to engender greed if not managed properly. The advanced capitalist countries manage this downside with social democracy (that is having benefit (or social security) systems to assist those who have not been lucky with capitalism; like the social security system in Britain, for example).

Free-Market (Laissez-Faire) Capitalism vs State Capitalism
But is Ghana a capitalist state? Not quite; I am not contradicting myself but rather building up an argument. Ghana, like the rest of the ex-colonies of Britain, France and the other European powers in sub-Sahara Africa, has been left in a peculiar state when the colonizers left. The colonies they left behind were neither capitalist nor communist nor anything. In fact, they left behind states or quasi-states they had set up to be producers of raw materials to feed their capitalist economies in Europe and elsewhere. That is the problem of Ghana today (and, indeed, of the other sub-Sahara African states). Little wonder Kwame Nkrumah was confused when he was handed over the reins of Ghana. He did not have a viable economy to manage. In hindsight, we can see from his actions that he tried to find his own way by trying to find an economic system for Ghana (which was neither communism nor capitalism (or “free-market capitalism”, as some prefer to call it), but, of course, his colonial masters made sure he did not succeed. (They removed him before he had the chance to perfect his experiment.)

Nevertheless, in his quest to find a viable economic system for Ghana, Nkrumah stumbled on a formula – “state capitalism” – where the state becomes the capitalist. Nkrumah tried to use the state's money to establish industries in Ghana: that is called state capitalism. This is because the state of Ghana did not have individual (private) capitalists/industrialists then, does not have them now and will not have them in the next 100 years! Therefore, to industrialise Ghana, the state has no choice but to lead the way. And Ghana needs to industrialise in order to cope with the rapid population growth. Ghana's population has doubled in the past 40 years (to 26 million now) but with many people not in any tangible form of work. Just imagine what will happen in the next 40 years.

Because state capitalism is the way forward (for a developing country such as Ghana), the divestiture (or privatisation) programme that took place under Jerry Rawlings – I am his supporter – was a mistake, but an understandable one. This is because at the time everybody was copying Thatcherism (which was monetarism) and its concomitant privatisation, but Thatcherism was meant to cure over-manning in British industry. Developing countries, such as Ghana, do not have industries, let alone over-man them. No developing state should be divesting itself of state-run industries. (What needs to be done is that the industries are run efficiently and without corruption. Therefore, zero-tolerance-corruption is a prerequisite for industrialisation of Ghana.)

I shall argue below why I am recommending state capitalism to Mahama as a way to industrialise Ghana. I alluded to China's economic system earlier. China practises state capitalism; however, China prefers to call its economic system “market socialism”. Call it what you like as long as the state plays a major role in establishing manufacturing industries. This does not, of course, exclude individual capitalists from going about their businesses, but individual capitalists in Ghana are not capable of building huge manufacturing industries or conglomerates.

Even in China where there are very capable individual capitalists/industrialists, the state is playing a major role in the continuing industrialisation of the country. There may come a time when the state of China may decide to take a back seat and leave things to the individual capitalists and declare the system free-market capitalism, but it appears that time has not yet arrived for China's leaders. The same can apply to Ghana: once the government gets a (vital) sector up and going, it can then withdraw from the sector if free-marketers show enough interest and the government feels confident that they can keep the sector going. I am not suggesting that the government set up biscuit factories; some sectors are best left to private capitalists/industrialists; what I am suggesting is that the government should lead the way in establishing, or even run, targeted industries that are relevant to the development or industrialisation of the state, such as road building, bridge building, railway building, sewerage building, energy generation, and so on.

It is axiomatic that no Third World, or developing, a country can industrialise in today's competitive world by adopting completely the Western form of free-market (laissez-faire) capitalism where the industrialisation is left to the individual or private capitalists/industrialists. (Listening to Mahama, it seems to me he is thinking along the lines of leaving the industrialisation to the private industrialists, but this approach would be erroneous and misconceived.) The West succeeded in industrialising in this way because of the ability of the people who populate those lands; they have some very capable and clever people out there who Ghana does not have. (It might help us enormously if we resolve from now on to stop kidding ourselves and come to some realisation.)

The British engineer/industrialist George Stephenson did not know the front door (even the back door) of an engineering faculty of a university, yet he started what we know today as the railways by building rail lines and rail engines (locomotives). My life's experience tells me that that incredible level of ingenuity does not exist in Ghana (and in the rest of black Africa for that matter). Wherefore, if we have to wait for private Ghanaian capitalists/industrialists to industrialise Ghana, we will wait for the next 100 years (and that is being optimistic)! And as Mahama will eventually find out, foreign investors - at least the ones who matter and the ones we need - are not in any great hurry to come and invest in Ghana. They have other more attractive destinations; therefore, we must make our country as attractive as possible, by cleaning the place up to start with, if we want to entice these people into our country to help us out.

Let us start calling a spade a spade: black people do not have the ingenuity of white people! Is it sacrilegious to make such a comment? No, I do not think so. It is years of experience and common sense that has brought me to this realisation. The sooner we realise this the better it will be for us. What more proof do we need? We have read all the books, got all the degrees, but we do not even have the common sense to keep our towns and cities clean and we do not know how to keep our immediate surroundings clean either, never mind our inability to build anything tangible such as roads, road bridges and other simple things one would expect a nation that has been independent for 58 years to be able to do. Therefore, if we want to industrialise Ghana, we have no choice but to call on the ready expertise of foreigners or foreign investors. These people will use Ghanaian labour by training them to do the work and in due time there will be skills transfer to Ghanaians.

