From GHC5 to Ferrari: Miraculous ways to make money in Ghana

In Ghana, questioning unexplained wealth has become a taboo. If you dare ask, "how did you make it?" you are instantly tagged as a hater.

However, if you praise the supposed rich man or woman and say "Odogwu, show me the way," you become an instant loyal friend and a humble disciple. The reality is that no genuine rich person gets angry or offended when asked how he or she made money.

These days, everybody claims to be either a 'big man' or a 'big woman' with deep pockets and assets. People want to own private jets, drive flashy Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentley, etc. They want to live in mansions built on prime lands. They want to spray money at public functions without working for it and for no reason.

Since the golden rule of this taboo is that observers are forbidden to ask where the money came from, they remain tight-lipped. Whether the money was made through drug trafficking, fraud, armed robbery, creation of ghost names on payrolls, or even fake contracts, as long as it can buy those cars and build those mansions to be flaunted on Instagram, TikTok and others, we ought to celebrate it.

Quickly, they set up businesses with proper branding to serve as fronts. They don't stop there. They then recruit, through their cover up corporate social responsibly activities, a brigade of emotional beneficiaries; including orphans, widows and homeless people and so on, to be used as emotional blackmail shields whenever the source of wealth is questioned. Finally, they join a league of their own to belong to a certain class.

So, the recent arrest, detention and remand of Euro Spa CEO, Jessica Hartog, and three others over their alleged links to a €225M cocaine shipment intercepted in Dunkirk, France, has reignited a crucial conversation about how people in Ghana are acquiring wealth these days.

While one half of the public is busily questioning in the media how such a huge consignment slipped through our ports despite all the structures and personnel, the other half is asking who the owners and eventual beneficiaries of the load are.

Not long ago, 'Kofi Boat', 'Abu Trica', 'Lancaster and Arrangement', etc. were arrested in Ghana for crimes that had made them rich in the eyes of the people of Ghana. Never mind that when some of these arrests were made, the emotional blackmail shields and sweet testimonials were unleashed.

But, each time these arrests are made, the conversation about wealth acquisition opens up and shuts down immediately when they are dragged off our shores, as if nothing happened. One can equate that short "open and close window" to the time it took for suspected cocaine to disappear from a CID exhibit room only to transform into 'konkonte' powder (dried cassava flour) the next moment.

It is worthy to note that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has collaborated with local law enforcement agencies to smoke out some people over stolen vehicles from the US found in their possession. Most of the "big men" and "big women" may have gone into hiding. Well, the FBI is still in town, so I won't say much.

For me, what this case and others force us to do is, to honestly look in the mirror to see what we have become and what we must quickly change before we are completely destroyed.

We have normalized situations where some self-acclaimed 'entrepreneurs' and 'influencers' mount radio, online and TV platforms to boldly claim they started their multi-million enterprises with just GHS 5 or a cup of rice or whatever. Very ridiculous claims to say the least.

The applause they receive after making such public pronouncements always exposes the kind of people we are willing to become whenever money is involved. Some mainstream media houses and personnel and some bloggers are ready to be paid to whitewash and hype whoever shows up rich overnight.

They play pipers, while the 'big men' or 'big women' call the tunes. These tunes never end until law enforcement is alarmed enough to pull the plug. Again, never mind that some of these 'big men' and 'big women' are able to pay for the services of police escorts which gives them legitimacy in the eyes of the people.

Today, we celebrate money more than dignity. We celebrate money more than honesty. Churches are quick to confer fundraising chairman titles on people, without questioning the source of their wealth.

They are ever ready to receive fat donations and gifts from such people without queries. They are willing to force their congregations to engage in prayer marathons for their sake. They are willing to offer them front-row seats, but are never willing to give them frontline sermons and counselling from the pulpit.

On the flip side, those who aren't serious with church or mosque business become instant mentors and role models in society. Schools, colleges and universities don't mind using them for speech and prize giving day ceremonies. They become instant celebrities. The question is, what is so celebratory about them to warrant worthy emulation by the future leaders?

Another dimension is that the flashy lifestyle on social media violently and subtly mounts needless pressure on young people. Some decide not to work honest jobs but to follow in the examples of their mentors. They will do anything and everything, even if it involves rituals.

Some of the females also decide to engage in high-level prostitution. They come in two groups. The first group offer themselves to be pimped to big men for goodies in return for sexual favours. The second group engage in "hook up", becoming their own pimps.

There have been reported instances where female university students live a dual life. They are good children at home during vacation and the real known 'baddies' at their hostels when school is in session. Some are said to have cars which they cannot take home, parked at their hostels; bought for them by sugar daddies or from proceeds of their hook up activities.

Is it time for the state to take a second look at the conversations surrounding lifestyle audits? What work pays so much to beget so many assets for a person in just a few months?

In the end, those who purpose in their hearts to work clean jobs and stay honest are beaten down by the uninvited pressure. They watch their contemporaries flaunt affluence and brag about the next car, the next landed property, the next trip abroad, and straight away they start thinking of themselves as failures.

That is a recipe for national distress and disaster that must be curbed now!

Some parents are also to blame. Some of them struggle to enroll their wards into the university for the first semester. In fact, there are instances where parents have had to sell off their personal effects to raise school fees. Then suddenly, the daughters of these parents return from the first semester with a top-range phone, expensive clothes and beauty products and enough cash to cater for the entire family.

Because of their long artificial nails, their mothers now take care of their laundry. They no longer partake in household chores and are able to fund their school fees and those of their siblings only after one semester in school. This sudden wealth is not questioned. It is celebrated as God's blessing for going to school.

They stand in front of their houses and wave as their daughters are taken away in the evening in vehicles with tinted glasses, only to return the next day at noon with pizza for the whole family. Do they question where they went and what they went to do? Or do we assume that they already know? Well, that is not parenting, that is full blown conspiracy.

Is Ghana becoming a society where deep pockets command more respect than the deep voices of the fathers? When are we hoping to move with speed to remedy the situation? When are we moving to consciously teach life's time-tested values and principles that underpin our Ghanaianess and culture at the foundational level of education?

To every young Ghanaian working a clean job and feeling left behind, I came to tell you that you are not failing and you haven't failed. You are working and building right and whatever you are building will last beyond you. Stay on the line. Your time will come. Remember, not all that glitters is gold. Let's restore dignity to hard work.