My primary observation is that, this is what happens to a country with a political system which believes in having its destiny in the hands of others with the view that her interest will be secured and protected by the generosity of the Foreign Investor whoever he may be.
Like I always say, “It is the failure or the inability of the black man to propose an alternative way of reasoning based on his own perspective on the true meaning of life which have left him so confused that Justice, Truth, Reasoning and Originality he must always rely on what may appear to be beautiful (promise of goodness) in the eyes of the West”.
Nothing else provides us with a better answer to our over reliance of such weak and malleable way of thinking which makes us comfortable as a people to have our fate and destinies in the hands of others. What was discovered after critically examining three countries which have made significant economic development after achieving political independence within the same decade as Ghana was an unwavering spirit of self-reliance.
One cannot question the systematic efforts by the leadership of Singapore to uplift the confidence of its citizens in all aspects of life. Even though external investment or Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was needed and welcomed, the leadership of Singapore ensured that its citizens benefited most from investors who came to Singapore to invest this includes all major multi-national companies which has been operating in Singapore over the years.
On the other hand in Ghana, citizens and local professionals are constantly subjected to some level of subterranean humiliation at work place or wherever their services are needed. This is mainly as a result of the general attitude of most Ghanaian politicians whose only way of understanding development is the physical presence of a foreigner, being in charge of a company either production based, service based or engineering based.
It is such continuous posture of our politicians which has led to this extreme lack of confidence among most Ghanaians. The insensitivity of today’s political leadership in Ghana is a clear indication of how much little understanding our current political leadership has and why we seem not to be able to develop. Development is about the people and therefore, real economic development is seldom if ever achieved without the people being at the forefront of it. One of the major factors in developing a country is the fundamental need to instill confidence (the can do spirit) in the minds of the people and physically proofing that indeed yes the people or the citizenry are capable of doing everything that has been done anywhere else in the world.
A typical example is when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah first arrived in Ethiopia in 1958 with Ghanaian pilots. It was reported how Emperor Haile Selassie was completely astonished to see black Africans flying a plane thousands of miles from Accra to Addis Ababa. My investigation into this story revealed that while Kwame Nkrumah was appointed as Head of Government Business in 1951 even before independence, he managed to put a few native indigenes within the Gold Coast under training in certain strategic fields and professions because he thought that to build a prosperous nation, he will need a confident citizens with the right mentality to do anything.
Fast forward to today’s politicians regardless which of the two main political divide that finds itself in power, we are constantly told that the only way to achieve economic growth or to develop this country is when foreign investors arrive here from abroad. Even though I personally have never subscribed to this way of thinking, such a belief has found its way deep into the hearts of most Ghanaians especially the younger politicians at this stage of our development and none unfortunately is able to think outside the box and this has led us into having our destinies in the hands of people we do not even know or have nothing in common with. Unfortunately as we refuse to learn from experience, some of these so called investors who find themselves here in Ghana often come with no capital as expected but rather, manages to raise funds at the back of our own existing state assets and institutions and time and again take advantage of us in any way possible given how our politicians in Ghana have made them look in our minds.
Since the sought for foreign investors was not limited to building of factories and industrial activities, the mining industry has also over the years been subjected to abuse, virtually under full control of the so called investors. This is the only country in the world with well-established mining training schools/institutions yet has no single major indigenous mining company. Therefore, these so called foreign mining companies come to Ghana not only to benefit from the nation’s extractive minerals sector but also have access to free well trained mining engineers thanks to our misguided politician who finds it needless to physically build a bridge between academia and industry. For decades, locally trained Ghanaian mining experts are hired and fired as it suits the investor.
Even though Ghana as an independent country has been mining for over half a century, the nation cannot boast of a single indigenous mining company with even 10 percent capacity compared to any foreign mining company operating here in Ghana today. If this is not an indictment on our mental capability then I don’t know what is. Perhaps the most unfortunate part is, while these locally trained mining engineers are hired to carry out all seismic and geo-tech studies using data already available to them, these foreign companies systematically refuse to even allow these Ghanaian engineers to work at certain strategic/sensitive places in order to get the required exposure and experiences which they will need in case they wish to start up their own mining companies in the future.
Nothing is more insulting than the country which was expected to lead African economic transformation, freedom and emancipation has now fallen so low that she only earns ten percent (10%) or less from the mining industry when she is actually supposed to own it.
The Banking Industry
I have always wondered the whole point of being a politician if all one can do is to follow the status quo or the set rules and regulations. In my view, one of the most principal factors for being a politician is to pursue positive change in the true interest of your country. However, when I look at the Ministry of Labour and Employment, I wonder if it actually serves the real purpose of its existence. Apart from the fact that those foreign banks take advantage of Ghanaian workers due to the extreme lack of jobs in the job market, it is human nature to take advantage or be opportunistic when you can.
