When “Foreign Is Good” Weakens Ghanaian Institutions A Reflection On Achimota Golf Club And The Confidence To Lead Ourselves

As I reflect on the Annual General Meeting of Achimota Golf Club scheduled for Thursday, 25 June 2026, I am reminded that this is not merely an election within a private club.

Achimota Golf Club is a Ghanaian institution

Founded in 1934, it represents more than ninety years of history, sporting excellence, fellowship and national prestige. Its membership cuts across business, politics, diplomacy, the clergy, traditional leadership and the professions. In many respects, Achimota is a microcosm of Ghanaian society and an important centre of influence.

What happens there should therefore concern anyone interested in how Ghana builds, protects and transfers its institutions to future generations.

My concern is not simply about whether one candidate is Ghanaian and another is foreign. It is about a deeper question: do we still believe that foreigners are naturally better equipped to manage our institutions than qualified Ghanaians?

For too long, many Africans have carried the colonial assumption that competence must come from outside. A foreign accent, passport, complexion or résumé is sometimes treated as evidence of superiority before any distinctive skill, contribution or understanding of the institution has been demonstrated.

This belief that “foreign is good” is quietly killing confidence in African talent.

Building from Within
Strong institutions are not created by repeatedly importing leadership. They are created by identifying talent, developing people, transferring knowledge and building credible succession systems from within.

Singapore did this deliberately. Malaysia invested in the development of its own public and professional leadership. Rwanda continues to demonstrate a strong belief that Africans can organise, reform and manage their own institutions.

Ghana has also proved its capacity. Fidelity Bank grew through Ghanaian leadership, local knowledge and professional standards. Kasapreko developed from a Ghanaian enterprise into a major manufacturing company with recognised brands and international reach. Across banking, manufacturing, telecommunications, education, healthcare and professional services, Ghanaians have shown that they can build sophisticated and competitive institutions.

The problem is not a shortage of talent. The problem is that we do not always trust, prepare and promote that talent.

Kwame Nkrumah warned that “colonialism and its attitudes die hard.” Those attitudes remain alive whenever a Ghanaian must repeatedly prove competence while a foreigner is presumed competent from the beginning.

Nnamdi Azikiwe called for Africans to become “mentally emancipated.” That emancipation must include freedom from the belief that leadership from outside is automatically better.

Julius Nyerere reminded us that “people cannot be developed; they can only develop themselves.” Foreign expertise may support us, but it cannot permanently substitute for the leadership capacity we must develop ourselves.

Why Achimota Matters
Achimota Golf Club currently has a white South African serving as General Manager. Ghana has provided the peace, respect and professional environment within which that office may be exercised. There is nothing inherently wrong with appointing a qualified foreign professional. Institutions should seek competence wherever it genuinely exists.

But reflection is necessary. Would a Ghanaian professional readily be appointed to manage a similarly historic and quintessential golf institution in Johannesburg? Would a Ghanaian who had lived in South Africa for only a limited period be supported to lead such an institution without clearly demonstrating an understanding of its history, traditions and membership?

Ikoyi Club 1938 in Lagos offers a useful comparison. Like Achimota, it emerged during the British colonial period and later became a distinguished African social and sporting institution. Would Nigerians readily accept a foreign manager allegedly canvassing foreign members to support another foreigner for leadership at Ikoyi Club? Would they elevate a foreign candidate whose distinctive skill set, contribution and institutional understanding had not been clearly established?

If those questions would cause concern in Lagos or Johannesburg, why should they not cause concern in Accra?

The Immediate Concern
Reports circulating among some Achimota members, together with campaign materials and information reaching the author, suggest that certain senior management interests may allegedly be canvassing or encouraging support for a foreign candidate.

These reports have not been independently verified. However, the perception itself is troubling, particularly where the candidate's distinctive skill set, contribution to the Club or comparative advantage has not been clearly established.

A foreign candidate should not be rejected merely for being foreign. Equally, no candidate should be preferred merely because foreignness is assumed to represent superior competence.

Leadership should be earned through ability, experience, institutional knowledge, measurable contribution, integrity and a credible vision.

The concern is therefore not xenophobia. It is governance. It is about whether Achimota is deliberately building leadership from within or gradually accepting the assumption that outsiders are better equipped to preserve and lead a Ghanaian institution.

Foreign Expertise Must Build Local Capacity
Every foreign professional appointed to a senior role in Ghana should be expected to strengthen local capacity. That should include mentoring Ghanaian professionals, transferring knowledge, documenting institutional systems and preparing credible local successors.

If a foreign professional remains indispensable after many years, should the institution not ask whether enough internal capacity has been developed? Sustainable leadership is measured not only by what a person achieves in office, but also by the strength of the people and systems left behind.

This principle should apply to banks, universities, companies, sporting clubs, public agencies and civil-society organisations throughout Ghana.

The Legacy Question
Achimota's AGM is therefore more than a contest between candidates. It is a test of institutional confidence.

Will Achimota remain internationally open while confidently Ghanaian? Will it develop leadership from within? Will foreign expertise complement local capacity rather than displace it? Will members judge candidates by demonstrated merit, or will the old colonial instinct that “foreign is better” continue to influence their thinking?

This is not a call for xenophobia. It is a call for self-respect, sound governance, institutional confidence and deliberate capacity building.

Ghanaians living abroad must respect the laws, traditions and institutions of the countries that receive them. Those welcomed into Ghana must equally respect Ghanaian institutions and the right of Ghanaians to shape their own future.

Africa cannot continue outsourcing belief in itself.

We must build institutions that identify our talent, prepare our people and leave the next generation more capable than the one before it.

Achimota Golf Club may welcome the world. But its most enduring legacy should be proving that a historic Ghanaian institution can remain internationally respected, professionally governed and confidently led by people who believe in Ghana's capacity to manage its own affairs.

By Akwesi Oppong

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