The Chinery Hesse Committee Report : My Take

The past week has no doubt brought its fair share of drama on the Ghanaian political landscape. Readers require no prompting to know the exact incident I am referring to; of course, it is the now infamous Chinery Hesse Committee Report on retirement packages for ex-presidents and other public office holders.

When the news first broke, I took upon myself - perhaps owing to my rudimentary training as an armchair social psychologist - the task of attempting to unravel what could have informed the recommendations in the said report. The explanation as I found, is complicated but not far-fetched; that a collective mentality we share as Africans, and Ghanaians for that matter is mainly to blame. This mentality is not unique to us, but unlike many others Africans have largely been unable to break free (yet).

Now before I am pounced upon, let me quickly state my position on the report. I find the recommended package for ex-presidents outrageously excessive to say the least, its subsequent passage through parliament only underscores the case that the ruling class has lost touch with the ordinary Ghanaian. Perhaps (Karl) Marx was right all along; that the greatest division in a society like ours is not one based on party affiliation, religion, or even ethnicity, but rather a division between the elite/ruling class and the ordinary person.

Before I lose my way into Leftist political dogma, let me return to what I mean when I say our mentality is largely to blame for this “outrageous” report. You see the traditional Ghanaian/African approach to governance, and the resultant roles and privileges assigned to the status of “Leader”, “Chief”, or “King” is remarkably different from the approach the recently introduced concept of Western Democracy takes to the same subject matter. In a typical African polity, the village chief/King usually owned the best and most fertile lands; the biggest farm - largely due to communal labor. He lived in the biggest and most beautiful house and had his choice of the most beautiful girls in the village (read about the Swazi King, Mswati and you will not be surprised why he is the secret envy of many of his contemporaries). The chief benefitted so much from communal generosity that he invariably became the wealthiest person in his community. Chieftaincy/Kingship was mystified to the extent that in some communities the King was considered divine. Therefore a King living like an ordinary person was unthinkable.

A cursory look at world history shows that this model of exercising political power is not unique to Africa, as many developed nations in Europe and elsewhere have gone through a similar stage in the evolution of their political systems. Britain, Netherlands, Belgium etc. still have Monarchs though these exist mainly as cultural relics lacking any substantive political clout. These countries have managed a clean break from Monarchy (in the typical sense) to Representative Government, but then they have had centuries of practice, the African experiment with the concept of Western Democracy however started only a few decades ago. It should not be surprising then, if some vestiges of our traditional antecedents come to play every now and then.

One remarkable feature of our traditional African system is that no role is defined for the status of ex-chief as no such status even exists in the first place, a leader either dies on the throne ( a definite no-no in a Western-style Democratic system); or is de-stooled (impeached in Western Democratic parlance). Look on the African continent at the number of leaders who just won't leave office. The blame cannot be fully put at the door steps of the Omar Bongos, the Mugabes and the Paul Biyas, because when it comes to the concept of Ex-Presidency in the African context, the textbook is now being written from scratch and the case-study list is a very short one; Nelson Mandela, Mathieu Kereku in Benin, Jerry Rawlings, Obasanjo, and Kufuor. I stand to be corrected but these 5 people are all I can recall, readers are welcome to add to this list. So it is no wonder many African leaders try to hold on to power even with their last breath as just happened with Mr. Conte, they simply do not want to be partakers (guinea pigs) in this experiment.

Given the preceding arguments, one can at least begin to appreciate the enormity of the task placed on the Chinery Hesse committee, and though in my personal opinion they could have done a lot better, Ghanaians should halt the abusive language directed at members of the committee, after all they have had to thread on terrain that very few of their contemporaries on this continent may ever have to thread once the “textbook” on African transition is completed.

On the report itself, we don't have the entire picture as it has not been officially released to the public. If what we're being told is true, then I believe the recommendations should be drastically reviewed downward. Just half of the monies required to meet these costs can make a very positive impact on the most impoverished in our society. If the numbers we're hearing are anything to go by, we will be spending close to 2million dollars on the ex-President alone, the vice president and speaker come in closely behind, and remember many of the perks recommended for the ex-president and his vice are actually recurrent expenses, cars have to be replaced every four years, vacations have to be paid for yearly etc. throw in that for our venerable MPs, and you begin to get an idea of the hole we're digging for ourselves, and the kind of precedent we're setting for other African countries who hopefully will have to cross this same river someday. All the benefits lavished on them are also non taxable I have often wondered why the people who live off the taxes of the ordinary masses are so afraid of taxes themselves?

As I put forth in the opening paragraphs of this write-up, the ruling class - and I venture to include even the newly-elected administration - who benefit from such state largesse, have lost touch with the average man. This brings to the fore the role that civil society, can play to call our leaders to order. Peoples' power should not only be a felt at the end of each electoral cycle, it should become a constant in our political life cycle to safeguard the interests of the common man. So far I have heard only the CJA issue a statement condemning the package, (there may be others I have not heard of). In the run-up to the December elections many civil society groups sprang up, a notable one - by virtue of its name - being the Ghana Coalition of Floating Voters. Is this coalition still existent? What have they to say on this issue? It is in a time like this that we need such civil society groups which seek to unite the masses irrespective of party coloration to fight against such blatant misuse of the power they have reposed in their leaders.

There have been hints of a possible review, in which case I have a few suggestions for parliament. Some issues need to be clarified;If vehicles are replaced every four years, do the old cars revert to the state? Surely the old vehicles can be of use somewhere? If a president is entitled to 60 days foreign vacation a year, how many separate trips can he make to cover the 60 days? If a vice president later assumes the office of the president, does he continue to enjoy the vice-presidential retirement package while still in office?
To His Excellency, the immediate ex- President I have this to say; you are an honorable statesman. Among your peers on this continent, you have every cause to hold your head up high in full confidence, for you have done what many of them have been unable to do, relinquish power after your tenure - more so to an opposition candidate. I believe you are a very likely candidate for the Mo Ibrahim awards in Leadership - mark my words. So please the one million dollar seed money for your foundation should wait a while, please do with 3 vehicles and scrap the two mansions, settle for a one-off figure of 200,000 dollars ex-gratia, and an additional yearly pension half of the salary of the sitting president. Believe me, Mo Ibrahim might just come your way, and just imagine all the good you can do with that prize money? 5 million dollars flat, and 200,000 dollars every year, maybe you can even tell Ghanaians boldly to our faces “To hell with your money”.

For the good of the Motherland.

Credit: Franklin Ofosu
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