Introduction
The control and allocation of resources in any country depends on the economic system being practiced. While others are identify with socialism or the capitalism, others seem to combine the two- mixed economic system. The capitalist economic system allows the free flow of market forces- interaction of the demand and supply. In practice, it is hardly to find a country with an economy that is purely capitalist thought few countries are closer to pure capitalism than others. Countries like United States, Australia and Germany are more of capitalism. Nevertheless, countries like China, Norway, Denmark and North Korea practice socialism.
Most African countries have an economic system closely related to socialism rather than capitalism. This means that, most governments in Africa are the decider of the citizen’s fate- ‘next to God’. Any wrong decision of the governments affect the whole nation. This is why war and other vice surrounds Africa. Research shows that most Americans do not vote in elections. This implies that the tendency of most Americans to fight during elections is low. The possible reason to this, is mainly due to the fact that they practice capitalism which makes most of the country’s citizens rich! Capitalism makes individual citizens deciders of their fate not the government. Capitalism gives a fair chance to ordinary citizens to decide whether to be successful or unsuccessful. Africans in generally, mostly take elections and issues of national interest to be more of a ‘world cup tournament’ where others will go to the extent of shedding blood because one way or the other, their lives depend on it.
The economy of Ghana is said to be a mixed economic system where the private sector and the government come together to determine the allocation of resources. Although Ghana is practicing mixed economic system, a critical observation indicates that Ghana is closely related to socialism rather than capitalism. This is basically the instigator of our ‘everywhere failed systems’ in the economy. The determination of an economic system of a particular country is not done arbitrary but rather a critical assessment of the one which best suits the nation. This critical assessment is not just done by considering the geographical location of a country nor the numerous resources of a state but also the behavior pattern of its citizenry. Any miscalculation of these elements will put the development and the sustainability thereof in jeopardy.
The behavior pattern of Ghanaians
Obviously, national interest seems not to be a virtue recommended for most Ghanaians. The institutions, culture, norms, family systems, ethnicity, political systems and several others have perfectly shaped the nature of many Ghanaian to be self-centered. This behavior has become strong over the centuries to a point where its impact have maneuvers it way down to even the nucleus family.
In a layman words, most Ghanaians do not really care much especially when they know that a particular institution, infrastructure, organization, company or even an item belongs to the state, they do not portray themselves as responsible for anything that goes wrong with it. A typical examples might include: a student who intentionally paints irrelevant stuffs on school wall with the perception that the government will repaint it; a citizen will intentionally urinate on a building with a justification that he got pissed by the writings’ ‘don’t urinate here’; a colleague might caught a fellow worker stealing from the state coffins and would probably say nothing because he does want to get into trouble over what belongs to the state and not a personal property. This behavior is ubiquitous among Ghanaians and in a wider view, Africans. It has breach the boundaries of ‘checks and control’. A police will love to take bribe regardless of how young you are or how small the amount might be; lecturers might forfeit a class for a personal interest.
The self- centered nature of many Ghanaians, whether consciously nor unconsciously transpires even in the policies our leads propose. The policies, regulations and procedures have one way or the other been infected, crafting potholes in these policies, regulations and procedures. With this, any educated mind might be looking for ways and means to outsmart the system because possibility is easily available. Politicians in Ghana are no exception to this behavior pattern. After all, they are also Ghanaians whom fortunately are positioned in a more advantageous point. This is an empirical knowledge known to many whom have already been taken advantage of it. The ultimate reason and insurer of the perpetuation of Ghana’s corrupt systems and corrupt governments is the ‘economic system being practiced in Ghana’.
Why Ghana’s economic system is the ultimate reason and insurer of the perpetuation of corruption in Ghana
‘The neck carries the head: probably the head cannot carry the neck’. A critical review shows that Ghana’s mixed economic system is closely related to socialism rather than capitalism. This implies that the allocation and control of national resources and any related decisions are carries out by the government, with less intervention of the private sector. One may probably reason: if am insisting that Ghanaians are self- centered then it’s probably best if our economic system is closely related to socialism and not capitalism since this will serve as a check to prevent exploitation of consumers by the private sector. But that’s where the trick lies.