Some might say it is sacrilegious to say that black people do not have the ingenuity of white people, but it is a statement of fact. However, because racism exists in the world, such a statement cannot be made too often (because racists might take advantage). Having said that, this is a conversation, however provocative, black people must be having with themselves in their private moments because black people, especially black Africans, have become dangerously complacent. Ironically, racism forced black Americans to move themselves to a higher level of human development. Look at superman Barack Obama. Equally, racism forced African leaders, such as Kwame Nkrumah and Nelson Mandela, to fight for political independence for their countries. In many ways, we (the present generation of black people) are a spoilt generation and as such we have stopped thinking; our leaders are dull, insipid and lack ideas. Therefore, we should be humble enough to accept the fact that black people lack ingenuity - the evidence is all around us – and instead try and do something about it, for example by learning from others; there is no shame in this approach.

The shame is the refusal to learn, while at the same time pretending that you have the knowledge when you do not have it. The South Koreans, the Japanese and the Chinese have all learnt from white people, why can't we? Looking at Japan today, it is hard to imagine that it started industrialisation by copying the West, especially Britain. Japan's neighbour China started industrialisation about a mere 30 years ago. See where they are now. When China decided to start industrialising the country, its leaders did not go cap in hand to the West to borrow large sums of money to industrialise with; instead, they persuaded Western manufacturers to relocate their factories to China with a lure of cheap labour (because China has 1.3 billion human resources). In other words, they decided to make use of their human resource (which they have in abundance), because that gives them a comparative advantage, rather than borrowing large sums of money.

How come these people always think clever but black people appear not capable of that level of thinking? Maybe it is because we spend too much time praying and not enough time thinking and as a result, we have become a nation of shallow-minded people. Too much praying (or too much religion) is dangerous to human development. It cannot have escaped the reader's attention that the three countries I have mentioned above do not have “religious madness” as we have in Ghana; instead, these countries are highly disciplined, and religion is firmly put in a place where it ought to be. I am not saying people should not worship God; what is happening in Ghana here is that we have taken religious worship to a ridiculous, child-like, naïve level. God is interested in all human beings, not only Ghanaians.

If Mahama seriously wants to industrialise Ghana, then he must have a grand plan, and that must be the state leading the way in the industrialisation. That is, the state either owns companies outright or plays a major role in supporting or directing them or a mixture of both. Moreover, the state could form partnerships – that is, being either the majority or minority shareholder in the partnership - with foreign investors to come and establish manufacturing industries in other targeted sectors. That is how we will start industrialising the country. Right now, Mahama is trying to persuade foreign investors to come and establish in Ghana on their own volition. Well, good luck to Mahama if he is able to persuade them to come and establish in Ghana on their own volition. However, all indications point to the fact that they will not come, or will not come in the large numbers Mahama expects or Ghana needs, because they find the risk of insecurity too much; the investor confidence is not there. Plus they may have other attractive destinations to consider. However, that security they seek they can get in a partnership with the Ghana government.

If, on the other hand, the coffers of the state of Ghana are so dry at the moment (something I do not expect) so as not to enable these ventures immediately, then I suggest we should be doing other things until the coffers improve and state capitalism proper can begin. I have in mind “state capitalism cleaning” of all the major towns and cities in the country in order to make our towns and cities more attractive and worth living in. The cleaning of our towns and cities is too big a project to be left to the likes of Zoomlion alone. Therefore, the state must assume this project and either does it alone or in collaboration with existing cleaning firms. This will be a mega project by the government to employ people to clean the towns and cities (including the choked gutters) and supported by the printing of more cedis to pay the workers! Why not? It does not make economic sense, except perhaps to the IMF, why a state that is choked with dirt and grime cannot print more of its currency to engage its people to clean it. Brazil, China and India are all practising state capitalism in some form (because these countries know that it is the only way to industrialise (speedily) in this day and age). Because Ghana is friendly with Brazil and collaborates with it on a number of projects, Mahama could study the Brazil model to see if he can learn anything from it, which he can apply to Ghana.

I now want to lay out the practical steps we should take to start industrialising Ghana. The use of the word start is important here because if we embark on the industrialisation journey, it will take us many years before we can make headway; as such, making a start becomes important. Mahama should make a start, and then leave things to whoever will succeed him to continue with. To take a decision to industrialise a country is a big one, and this requires a bold leader and one who has the courage of his convictions. A faint-hearted leader can never take the decision to industrialise his/her country.

What is the Relevance of Religion in Modern Ghana?
My first point is about the mushrooming churches in Ghana. Some might say what has that got to do with building modern Ghana? Rest assured that it has all to do with building modern Ghana. Excessive religion (or religiosity) is dangerous to any society because too much religion blunts thinking and human creativity. Excessively religious people are not good thinkers. For us to be able to persuade foreigners (with the resources) to come and establish industries in Ghana, we need to create a sane environment. A Martian visiting Ghana would say we are a nation of 24/7 churchgoers who are obsessed with a 2,000-year-old Jesus-story (which is no longer relevant in today's world) and who have stopped being thinkers. Indeed, we have stopped thinking and have taken to religious fervour! In short, there is “mass madness” sweeping Ghana regarding religious practice! Nevertheless, there could be some role for religion in nation-building – that is, consoling those who cannot cope with the race of nation-building and have fallen by the roadside - but not to the extent we are witnessing in Ghana at present.

Since Ghanaian churches are noisy and go on 24/7, Parliament must make laws to stop churches being built anywhere, especially near residential areas. Mahama must take this very seriously, but there is the danger he will not because he is also obsessed with God and religion. When people visit our country they must feel comfortable living here. They do not constantly have to be disturbed by maniacal, charlatan pastors who have nothing better to do. In a way, the religious fervour sweeping Ghana is a sign of Ghana's poor education system that places the emphasis on “bookishness” rather than developing thinking or thinkers; this is, of course, exacerbated by Ghana's economic woes whereby we are unable to move beyond the buy-and-sell economy (merchant capitalism) to a more productive one that is able to engage people in meaningful and gainful employment. Someone who is gainfully employed does not have the time to follow a false prophet or a charlatan pastor.

