Ghana can industrialise with the right leadership, right policy and the political will

Addressing the closing ceremony of a workshop organized for NPP researchers from the ten regions Wednesday, Nana Addo, the Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party according to the NPP Communications Directorate is reported to have stated that “his party is preparing a comprehensive programme of industrialization and modernization that can transform Ghana’s economy in a matter of one decade.”

Itemizing the many natural resources such as gold, land, and now oil in addition to cocoa Nana Addo said:

“This newfound wealth presents an additional opportunity for a visionary leader with a programme to take critical steps to transform our economy. If we continued on the old path to rely on crude oil exports, we would end up getting the same low value economy that we have gotten from gold and cocoa over the last century. This must change.”
Drawing inspiration from Lula de Silva of Brazil Nana Addo added “With the right programme in place, in the next ten years, Ghana can become a self-sustainable, confident economy, in many ways, with an extensive, modern agricultural industry that will feed our neighbours and beyond.”
According to the NPP Communications Directorate Nana Addo told the cheering crowd that “Ghana has the landmass, natural resources, human resource, political stability, economic freedoms and individual freedoms that can be consciously optimized to transform our economy and bring prosperity to every Ghanaian door step. We must get going. We need that can-do leadership vim to get us going and fast,”

I do not doubt Ghana's ability to industrialize. What has been lacking since 1966 is the lack of leadership, policy and the political will to implement the needed policies. If Nkrumah could let it happen in Tema, Aboadze, Akosombo, Takoradi, Kumasi and Accra, I do not see why it cannot be done in Ho, Wa, and Tamale. What is needed is the political will. I thought the leaders who came after Nkrumah could do it but they simply lack the courage and the will to do it. No nation has ever solved her unemployment problem, built schools, roads, and houses or sent a man to the moon based on agriculture economy. From China to Hong Kong, to Malaysia to Singapore, South Korea to Taiwan the evidence is clear. It has been industrialization through technology acquisition and human capacity building. Ghana needs to do the same. Now that we have recognized that we need to industrialize we need to develop the strategies that will let it happen.

Lord Adusei

We are slowly moving towards a nuclear armageddon

The monumental weapon build up across the world does not only poses great danger to the world but will completely annihilate mankind from the face of the earth if activated. We have militarized the earth and now we are doing the same in space. There is a new arms race in Asia, and in the Middle East. Russia announced this month that it will spend 600 billion dollars updating its nuclear and submarine fleet. China's newly unveiled stealth bombers – 'Xian H-8 Stealth Bomber' have sent shockwaves to United States. I mean we have enough deadly weapons to destroy the entire human race. No one will be left if we activate all the deadly weapons.

After the 3rd world war there will be no human left to fight a 4th world war. While sections of the world's population wallow in poverty, hunger, malnutrition, and HIV/AIDS, cancers, Alzheimers, parkinson decimate the young and old the goverments around the world are building and storing up arms whose relevance to world peace is doutful. We are indeed slowly moving towards a nuclear armageddon.

Dictators on the run

Thanks to the "Third Industrial Revolution” which according to Joseph Nye is based on rapid technological advances in computers, communications, software",  smart phones, and advanced transportation systems poltical activists world wide are making illegitimate, undemocratic, and corrupt regimes highly uncomfortable and most of the dicators like Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Gaddafi of Libya are on the run. Countless anti-democratic governments in the Middle East have been forced to think twice and many have began to implement policies that will benefit their citizens.

That is how virtual power has done to our world.

Debating the Africa Union

As the divided Africa Union struggles to find solutions to the crises in Ivory Coast, Somalia, and DRC and remains completely silent over the crises in Libya, Tunisia,and Egypt, the questions many are asking are whether the AU will ever be counted upon as a body that should be taken serious at all and whether the AU can redeem its battered image?


Will Africa ever forge a common identity and defence policy? Can Africa recognise its strategic importance and can it ever take advantage of that strategic importance? Can the AU be made more democratic, more relevant and be more responsive to the needs of its citizens? What will be required to make Africa the next engine of global development?


The crises in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt have exposed the hollow in the Africa Union as a continental body that can respond to the challenges of the 21st Century and has created doubts in many who once believed in its capability to provide solutions to the problems facing the continent.


Lord Adusei

Ghana: Our destiny is not poverty

On 6th March 2011 during the independence celebration I spoke to many Ghanaians and everyone has something to say about the poor state of the economy, the lack of effective leadership, the poor delivery of public services, the lack of unity among the youth, the corruption at CEPS, the begging mentality of the politicians, the sycophancy of our ministers etc.


Someone asked "When are we going to stand up and say enough is enough? So there is no one in the ruling NDC who is visionary enough to lead the party and take advantage of the huge benefit Ghana is getting from the sale of gold, cocoa, and oil?"


Another also asked"So there is no one in the NPP who shares the visions that led Dr. Nkrumah to build Tema City, Akosombo dam, KNUST, Cape Coast University, and the factories that employed many Ghanaians?"


One also asked "Why do we mine gold yet we beg for silver? Why do we produce cocoa yet we beg for chocolate?"


Another poignantly asked "Is poverty our destiny?"


My answer is: No. Our destiny is not poverty.
Our major problem is: Leadership!!! We are poor because of leadership. Leadership has affected the way we think as Ghanaians. It has affected the way we see ourselves now as Ghanaians and even the future as Ghanaians. It has affected the way we craft economic and education policies. It has affected the way we embark on infrastructure development. It has affected the way we fight poverty and corruption, and the way we embark on industrial development. Nations and institutions blossom when there is effective leadership. I saw it in Nkrumah. I have seen it in Kofi Annan and in Dr. Afari Gyan of Ghana's Electoral Commission. 


Let us get a visionary leader like Nkrumah and there will be another Akosombo dam, another Tema city, several secondary schools, and several factories for our unemployed youth to work. Let us get a visionary leader and the children selling ice water in Accra, Kumasi, Tema and Takoradi will be in the classroom learning. As of last month Akuffo Addo was talking about Akans instead of Ghanaians. That is how our leaders think. 


It is our duty to train the next generation of leaders who will truly love Ghana and develop it for all its citizens.
You can be the next effective leader of our dear Republic only and only if you do not see Ghana in terms of tribes, in terms of party politics, in terms of north and south, east and west, in terms of language and in terms of ...You can be the next leader if you see Ghana in terms of its total development i.e. building its roads, schools, industries, telecommunication infrastructure, housing, health, and making the benefits trickle down to all its citizens irrespective of where ones live.


How would you have managed Ghana if you were President Mills? Would you have used our gold, our oil, our rich land, the sea and rivers to develop Ghana? Would you have built another factory to process the tomatoes that get rotten anytime there is bumper harvest? Would you have improved the railway infrastructure in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, and in Wa etc to take care of the congestion in our cities? Would you have worked hard to get another Akosombo dam to take care of our growing demand for electricity? Would you have exported raw gold to London or would you have added value to it before export? How about Cocoa would you have exported the raw beans to Holland? What would you have done if you were President Mills? Would you have appointed all your ministers from the NDC?


By Lord Aikins Adusei