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The State Construction Corporation, SCC for short, was in the years gone by the biggest construction firm in the country. It was Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, our first President, who carved it out of the Public Work Department (PWD) to handle major construction works in the country. The PWD was left with doing mainly maintenance jobs on government properties, especially buildings. Until its demise in the 80s, the SCC attracted some of the best engineers in the country. These engineers were imbued with a high sense of nationalism to give off their best in the building of then the foremost nation in Africa. Its headquarters at the South Industrial area, not far from New Times Company and adjacent to GIHOC headquarters, was a beehive of activities. I still remember visiting there a couple of times to see my late brother, Mr Omar El-Alawa, who was at that time, in the early 70s, the Chief Engineer for roads. His friend, Mr S.K. Danso, was then the Managing Director. These were real professionals. The SCC had well equipped regional branches where young engineers like Aliu Mahama (Tamale) and Amadu Aminu (Koforidua) were in charge. What remains of the SCC headquarters today is a carcass that serves as a reminder of its glorious past when it dominated the Ghanaian construction scene like a colossus, taking care of major construction works, from roads to buildings in the country. It was the practice in those days, when the SCC held sway, for it to give number tags to its projects. And these projects were many, scattered all over the country. OAU summit Today, I remember Job 600, which was built in 1965 for the third Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now African Union (AU) summit, hosted by Ghana, in Accra. The Accra OAU conference of 1965 was seen by many political pundits as an honour to Dr Kwame Nkrumah for the yeoman�s role he played in the establishment of the organisation. The inaugural conference in 1963 was held in Addis Ababa while the second in 1964 took place in Cairo, hosted by Nkrumah�s pal, General Abdel Gamal Nasser. As if Osagyefo knew it was going to be his last OAU conference, he put in every effort to ensure that the Accra gathering of African leaders was a real showpiece. The SCC handled Job 600, and to perfection. Everybody worked tirelessly to get it ready for the summit. Wherever one was passing, Job 600 appeared to dominate Accra�s skyline. For football enthusiasts especially, it was a delight to catch a bird�s eye view from the Accra Sports Stadium during the period it was under construction, as work progressed on the project. Death of big dreams Job 600 was probably the greatest job ever handled by the erstwhile SCC. The State House, which was the end product of Job 600 was built by Ghanaians for Ghana and Africa. That was almost about half a century ago, my dear readers. Time really flies indeed. That was the era when Ghanaians were motivated by some of Nkrumah�s sayings that the blackman was capable of managing his own affairs. It was a great period to be a Ghanaian whether at home or in the diaspora. Unfortunately, all the big dreams Osagyefo had for Ghana, all the big big things he planned for the country died with him. The SCC remained the biggest construction firm in Ghana well into the 80s. Most of our roads were built by the SCC during this period and the company also accounted for a number of public buildings. There is also the case of the State Housing Corporation, better known as the SHC. It was this corporation that was responsible for the building of estates such as Dansoman, Teshie-Nungua and Labone in Accra, Kwadaso, Suntrerso and Patasi n Kumasi, Kalpohin and Vittin in Tamale and others in Sekondi, Cape Coast, Koforidua, Bolgatanga and elsewhere. In addition, there were Ghanaian registered foreign contractors like Taylor Woodrow (later Toysec), A. Lang and a few others that also helped to build Ghana in those early years after independence up to the 80s. Local contractors such as P. Ghanem, Gbewaa, J. Stanley Owusu, S.K Mainoo and others lent their support to ensure the rapid infrastructural development of Ghana. Technology transfer What saddens me today as I remember the good days of the SCC and the SHC is that Ghana lost the opportunity of the transfer of technology in the area of construction to other parts of the continent. We started early and we could have been the leaders in the building of Africa with our engineers and technicians giving support in the development efforts of newly emerging nations. Now those countries who were inspired by Ghana to fight for independence have caught up with us and appear to be developing faster than us because their people show more love and commitment to their countries. What can we say about countries such as India, Malaysia and Korea with whom we were at par in 1957. They have left us far behind because of good leadership while their people are more patriotic and nationalistic, putting their countries above themselves. What must have accounted for the fate that befell the SCC and the SHC was that with Nkrumah gone, that sense of patriotism and nationalism we saw in the early years of nationhood deserted Ghanaians. The many military coups that dominated the political terrain took its toll on Ghanaians. No more was there any security of tenure as Ghanaians started thinking about themselves first and the nation second. It was no longer what one could do for Ghana but what one could do to get out of the situation. Eventually, we were told the SCC was heavily indebted to the banks. All her assets were sold off and all the workers were handsomely paid off. That was the death knell. But then if the assets could be disposed of and workers paid off, why did government not bail the company out and inject more funds for it to survive. Unfortunately, government took the easiest way out and today we are suffering for it. All the engineers went out to establish their construction companies and they returned to business, doing what SCC was doing but not as good as SCC. Who gained? Who benefitted? One should be tempted to ask where are all the civil engineers and building technologists produced by KNUST. In the past, almost all of them were absorbed by the SCC, the SHC and other government agencies like the city and district councils. KNUST is still producing these civil engineers and building technologists. A few find themselves working with government but a larger number find themselves employed by private companies which are into construction. Does it mean government cannot succeed in such ventures that is why the private companies have been left to have a field day? There is also the case of private contractors who handle government jobs and after executing these jobs for government, (using their own resources, normally through loans from banks), are left to wait for months and even years for their money. Meanwhile their indebtedness will continue to grow, which can sometimes lead to the liquidation of their companies. Yet, foreign companies from China, Brazil and other developing countries are all over the place executing government contracts. They are quickly paid and their profits are immediately transferred to their home countries. And who says what they are doing here cannot be done by Ghanaians given the encouragement? Surely with the politicisation of everything we do in Ghana and the winner-takes-all syndrome, where lies our salvation as a nation? Since whatever government does is looked at with a political lens, it will certainly take a miracle for us to catch up with countries like Korea, Malaysia, China, India, Brazil etc. who are now dominating our economy.