What do these so-called Men of God know about God or about Jesus that an ordinary, well-educated Ghanaian does not already know? Listen to their gospels: they preach nothing; all they preach is stale, recycled stuff, with the name Jesus coming up again and again. I am baffled as to what drives Ghanaians to sit down for long hours listening to these charlatans day-in-day-out. Unless Mahama wrestles the somnolent and sleep-walking citizens from the grip of these charlatan pastors, we will soon have a nation of “zombies”. The Ghanaians' obsession with God baffles me. When has this mad obsession started and when will it end? It makes us look such a childish nation in the eyes of the wider world. But one could argue that while there is a high level of unemployment and a country in economic disarray, the churches take the attention of people who would otherwise be idle and bored. That is a very valid point. Nevertheless, we must place religious worship and God-talk in proper perspective now otherwise things will snowball out of control.

As if we are not in enough trouble already with the level of religious madness we have going, our president, who should know better, unbelievably joins in. Mahama, instead of spending the New Year's Eve somewhere sensible, appeared at the Perez Chapel International, at Dzorwulo, on 31 December 2014 to “prophesy” that the country's energy crisis (dumsor) will be over in 2015. Maybe he wants votes in 2016 from the religious zombies. Maybe also that he too has the God-delusion. (President Mahama, God is not coming down to clean our dirty, choking gutters and/or increase out electricity generation. God just does not do that for any human beings, however prayerful.)

The serious point is that the person who should rescue us from the religious zealotry that has overtaken the country does not know any better. My hope is that if Mahama's presidency cannot deal with the religious menace in our country, then his successor must do so. All that needs to be done is to enact laws to prevent churches being set up anywhere, curtail their activities a little and instil some discipline in them; for example, the discipline not to start a church service at dawn and wake everybody up and the discipline not to set up a church in the middle of a residential area. This is just common sense (which we seem to be lacking in this country). Just because Ghana's Constitution says there must be “religious freedom” does not mean that mad men and women should prevent people from sleeping restfully in their beds at night.

Cleaning the Filth from the Environment
After tackling the behemoth churches, Mahama should turn his attention to dealing with the filth in our towns and cities. (Of course, he can tackle all the issues outlined in this article simultaneously if he has the ability to do so.) I want to pose this question: what is it in the genetic makeup of black people that we are incapable of keeping our surroundings clean? Why is it that black people are incapable of building clean, tidy cities like European cities, Japanese cities, South Korean cities, or even Chinese cities? I cannot think of one sub-Sahara African city that is cleanly maintained like a European city or a Japanese city. Why is this? (South African cities are excepted because the whole of the South African state was built by white people and handed over to black people.) Why are we so shabby? Why is it that despite our university degrees we are unable to even to keep our towns and cities clean and tidy?

How can we claim we are intelligent when we cannot even clean our gutters?

In fact, the intelligence of a people (anywhere in the world) is not defined by their ability to solve quadratic equations or acquire university degrees; their intelligence is simply defined by the way they keep their environment. Thus, we (black people) continuously define our intelligence by the shabby way we keep our environment. It is there for all human beings to see. It is nothing to do with being poor; it is attitudinal. It is as if black people lack a sense of appreciation of what is beautiful (in nature). In other words, black people appear to lack appreciation of aesthetics; it is the only tangible explanation as to why we keep our surroundings so shabby and even appear not to notice how shabby they are. We cannot hide this failure even if we want to; it is far too glaring.

University degrees do not matter if we are incapable of cleaning our environment. All civilised societies know this; it is only black people who do not seem to know this. And we wonder why racism exists and why white people and the other advanced people of this world look down on us (and laugh at us occasionally). It is not only white racism that exists in this world against black people: there is Chinese racism, Japanese racism, Korean racism, Indian racism, not to say anything about Arab racism. Practically all the human races look down on black people. Never mind the bonhomie that takes place between the leaders of black states and the leaders of these other states when they meet, underneath the veneer there is a feeling of superiority over the black being. Are they justified to feel and think that way? Judge for yourself; in human nature, nobody respects a dunce. How many times have we not called on these nations (or people) to come and help us do this or that in our country, something simple but which we cannot do ourselves as if we do not have the same two eyes, two ears, two arms and two legs like them?

On 27 December 2014, North Korea's National Defence Commission (the ruling body of North Korea, headed by Kim Jong Un) called black superman Barack Obama a “monkey” for being the person responsible for the release of the film “The Interview”. The full insult goes like this: “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest.” Of course, a childish abuse from a childish boy-leader Kim Jong Un. But the point is made: if the Koreans are ever ready to call black superman Obama a monkey, then how ready are they to call the likes of Mahama or any black being a monkey? Racism has always tried to equate black people with “unthinking” monkeys. This is the link they are always trying to make, and this is because, somehow, they are baffled by the inability of black people to help themselves. Therefore, black Africa must work assiduously - as if this has not been said for the umpteenth time already - to dispel this image the rest of the world have of black people (and which holds black people back wherever they are in the world) by learning to do things for themselves.