Although, the self- centered nature of Ghanaians is not worth praising, it can also lead to national development and sustainability, depending on the lens one is using. Why am I saying this? Ghanaians may lack national interest but the moment something becomes theirs, they will find a way at all cost to develop and sustain it. However, the moment that thing belongs to the state, they might be thinking of a way to possess it- even if it meant stealing it. And even if they fail trying, they will think of other existing opportunities to generate fast revenue at the expense of the state. For instance, if the government provide the nation with schools, hospitals or even state own enterprises, most of the public officials focus is to target the salary they might be earning and care less even about the survival of that very institution. Even if the institution collapses, they are well assured that the government will employ them somewhere. With this, either they engage in corrupt activities in these institutions to earn more for personal investment or they will be less productive. And for the governments, whom this economic system mandate to prevent the exploitation of consumers by the private sector, how well can they prevent themselves from exploiting the state? After all, they are Ghanaians with the same behavior pattern. This is basically why politicians in Ghana make promises knowingly, they cannot keep. Even the public officials will make sure of that. This is even why policies and regulations offered by the World Bank and the IMF seems to have less or probably no impact on the economy. They do not have any clue of Ghanaians behavior, they only know of the economic system practiced in Ghana. Good policies always factor into consideration the economy system of a country. However, when the economic system of a country is inappropriate, it renders the policies ‘useless’. To every governmental intervention in a country like Ghana, corruption is inevitable. Hardly does a dog bites it owner: hardly will corruption divorce poverty. This is why too much governmental intervention is disastrous for Ghana as a nation.
The horrors of state owned enterprises which existed in the past and the dangers of creating more
What was the condition of state owned enterprises in Ghana before considering privatization? Obviously the answers to this question are numerous.
The governments of Ghana could not design any proper systems to prevent corruption in these state owned enterprises. The governments could not even ensure accountability and transparency in these enterprises. Public officials involved in fraudulent acts go unpunished due to our inability to enforce the law. This serves as a motivator of corruption in state owned enterprises. In addition, most politicians took advantage of their positions by using some of these state owned enterprises as a gateway to cover-up their illegal transactions. The existence of immeasurable spoil system, nepotism, favoritism, partisanship, preferential treatment and several others in state owned enterprises resulted to the unproductivity of the sector. The various governments over the years borrowed from several of these state owned enterprises without any effort of paying them back. All these, are some of the reasons leading to the privatization of these enterprises.
To refresh our memory, some of the state owned enterprises which suffered in the hands of divestiture program included: Ghana oil palm development company which was sold in 1995, continental hotel was also sold to Golden Tulip, the Abosso glass factory sold to private individual, Gliksen W/A company was sold to SUHUMA timber company Ltd, the GIHOC bottling which became the coca cola bottling company of Ghana Ltd, Nsawam Cannery, West Africa Mills company, Tema steel company, Ghana Agro food company which was formerly TFCC, Kwame Nkrumah catering rest houses- Atlantic houses, Kanda GNTC, Pomadze Tomatoe factory, Ashanti Goldfields corporation, Ghana Airways and several others. The fortunate ones still in existence, have become a center for incubating debt. The possibility that state owned enterprises such as ECG, trade fare, GCB and several others to suffer the same fate is inevitable.
The danger in creating more state owned enterprises are copious. Creating more jobs by any government in Ghana is just like ‘fetching more water into a leaking tank’. Obviously, the water will run out. Since the country have not been able to come up with proper measures to prevent the very problems that led to the privatization of several state owned enterprises and the likelihood of the current ones to suffer the same fate, makes it disastrous for governments in Ghana to create more jobs rather than creating an enabling environment. Creating thousands of jobs, implies the governments have to employ millions of Ghanaians whom the state have no idea of controlling and monitoring their activities within the sector. Following the hardship Ghanaians have been through over the years, creating numerous public corporations will give most of the public officials a motive to compensate themselves for enduring the long hardship at the expense of the state. Again, the state’s inability to create a proper system of recruiting innovative and creative citizens makes the creation of more jobs irrelevant. A critical question they should ask themselves as a country is, why should the governments create thousands of jobs which productivity and sustainability is not ensured rather the possibility of these jobs to incur further cost leading to a huge increment in the national debt, over dependency on other countries, logic defiling levels of corruption, economic hardship, high levels of poverty and several other socio- economic problems are predictable.
It is close to impossible for any state owned enterprise in Ghana to outperform the private sector particularly when the governments start to invest and support the private sector. Private sectors are creative and innovative in nature. The profit motive of private sector keep them on their toes, always coming out with new ways of addressing problems. The fact that employees in the private sector are more serious, committed and discipline as compared to the public sector is undisputable. All these attest as to why the government should focus on creating enabling environment and not job creation.