As I indicated earlier in this article, our politicians have uninterruptedly publicized the nation’s desperation for foreign investment so much that, even foreign investors now think they are doing the country a favour by investing in it. As a result, banks, especially the foreign banks instead of fully employing staff with all the benefits have rather chosen to put large number of staff on contracts. These the banks find convenient because it doesn’t have to invest so much in staff allowances etc. my recent enquiry into this matter led to me to a group of staff working for a bank for between 5 and 7 years as contract staff. Taking into consideration that contract staff gets paid up to 80% less than permanent staff which includes health care, clothing allowance, rent allowance etc… it is estimated that these foreign banks save millions of cedis every year by using such employment strategy even though the labour only allows a maximum of up to 12 months upon which the employee will have to be made permanent.
The Construction Industry
The construction industry is probably the most manipulated by the so called Foreign Investors and furthermost abused in the overall economic sectors. A systematic study, clandestinely conducted in three different foreign owned construction firms revealed the most astonishing and unethical practice which has been and still being perpetrated against the people of Ghana under the so called need for foreign investors. First of all, it is understandable when a country needs foreign manufacturers in technology companies etc. to handle some specific sectors of the economy. However, I have always wondered why locally trained professionals turn to be treated often in the most unfair manner and sometimes in utterly despicable ways. For example, these foreign construction companies refuse to bring in Structural Engineers from their countries of origin due to the extremely high cost of contracting expatriates to work abroad.
Generally such practice is supposed to be in the interest of the local consultants considering the fact that, several local content policies also support the need to engage local professionals. However, these companies believe that allowing or encouraging locally trained engineers to sites could lead to them gaining experience and confidence which might lead to them starting up their own engineering and construction firms in future and therefore have devised a policy to prevent this. This is the reason why most foreign construction firms, often do not employ Ghanaian engineers and when they do, either structure, mechanical, geo-tech are only paid to develop drawings and designs and never encouraged to operate from site.
The Manufacturing Industry
I have been looking forward to a day when a politician in Ghana or an institution may conduct a thorough audit on the current operational policies of all foreign owned manufacturing companies in Ghana. It is simply incommensurable the level of disrespect to local professionals in the manufacturing industry. Local engineers are usually shoved to the background and rather foreign nationals most of which often do not even have the legal right to work in Ghana have been put in charge.
An investigation to confirm this led me to a factory in Accra where front line engineers are rather Filipinos and Indians. Such practice as I indicated earlier can only be blamed on nobody but the ill-informed politicians whose only understanding of economic development is to rely solely on foreign capital which they never really receive but rather the perceived foreign investors whose capital is generated here within Ghana and not brought in from outside the country. Great thinkers welcome. Kofi Annor.
Personal Perspective
Capitalism anywhere you find it including Western Europe had survived through Socialism or has had its foundation built on socialist policies. As a people we turn to like or dislike strategies or ideas purely based on what we physically see or experience than the deep down root causes of why things are the way they are. Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain had all primarily established their social and economic foundations purely based on socialist values.
The almost 30 year unprecedented economic growth in France led by Charles De Gaulle was based on “Dirigiste” economic policy which was exactly what Kwame Nkrumah had sought to do in the late 50s and 60s. Throughout the 20th century until its latter part, economic policy (Dirigiste) similar to that of the great French president (Charles De Gaulle) had been the primary fundamental basis for establishing sustainable long term “market driven” economic growth across Western Europe including the Scandinavians.
It is difficult to understand or envisage a real socio-economic development in Ghana under the current political system and I keep wondering why the African still can’t grow to understand politics and how the world works. This is mainly due to the fact that there is nothing scientific today in our governance system or any strategic policy which takes its roots or emanates deep from an examined psychosocial impact and analysis from colonialism. Nothing we do as a nation is based on deep reasoning taking into consideration the inner spirit and originality embedded in the soul of the African man. Everything we do is just what politicians have seen somewhere in other countries which had been conceived for and by people who often share nothing in common with us as Africans.
One can never overestimate the effect of colonialism on the minds of Africans which even makes them reject the only man (Kwame Nkrumah) with examined scientific political philosophy and ideology which could save the continent now and could’ve saved same in the 1960s.
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By: Kofi Annor/[email protected]
The post The state of Ghanaian professionals under the so-called ‘FOREIGN INVESTORS’ appeared first on Citi Newsroom.
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