Back in Ghana, we are unable to keep even our revered places looking dignified. Tema High Court comes to mind. The place is so shockingly shoddy it is hard to believe it is a court of law (never mind a high court). The first shocking sight that greets you is the compound of the courthouse; not a blade of green grass can be seen and the place assumes the distinct look of an animal farm or a holding-pen for cattle. Then you venture into a courtroom and you are met with an even worst sight: rusty ceiling fans, extensively mouldy, broken and sagging ceilings (perhaps caused by leaking roofs) and a distinct feeling that you are in a run-down warehouse rather than a law-court or a revered place. Yet, you are told to address the judge “My Lord”. It all looks and feels so bizarre, incongruous and disjunctive it is embarrassing. And I have also heard the “My Lord” address at the Brazil 2014 Hearing and the Judgement Debt Hearing.

How long will it take Ghanaians to realise that we do not have a House of Lords here in Ghana and that such arcane terms are a relic of British colonialism and that we should stop enslaving ourselves and do some thinking for ourselves? Even in Britain, not all judges come with the appellation “My Lord”; it is only those who are also peers. This is an embarrassing anachronism, but why can we not see it for what it is? Why can we not address our judges “Your Honour” or something less turgid than “My Lord”? The idea is to give judges enough respect to enable them to adjudicate our cases. I could not agree more because without respecting them they would not be able to do their work, but that is no excuse to wrap ourselves up in a relic of our enslaved past.

One thing remarkable about black people is that we lack initiative, creativity, inventiveness and innovation. It shows in everything we do; just look around you. The U.S. has also adopted the British legal system, but I cannot recall hearing the term “My Lord” in a U.S. court-room. Have you? The only thing that surprises me more is that our insufferable, Lord Denning-quoting lawyers do not insist that their place of work is made more dignified. Instead, they dress in their full legal regalia and move about with palpable smugness, and seemingly unaware of their surroundings. It beggars belief in two ways: one, that Ghanaians can be so naïve that nobody has already pointed out this incongruity; and, two, that as a people we are so shabby that we cannot even keep a law-court (a place of reverence) looking spick-and-span.

Mahama must launch a blitz-clean on Ghana's towns and cities, starting from Accra, then to Tema, Kumasi, and so on. (Of course, the cleaning of all our towns and cities can be done simultaneously.) We should clean all our gutters (and seriously think of covering all of them) and educate people not to dump rubbish in them. And we should clean the road-sides, build pavements and plant trees along the roads. That is what the cleaning will entail. Batsonna, Nungua, Teshie, Lababi, Osu, Accra City Centre, James Town, Korle Lagoon, just to mention a few areas, all need urgent and serious cleaning. All our towns and cities are shockingly dirty and unattractive. Our capital city must look and smell like a capital city and not like a pigsty or some dirty hovel.

The Korle Lagoon (which, incidentally, is close to our flagship hospital, Korle Bu Hospital) has been foul-smelling for at least 40 years, yet no government, not even Rawlings' government, has managed to clean the lagoon in order to get rid of the foul smell that pervades the area. This is completely disgraceful, inexcusable and unacceptable; there is no reason on this earth why the lagoon cannot be cleaned. The only reason the lagoon has been left foul-smelling for this long is that black people like living with dirt. This is not a sweeping statement; it is the truth. No white society would tolerate such a low standard, so why should we? Do we not claim we are equal to them and just as intelligent?

Black people like living in dirty environments, yet when we contract diseases that come with living in such areas we do not have the ability to find a cure for them. Ebola is a typical example; this disease is the result of dirty living. And it is black Africans who have dug out this disease, not white people. It is embarrassing to see how helpless black people can be. Although this disease has been contracted as a result of dirty living, black people are incapable of finding a cure for it (as with the other diseases of the world) and have to run to white people, who, incidentally, keep their surroundings spick-and-span and as such have nothing to do with the disease, to find a cure for it. Frankly, white people are laughing at us, but they make sure we do not hear them laughing (because they feel we cannot help our wretchedness).

And we are too naïve to realise they are laughing at us. White people are bemused by our hopelessness, helplessness and wretchedness. Quite frankly, they are sick and tired of black Africa's inability to lift itself from abjectness. Obama is our saving grace here; left to red-neck white Americans, they would just close the door on Africa and leave us to rot in our ebola cesspool. (Medical doctor-turned-African freedom fighter Frantz Fanon wrote a book (in 1961) about black people entitled The Wretched of the Earth. What an apt description! I am inclined to write a book and entitle it The Children of a Lesser God because our God has placed us in permanent darkness because, for whatever reason, we are unable to see the light the rest of humanity has seen.)

Mahama is prone to loose, dangerous talk. He goes on a world tour lecturing people about the history of diseases and how some of them started from Europe. So what? If I were Mahama I would be more concerned about what our research centres in our universities are doing to contribute to the scramble (by white people) to find a cure for ebola (an African disease). We are so underdeveloped we have been reduced to mere spectators in this unfolding drama. In a world where other human beings – with the same two legs, two arms, two ears and two eyes – have landed on the moon and returned to earth, and have landed probes on Mars, which they control from earth, all black Africans have to offer the world is ebola! It is incredible. Yet, Mahama has the audacity and the temerity to go round the world lecturing people about epidemiology while the storm of ebola is still in full bloom. If black Africa is able to offer something tangible to the world, then, perhaps, Mahama can go round lecturing others. But in the absence of that, it is much better and more dignified for him to keep quiet.

While on the question of cleanliness, why is it that Accra does not have a sewerage system, and why can one not be constructed? All major cities in the developed world have centrally constructed sewerage systems to take away human waste instead of digging cesspools or sanitation tanks in each home (as it is in Accra at present). Why is it that with black people everything seems impossible? (White people dreamt of making a machine that flies like a bird, and hey presto! they came up with an aeroplane. Just like that.) African cities are sprawling, and Accra is no exception; it is rapidly sprawling out. Why can we not build a sewerage system now before the city becomes any bigger? And if we succeed in building one in Accra other cities can copy.

