Ghana stands on the brink of significant political change, with the promise of a new president, a fresh parliament, and substantial turnover in the civil service come January 7, 2025.
Yet, Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, in a pointed critique, strongly asserted that, these changes alone may not suffice to alter the country’s trajectory unless there is a fundamental shift in governance and accountability.
In a detailed critique, the IMANI’s Honorary Vice President argued that the cornerstone of effective governance lies in adopting well-thought-out, data-driven, and broadly debated policies.
Public projects, he insisted, must stem from sectoral strategies meticulously crafted with the best available data and monitored rigorously by elites in policy, media, and civil society.
These elites, he noted, should champion transparency and ensure accountability, a task according to him, they are currently failing to fulfill.
“Sounds uncontroversial but Ghana’s current situation is very far from this. Much of the current fiscal disaster resulted from many uncosted projects and spending patterns linked to no real strategy leading to very low return on public investment. I will illustrate in a moment”.
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
He pointed out that the lack of foresight and strategic planning has left Ghana’s economy mired in inefficiency and waste.
Ghana’s “Koliko Elites”: A Critique
The renowned and seasoned policy analyst, did not mince words when assessing the role of Ghana’s elites, whom he dubbed “Koliko elites”—a reference to traditional puppets tossed about without clear direction.
He criticized these individuals for aligning themselves with political parties or leaders rather than developing and advocating for independent, visionary national strategies.
“The elite are the weakest link. In a serious society, the elites spend years refining ideas that they believe can drive national progress. They then shop for political forces to align with their national vision.
“In Ghana, it is the other way round. The elite choose a political party, faction, or leader, and then spend time contorting themselves to align their views with the direction of that party. Thus, they don’t agitate within the party to force alignment with any vision or national strategy.
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
This lack of intellectual independence, he argued, prevents elites from challenging their political affiliations when these parties or leaders deviate from sound governance principles.
A Case Study: Immigration Landing Cards
To illustrate his critique, Bright Simons pointed to the February 2023 announcement by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia abolishing the requirement for filling immigration landing cards.
According to him, the move was made without any supporting policy or strategic justification and has since created a significant gap in border security.
He disclosed that countries typically abandon manual border processes like landing cards only after implementing advanced data integration systems that allow airlines to transmit passenger information directly to immigration authorities.
However, Bright Simons argued that in Ghana’s case, no such system was in place. He described the paper-based model as inefficient but at least legally functional, while the abrupt cessation left a vacuum in border screening.
“Yet, many Ghanaian elites embraced this on the grounds of convenience and even hailed the Veep for his bold and visionary gesture. Not a single one of them had seen any thoughtful justification for the change. For 21 months now a huge gap in border screening has been allowed to persist.”
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
The Real Motive: A Digitalization Contract
Additionally, the Honoraary Vice President of the IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Bright Simons revealed that the underlying motive behind the policy is the awarding of a lucrative contract to a favored company for “digitising” the landing card process.
He emphasized that political wrangling and financial hurdles delayed the rollout, leaving the border screening system in disarray for nearly two years.
“Until last month when nearly $30 million was assigned to another, also favoured, company first introduced to the Veep’s office by the Deputy Minister of Transport, a strong ally of the Veep.
“In an earlier role regulating the downstream sector, he had engaged the same company to introduce tracking solutions. This company is mostly a middleman operation, bringing tech from Turkey, Singapore & elsewhere to Ghana”.
Bright Simons, Honorary Vice President of IMANI Centre for Policy and Education
To address these systemic issues, Bright Simons called for a radical change in how Ghana’s elites engage with governance, and strongly urged them to prioritize national interests over political loyalties and demand accountability for public projects.
Without such a shift, he warned, the cycle of inefficiency, waste, and fiscal mismanagement will persist, undermining the country’s development prospects.
Ghana’s impending political transitions present an opportunity for reflection and reform. However, as Bright Simons’ critique underscored, meaningful progress requires more than new faces in leadership.
It demands a transformation in how policies are conceived, implemented, and monitored, and how elites choose to engage with the political system.
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