Recommendation
The possible way forward, is for the governments to restrict themselves to mainly monetary policies, monitoring the success of economic indicators and adjusting them appropriately, creating an enabling environment and few others. The Ghana governments over the years seem to operate in several dimensions, making it almost impossible to ensure the smooth operation, accountability and transparency of governmental projects. This makes governmental project more of a mechanism for corruption rather than a solution to societal problems. Therefore, there is a need for government to allow the free flow of the market forces with less intervention from the government. Creating an enabling environment do not necessarily means government should create jobs, simply, government should be able to generate good policies that ensures the emergence of more private companies, import substitution, supporting, encouraging and motivating local producers and the likes.
Most importantly, there is a need for the government to set policies that will enable the youth and fresh graduates to get a start- up capital and also easily to get employment in the private sector. There are several ways the government can ensure this.
Again, the government should set a policy that ensures that private companies retain a certain number of national service personnel after their service. Notwithstanding this, the government should also come up with a policy that enforces every private company in Ghana to at least employ a number of fresh graduate from our tertiary institutions.
In addition, government should support, encourage and invest in start- up contest, competitions, long easy writing programs and the funding of sporting activities nationwide in order to identify potential youths and provide them with the needed capital to set up their own companies. This will not just reduce the recent unemployment rate in Ghana, it will also give the youth of Ghana hope for the future.
Into the bargain, the government should negotiate with the banking sectors in Ghana to grant loans to graduates without demanding for collateral. And yes! Without collateral. The state cannot possibly think their graduates from their cherished universities cannot come up with innovative ways to develop the nation if granted the necessary support. A university graduate simply means they represent the ‘finest’. With all the knowledge acquire throughout the years, they should be of maximum use. It will be the duty of the banks to scrutinize the applicant list to determine whether the idea or the project of which the graduate propose for invest is feasible or not, based on the success percentage and other criteria. The banks will have the mandate to also decide on the amount they believe can adequately fine the project or the idea. After the success of the project or the idea, 80 percentage of the loan will be refunded to the government. Any rejected project or idea of a particularly graduate, will have the opportunity to think through and still come back with a refined one. The government will initially sort out with the banks as to the interest rate on the loans and any other arrangements. However, in a situation where the banks make a mistake by financing unsuccessful idea or project, the government will have to employ that graduate in any public sector which relates to the graduate’s field of study and deduct about 50% of his salary which is aimed to repay the loan over a period of time. This will help reduce unnecessary pressure on the government and also serve as a system which aims at refining the public sector, substituting unproductive public officials and those who are supposed to go on retirement with productive, vibrant and innovative personnel. By so doing, the government will not just be giving graduates hope or motivate more people to attain higher education, but also will be grooming the future leaders to be creative, innovative and critical thinkers. The government will also be securing the future of the banks in Ghana. I believe this is a fair bargain and a calculated risk worth taking, as compared to the wrong deals and corrupt investments made by Ghana governments which am perplexed as to which one to begin with.
Finally, there is a need to restructure our educational system to carry along, the true purpose of education. The moment a student chooses a particularly course with the impression that it will fetch a better job or can earn more money by offering such a course, we are creating failures as a nation. The fundamental value of an educational system is to grant understanding and an insight into a particular field of study and to develop existing potential in an individual. Schools do not create potentials, they develop and add- up to existing potentials. This implies that, a parent should not invest in or a student should not go to school with an intention that a particularly course will fetch more money, gives a better chance of getting employed or a particularly course is highly respected but rather a student’s core value for schooling is to get understanding in a subject that is in line with his passion or the student can easily relate to. This is how our educational system should be structured in order to produce innovative and critical students. This is basically the reason as to why the country is producing confused students.
Again, our educational system should not arouse fear especially during examination. It is logically not sounded to pay for a service which seeks not your interest but causes a discomfort around you. The fear of examination has made it possible for most Ghanaian students to be examination candidates but not practical students. This has even make Ghanaian students seem like magicians, they manage to pass examines successfully but they possibly cannot explain and apply this success in real life situations.
The final contributors to the failed educational system in Ghana are the teachers and the lecturers. Yes, they are! Most of the teachers or the lecturers seems a bit ‘drifted off’, setting tough examination questions does not necessarily identify a teacher as brilliant. Examination as we all know, is meant to assess one’s understanding in a particularly subject. Some lecturers have lose sight of that fact, using other indicators which are of less importance. Others too expect students to provide them with the ideas they fed the students with during lectures. The truth of the matter is, especially when it has to do with a subjective course, a lecturer does not possess all the rightful answers including the ones yet to be discovered. This implies that lecturers handling subjective courses should ease up a bit and consider how thoughtful a student idea sounds when marking ones script. This might be the only way to ensure that students are critical thinkers and understands what they are probably writing about.