Civil engineering genius Joseph Bazalgette (a Victorian) built a sewerage system under (built-up) London 146 years ago; before that London had none and sanitation was poor. Therefore, nobody is asking Ghana to re-invent the wheel; others have been there already. All we need to do is call in the experts to assist us. There is no point asking the Ghana-trained civil engineers to build a sewerage system for Accra and the other cities - they cannot even build roads! As such, we need to call in the experts from abroad. People are able to put a whole train network under a city – I have in mind the London Underground (over 150 years old!) and the New York Metro, as examples – yet we (black people) are unable to even cover our gutters, let alone construct a sewerage system underground.

Our MPs and government ministers would say where is the money to clean the gutters and other filth in our towns and cities? This is an often-asked question so I am going to answer it carefully. The short answer to this question is that any developing economy that says it has not got the money to engage the millions of unemployed people lying about to clean the filth in its towns and cities is practising the wrong type of economics or capitalism. If the government does not have the money, it should print new money and either get into collaboration with the existing cleaning companies, or go it alone, and clean the country. Third World countries will never make developmental progress unless they find their own brand of capitalism. It is futile for them to try to lift capitalism as it is practised in the (advanced) West and try to supplant it in their own countries. This is because Ghanaian and other Third World economies are light years behind the advanced West – they are disparate societies and economies - and as such cannot apply the same solutions to these diverse economies. For examples, all gutters in Britain are covered and all roads are tarred, but the same is not the case in Ghana. Therefore, Third World economies have to do their own things in order to lift themselves out of abject poverty.

The advanced countries do not have dirty, filthy towns and cities to clean and they do not have an army of unemployed people; they cleaned their towns and cities 100-odd years ago! But suppose they still have dirty towns and cities, to the level seen in Third World countries, to clean and also an army of unemployed people, they would print money to engage people to clean them if lack of money was the problem. They would not have worried about the niceties of inflation. That is the difference between the advanced West and sub-Sahara Africa; money is never an issue to the West.

No doubt neoclassical economists would tell us that putting too much money in circulation causes inflation. Yes, only if the extra money is not put to productive use. Printing money to engage people to clean the filth surrounding them is productive use of money. (By the way, there is no evidence that such an action would cause inflation; no sub-Sahara African country has tried to get rid of its filth in this way and has shown it caused inflation.) It is only Third Word economists who worry about nonsense, are afraid to experiment new things and are not innovative in any way at all. It is the usual, typical black being, is it not? They adhere strictly to neoclassical economic textbooks that do not make sense to any normal person and that definitely do not explain the workings of capitalism while they watch their countries rot in economic quagmire.

Have you heard about Quantitative Easing (QE)? The US and Britain printed billions and billions of dollars and pounds and pumped into their respective flagging economies in order to kick-start them when they found their economies flailing as a result of the 2007/08 Recession (caused by the West “dabbling” in excessive financial capitalism). Japan did the same a decade earlier - indeed Japan showed the way for QE - when it saw its once-mighty economy in decline. This is an example of the advanced capitalist economies tailoring their capitalism to suit their needs.

Has inflation run rampant in the US and in Britain as a result of the QE? No, although it may be early days yet to judge the full impact of QE on these economies, my view is QE has not caused inflation, never mind rampant inflation, in these economies. If anything, the two economies are more afraid right now of deflation than inflation. Although QE may have been the wrong medicine for the economic ills afflicting the two economies, the point I am trying to make is that the advanced capitalist states are never afraid to try new ways (new economics) of solving the ever-present capitalism's problems The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is trying to find his own economics to resolve Japan's seemingly intractable economic problems, and this has been dubbed Abenomics. The Japanese economy has been suffering from deflation and lack of growth for almost two decades. This calls for special measures, not IMF neoclassical economic theory, and Shinzo Abe is doing just that.

Who would have thought a country as technically and technologically advanced as Japan would find its economy flailing? It is almost as if capitalism has a “tipping point” (or should l say “saturation point”?) where a stasis (or paralysis) in consumption occurs. It is a phenomenon which existing neoclassical economic theory appears unable to explain or explain adequately; hence, the continuing recession afflicting the advanced capitalist economies. Ghana's economy is nowhere near the advanced economies of Japan and the West and as such does not have to worry about consumption paralysis. What Ghanaian and other developing economies need is for their economists to be thinking outside the box in order to find new ways of developing their economies. The economies of the advanced West are completely different from the economies of sub-Sahara Africa; they are like chalk and cheese, and as such black Africa should stop aping the West as to how to go about running their economies. The problem here is that black people are not confident people, have an inferiority complex and as such are only comfortable when they are aping the West. That is a regrettable state of affairs.

Building the Shattered Roads
The next thing the Mahama Government must embark on urgently is to build the roads in our towns and cities. Many of the roads have shattered into smithereens while others remain notoriously un-tarmacked (un-tarred) and eventually develop potholes and undulating surfaces. The state of the main road from the Nungua Barrier towards Lashibi and Ashaiman is so bad I wonder whether any of Mahama's ministers has travelled on that road recently. There are many other shattered main and feeder (back-street) roads in Accra and Tema, and I am sure in many of the other major towns and cities, that need urgent attention. Yet the Mahama Government remains unashamedly fighting shy of repairing our roads. Just what will it take to persuade President Mahama that it is important to build the shattered roads (including all the back-street ones) in our towns and cities, especially in Accra and Tema? Ban the ever mushrooming number of 4x4s (SUVs) dominating our roads? Perhaps if our MPs and Mahama's ministers are driven out of their 4x4s and forced to use ordinary road-cars, they might find the need to repair the roads for us (ordinary road-users).

Road building is not rocket science. I am sure we black people are capable of that at least. We are not talking here about building aeroplanes or building rocket engines to take people to the moon; we are talking about building simple roads. All the advanced countries engage their own engineers to build their roads. Why can't Ghana do the same? There is evidence that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of roads to be built in Ghana. If so, what is stopping Mahama engaging Ghanaian engineers to build the roads? What is the point of university education in Ghana? Perhaps he is waiting to do it in his second term. But he may never get a second term considering the state of the country at present. Perhaps the Ghanaian civil engineers do not know how to build roads. If so, let us train them in road building. In that spirit, let us start the state capitalism right from here. Let us produce made-in-Ghana roads. Do you remember the “Made in Ghana” catch-phrase President Mahama? Instead of borrowing large sums of money to give to the Chinese to come and build our roads for us, let the government train Ghanaian civil engineers to build our roads. Here is my blueprint.

I am sure there are many KNUST-trained civil engineers who are unemployed or not doing anything tangible. Mahama (I mean the relevant officials with Mahama's approval) should select about 100 of these engineers and train them in road building. The selection process should be vigorous: it should not be based on academic prowess alone, but, more importantly, on their ability to do practical things and to put theory into practice effectively. Mahama (I say Mahama because this cannot be left to an incompetent minister unless he can find a competent one) should then invite a competent, world-renowned road-building firm to come to Ghana to train these 100 or so engineers in practical road building, and they should be trained well to reach a very high level of proficiency in road building and to the extent that each one of them can organise manual labour or assistance to assist him/her to build roads competently and to a very high standard. (These people should not be sent abroad to be trained because some or all of them will not return to Ghana to build our roads; therefore, as suggested, the trainer should be brought to Ghana instead.)

The government of Ghana should then form a company to manage these newly trained road builders to build our roads: let us call the company “Ghana Road Building Company” (wholly owned by the government of Ghana). The government of Ghana should then hire or buy sufficient road-building equipment to serve the ten regions of Ghana. The government of Ghana should also supply our newly trained road builders with road-building materials (such as gravel, asphalt/bitumen, granite chippings and other materials needed in sufficient quantity) to enable our newly trained road builders to build our roads. I am sure these road-building materials can be obtained locally and in sufficient amounts. Lastly, our newly trained road builders should be sent, ten each, to our regions to build our roads, and build them quickly. Within ten years we will have built all the roads we need in Ghana.

The white human being does not have any special magic. What may appear to black people as “white magic” is that white people (or white societies) use their brains a lot, learn from their mistakes at every opportunity, live strictly by rule of law (that is by punishing lawbreakers without fail) and, above all, are doers, not just talkers. They realise that if they live strictly by rule of law (by punishing those who break the law without fail), “society takes care of itself”. Moreover, no project is too big for them to undertake; for example, it took Joseph Bazalgette (mentioned above) nine years to build a sewerage system under a city of London that was at the time already heavily built. He was not daunted when he was given the project. This is how white people have built their societies; it is not by any special magic. And we all agree white societies are very pleasant places indeed to live in.

Back to road-building, my formula can be refined if need be, but I am sure Mahama has got the gist of what I am saying. It sounds simple, does it not? Of course, road building is a simple matter except when it is to do with a black African country. What is more, black African economies do not need complicated IMF-style economic analysis because these economies are basic. No doubt a neoclassical econometrician from the IMF will arrive in Ghana with an econometric calculation to tell Mahama (or Ghanaians) that such a project is not feasible. Of course, they will say that to Mahama, but they will not say the same to the Chinese, the Indians and the Brazilians because they know that black Africans are not good thinkers and, as such, they can be easily bamboozled.

When the Ghana government wanted to print some money (not a lot) to balance its books – what is wrong with that for a developing economy, I ask? - Fitch, the credit-rating agency, started making strange noises. By the way, are these not the same credit-rating agencies that gave sub-prime, mortgage-backed derivatives in the USA AAA-rating although these derivatives were to eventually cause the advanced West's financial system to crash in 2007/8? (The financial crash started from the USA sub-prime, mortgage-backed derivatives but spread very quickly around the world because of the interconnectedness of the world's banking and financial institutions.) What black African countries must bear in mind is that the IMF and the West are not particularly interested in their advancement. The IMF, for example, is not interested in the industrialisation of Ghana; that is why Ghana must always be circumspect in the way it deals with the organisation. What the IMF wants is for developing economies such as Ghana's just to be “ticking over” and to be able to come to it (the IMF) with a begging bowl from time-to-time and/or invite it to come and teach (neoclassical) economics of how to run one's economy.

Ghana must seriously consider having a second currency: one which will not be exchangeable with foreign currencies and which will be used to engage people domestically. For example, it could be used to pay people to clean our towns, cities and our choking gutters. How else can we engage people meaningfully in the domestic setting without incurring the wrath of Fitch, the IMF, the West, and so on? Right now there are “two economies in one” in Ghana – the 4x4 (SUV) owner/drivers and the rest of us in a 30/70 split - so a second currency will not be amiss. It seems Cuba has two currencies; let us study how this works and see if this can bring some benefits to the economy. (We definitely do not need the IMF's approval for this; we all know what its response will be.) A lot needs to be done to repair our country; we cannot wait for the IMF to do it for us because the IMF does not build nations. It dismantles nations; it will tell you to lay off employees in order to “balance your books”; this is not to say I am a proponent of over-manning (over employment of people) in industry.

I wrote an open letter to President Mahama on 30 December 2013 concerning the state of the country (mentioned above). In the letter, I recommended the book entitled Debunking Economics, by Professor (of Economics) Steve Keen (ISBN 978-1-84813-992-3) to Mahama to read in order to free himself from the bondage of IMF neoclassical economic theory and so that he can find his own way of moving this country forward by way of industrialisation and/or mechanised agriculture. In the book Steve Keen debunks neoclassical economic theory. If Mahama has not already read the book he should do so now. Mahama can never industrialise the country or start the process of industrialisation by relying on IMF economics because IMF economics is neoclassical economics which is false economics. I am not being flippant; neoclassical economic theory has baffled and confused many political leaders for many a year.

Building a Comprehensive Railway Network
Ours roads are so bad, and we do not have enough of them either, yet we have not thought of developing a railway network. Why? If I am right, Ghana can only boast of the Accra-Tema railway line and the Accra-Nsawam railway line. Considering the difficulty we have with transportation in the country, it is surprising that no government has so far embarked on a massive railway building in the country. Can we not set ourselves the target of building modern railway lines (with concomitant, modern, comfortable locomotives and coaches) from Accra (our capital) to the other nine regions of the country? In fact, if we want to industrialise Ghana, then it is imperative we build a comprehensive railway system to feed all corners of the country. Again, this project has to come under state capitalism but, unlike the formula I have prescribed for the road building, this project will require expert advice from foreigners. However, the physical building of the lines should be done with Ghanaian labour. It is the only way we can learn how to do these things.

Building a More Beautiful Capital City
Compared to the capital cities of the advanced countries, Accra is a very shabby-looking city indeed, especially in certain parts: starting from the Nungua Barrier, the housing stock lining both sides of the road from here to Teshie, to Labadi, to Osu (near the Sports Stadium) does not befit a capital city. Also, the housing stock in James Town (and going towards Korle Bu Hospital), not to say anything about Korle Gonno, leaves much to be desired. The places I have mentioned look like fishing villages (which indeed they are or used to be) rather than parts of a capital city. Yet, these areas are prime city lands. Are we forever going to allow our capital city to be looking shabby just because no government is bold enough to make a decision to tidy these places up for fear of upsetting the indigenes? Perhaps, tidying these places up will involve relocating the indigenes, and this is a thorny issue no government is prepared to tackle. Nevertheless, change must come because this present state of affairs is not acceptable. One government, just one government, has to be bold enough to tackle this issue, however, controversial.

How can James Town, for example, be considered part of Accra when it is so shabby and so dirty? Either the place is declared a separate entity or it must be treated as a slum area of Accra and be dealt with accordingly. The same goes for the other areas I have mentioned. We are talking here about building modern Ghana; we are not talking about colonial or pre-colonial Ghana. Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, London, Paris, and much more, do not look like this, do they? I mean they do not have dirty, grimy fishing villages attached to them, do they? Let us resolve, as a nation, to build a capital city that befits its name, and one we can be proud of. And we must pay particular attention to town-planning as well, as our existing town-planning is very poor because our buildings seem to be scattered everywhere and anywhere; there appears to be no order or serious planning.

Oko Vanderpuije, the chief executive of Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), says Accra is a “Millennium City”. First, what does Millennium City actually mean? Second, how can a place so full of filth and shanties - some of the shanties almost in the city centre - be called a city at all, never mind Millennium City? Does Oko Vanderpuije not know that the gutters in Accra are choking with filth (perhaps with faeces as well), the Korle Lagoon is choking with filth, and that “Lavender Hill” exists at Korle Gonno beach? I am surprised he does not get embarrassed when he meets the mayors of the more advanced cities of the world (something he enjoys doing and which he does very often). Perhaps Oko Vanderpuije could take his mayor colleagues on tour of these god-forsaken places in Accra, and they will never see him in the same light again. If Oko Vanderpuije is having difficulty about how to clean Accra, then I suggest he should consult the Japanese, who are legendary for keeping their environment squeaky clean. Better still, Oko Vanderpuije should visit Tokyo to see for himself how clean other human beings live and how clean they keep their environment. Maybe when he returns he will stop calling Accra a Millennium City.

The areas I have mentioned can be classified as slums. To clear these slums, the government has to embark on a massive social housing scheme in order to re-house the people living in these areas so that the slum dwellings can be cleared. Yes, the government has to have a social housing scheme otherwise, these slums will never be cleared and we will forever have a shabby-looking capital city. Capitalism alone does not build a nation (or a civilised nation) because capitalists are first and foremost interested in making profits to the detriment of everything (including humans) in their path; it is capitalism with a good dose of socialism – call it social democracy if you like – that builds a civilised nation worth living in and one that does not leave so many people far behind. Many advanced countries temper capitalism with a bit of socialism or social democracy in order to make it palatable; for example, Britain does it with its benefits (or social security) system (which I have already mentioned above).

Summary and Conclusions
Let me conclude by summarising what I have discussed in this disquisition. I have said that we must clean our towns and cities because they are far too dirty, and we must maintain the cleanliness. We must learn how to build towns and cities like the advanced West and we must change the face of our towns and cities to reflect this.

We must curtail the religious craze sweeping the country otherwise we will become a nation of zombies. There is no country in the world with the level of mindless religious zealotry we have in Ghana that is able to progress technologically. Religion – religious zealotry, that is - keeps people back from modernising; religionists are anti-science and anti-technology because they find solace in their primitive, arcane, outdated and wrong beliefs about life, living, God and creation. Remember Galileo and the Catholic Church in bygone days? The West managed to make the Great Leap Forward in technological advancement when they put mindless religion on one side and started doing serious thinking. We in Ghana (and the rest of black Africa for that matter) are nowhere near the level of thinking the West did prior to, and during, the Industrial Revolution, let alone the thinking they are doing at present. Instead, we have filled our heads and every fibre of our being with religious zealotry and have refused to think.

We need to move away from the buy-and-sell economy of today to a production economy (not financial capitalism) in order to industrialise the state. Ghana has no choice but to industrialise. This is because Ghana has reached a stage which is called a “point of inflection” or an “inflection point”. The business world defines an inflection point as a “time of significant change”. Others define it as “that point in the life of a country, an organisation or an individual where without changing course the entity is destined to be ruined”. This is the time Ghana must make the Great Leap Forward or it will be doomed.

Mahama seems to think that his job as president is just to have fancy rides in aeroplanes going round the world asking foreigners to come and invest in Ghana, and all Ghana's problems will be over. If that were true then the energy-shortage problem in Ghana (dumsor) would have been long resolved by foreigner-investment in the country. But as I write this article, we are now in the grip of dumsor, with electricity turned off virtually every day and for twelve hours, at times twenty four hours, at a stretch. It is remarkable! The way forward for Ghana is, therefore, industrialisation by way of state capitalism (which I have delineated in this article). State capitalism is the surest way of putting as many Ghanaians to work as possible (without necessarily over-manning) and in the shortest possible time.

The Atuabo Gas Project is a very good example of state capitalism. Here the government of Ghana is in collaboration with the Chinese firm Sinopec to build the plant. The technical know-how is coming from the Chinese. Eventually and hopefully, the Ghanaian engineers working with the Chinese will have the skills transferred to them in due course and will one day be able, hopefully, to build such plants on their own. This is how the Chinese also acquired the skills from the Europeans and North Americans. The only difference between them and us is that they learn very fast and they are disciplined people. We need hundreds more Sinopec collaborations – for example, in areas such as sewerage and railway construction - and then we will be well and truly on the way to industrialisation. And in all instances the aim must be to put as many Ghanaians as possible to work.

Toyota vehicles are very popular in Ghana; it appears there are so many on Ghanaian roads. I am sure they are equally popular in other African countries. If so, is it possible for a government of Ghana (of any colour) to persuade Toyota Motor Company to come and establish a vehicle manufacturing plant (or assembly plant) here in Ghana to be manufacturing some of its models to, first, serve the sub-regional market (ECOWAS) and then the wider world? It is not too ambitious a plan, is it? Ghanaian industrialists could take the opportunity to learn how to manufacture motor vehicles on a large scale, and one that can take on the world. And if we are lucky some of the Japanese magic could rub on us! Black Africa is far too much behind the industrialised nations of the world and it is about time we stopped being by-standers.

I have also said that Ghana's education system is poor. This is because our education system encourages “bookishness” (the joy of being around books but not deriving much from them) rather than intellectualism (or critical thinking). Our tertiary education must produce thinkers rather than bookworms. We must aim to produce world-class universities. We will know we have reached that stage when our graduates are able to compete with other graduates around the world; for example, when our civil engineers are able to build our shattered roads and bridges with their own expertise. Right now we are relying on foreigners for road and bridge building. (Please do not tell me “our engineers do not have the facilities” because that is a contradiction in terms, almost an oxymoron.)

The last word must be about Mahama, however. Since I wrote Mahama an open letter (mentioned above) in which I was, in the main, supportive of him, he has made some dreadful, high-profile mistakes such as the Brazil 2014 fiasco and some unnecessary, petty God-talks, especially about ebola not reaching Ghana because God seems to have a special affection for Ghanaians! I have, therefore, come to the conclusion that Mahama is not an ambitious person, let alone an ambitious politician. He is a civil-servant type of person (an administrator). He does not have the courage of the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Jerry Rawlings.

Consequently, I am not expecting him to embark the nation on the industrialisation path. I cannot see that happening during his tenure of office. He appears content just to carry on with the IMF-style economic fire-fighting until his time is up. Maybe, he is resigned to the hopelessness, as he sees it, of the Ghanaian situation and is just abiding his remaining tenure. Nevertheless, we have got him for the next two years at least and as such I am directing this article to him. One singular and abiding event that will forever define Mahama's presidency is how he has managed, on his watch, to plunge the country into total darkness two-and-a-half years into his presidency, then crying plaintively, like a lost soul in the wilderness: “I, John Mahama, will fix the problem…” It shows he has no foresight; he should not have allowed the energy situation to reach this stage because the consequences of what is happening now are devastating and dire. He would, no doubt, look round to find someone else to blame, but who is there to blame?

Mahama is, however, a good democrat because he desperately wants Ghana to succeed democratically. Unlike some of his contemporaries, he does not want political power at any cost; he is more interested in the unity and cohesiveness of the country than in political power for the sake of it and, I guess, he would give up power gladly to his political foes if he believes that would save the unity of Ghana. He is always reaching out to his political foes for the sake of peace. An example of this is when he spoke affectionately to Nana Akufo-Addo who was in the audience during the President's State of the Nation address. This stance comes with a lot of kudos because, at this time in Ghana's fragile life, what we need more than anything else is political stability and unity. Having said that, I heard him say naively and complacently, and with almost smug satisfaction and optimism, a year ago that, “Ghana is peaceful”. If so, what has happened to the man in just one year to now make him nervous about Ghana's stability and unity?

Finally, it is necessary to declare my party colours otherwise, Mahama might think this article has been written by an NPP (or an opposition party) supporter in disguise in order to spite him. In fact, I am an NDC supporter, and my aim is to give Mahama constructive criticism so that he can move the country forward. Although not an ambitious person, he appears a decent person; therefore, I want him to succeed rather than fail, although that might seem a pipe-dream.

Abraham Agbodo
Political & Social Commentator