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Quality Leadership in my view is rare and the most difficult responsibility attached to every position one can go for. It involves sacrifices and solving problems with empathy on the back of a vision that enriches and creates the wellbeing of all.

It is about listening to followers’ view and opting for the best out of the many suggestions which may come to you for the good of all. It is about having a clearly defined vision and mission and strategies to achieve them.

It's about solving problems by first looking within for solution as jurisprudent minds will tell you. This is all inclusiveness.

This is what people look out for when they vote one of their own into positions of power and more so when it has to do with the position of the number one gentleman of the nation.

Unfortunately, most leaders in our part of the world (Africa) tend to worsen the plight of their people with their approach to solving problems. It is either they look to the white man’s approach or come up with one that worsens the existing problem in the end. In my estimation, problems present leaders opportunity to make the lives of their followers better. Without problems, jobs cannot be created, without problems, most of the inventions we see today would never have been and above all, without problems, a nation does not need a leader. When a leader leads the chorus of complains, the question I always ask is: why are you there?

 Unfortunately, we have overtime ended up with leaders who don’t only compound existing problems but end up creating unique ones of their own. In view of this, many leaders are best remembered for the problems they created and not the problems they solved.

It is this understanding of leadership that has left me disappointed in the current leadership of our nation and particularly President John Dramani Mahama

Since President Mahama took over as a president, two of the key problems that have in my view confronted him are the depreciation of the Cedi and the power crises.

Even though there are others, I think these two have harmed us as a nation than all the other challenges put together.

 

Below are my reasons

THE FALL OF THE CEDI AND HOW MAHAMA TRIED TO REVERSE THE TREND


1. When President Mahama took office on 7th January 2013, the Cedi suffered a continual devaluation against all major currencies by 100% within the first two years. This was a problem that required critical thinking and presented an opportunity for the government of the day to prove it worth and win the confidence of the people. Unfortunately, President Mahama, aided by Vice Amissah Arthur, Seth Tekper and Dr Wampah decided to make the Ghana Cedi the only legal tender in the country.

The Bank of Ghana directed that all monetary transactions in the country should be conducted in the Ghana cedi, the sole legal tender.

It also directed all banks not to grant a foreign currency-denomination loan or foreign currency-linked facility to a customer who was not a foreign exchange earner. 

Only persons traveling outside the country were permitted to withdraw in the a foreign currency that didn’t have to exceed Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000.00)

This directive caused massive panic in the system and most dollar account holders trooped to their banks in large numbers to empty their dollar accounts. It was a massive empowerment of the black market and scared investors from looking at Ghana.

Some banks complained that the Bank of Ghana directives on foreign exchange had slowed deposits into foreign currency accounts, while inflows from foreign exchange earnings abroad into foreign exchange accounts had also dwindled due to the unwillingness of exporters to transfer their proceeds.

Such a decision should never have been taken without proper consultation to stakeholders. But as always, government turned death ears to the warnings from FINANCIAL experts.

In the end, potential investors were forced to look elsewhere with their monies because Ghana was not ready to accept them. Ghana which used to be the most attractive destination for investment lost that appeal to other African countries with our neighbours in Cote D’ivoire the biggest beneficiary.

The five months period when it became illegal to do business with any other currency apart from the Cedi has contributed in the massive reduction in the influx of foreign investment into the country. The result is the ever soaring numbers of unemployment confronting the nation.

Having lost our appeal and credibility as a safe haven for doing business in the sub-region, we went knocking on the doors of IMF for not only to be bailed out of our economic mess but help us regain our lost investor-confidence.

In my candid opinion, the supposed solution adopted to stabilize the cedi has caused more economic woes than the fall of the cedi could have. You cannot solve currency depreciation in a panicky fashion.

Today, our economy is being run by the IMF and all our president and his team do is to implement their directives. IMF tells government how many people to employ, how many to layoff and when to employ. What is the essence of being independent if we cannot manage our own affairs?

More problems


THE PROBLEMS CREATED BY THE SUPPOSED SOLUTION TO DUMSOR

Today, government prides itself for improving the power crises. What is overlooked is the problem the so called solution to the crises has left for every single Ghanaian to bear now and in the future.

I said on several platforms and in a number of my articles that the power barges were in no way the solution to the power crises and that the only way out was, is and will for a long time be the reliance on hydro. In other words, we can’t overlook the Akosombo Dam entirely for any alternative. I offered to help my nation out of this mess without any financial interest but I’m a Ghanaian so I don’t qualify

Today, the effects of the huge tariffs from the government cannot be over emphasised not to mention the high prices of goods and services as a result of high operational cost. It's now true that the cost of electricity bill in some areas in Ghana is higher than rent cost. This is unprecedented.

I can also confirm from my personal experience and complain from other friends in business that the cost of using your own plant is cheaper than using power from ECG. The only reason why people are still dependent on the national grid is the fact that the initial cost of acquiring the plant is very expensive. 

Should attempt to solve every single problem always degenerate into multiple problems? Can't leadership of Africa sit down and analysis the problem that confront them and solve it the African way? Is it that people benefit from creating more problems out of existing problems? 

The way forward. 

A basic study of JURISPRUDENCE will teach you that the solution to most problems confronting a particular group of people does not lie outside the group but within and around the group.

I see this statement to be factual in all circumstances, be it in the field of engineering, business or even in the scientific world. My personal experience in these various fields makes me believe in that.

Unfortunately, African leaders are always looking above the sky, stretching their necks like ostriches to the external world for solution to every problem that confronts them.

We forget about the schools we have attended, the experts at the beacon call of our leaders and the many good things God has blessed this nation with. Governance is about bringing all on board to pursue a common agenda for the good of all. You can’t lead me if you don’t believe in me.

In our parts of the world, governments’ adopt fire fighting approach to solving problems and this ends up worsening the existing problems and creating new ones. We are a country always walking into ever growing stacks of problems

African leaders must know there will be no short cut to a successful and lasting solution to any problem confronting us except that solution emanate from within and has its roots deeply rooted within the soils of Africa. 

Relating this concept to the two main issues identified in this article, I want to suggest that the solution to our developmental needs as a nation does not always lie on the excessive borrowings all in the name of non-existing infrastructure as most African leaders claim. The results are what we see today. There is huge pressure on the local currency that results in the unprecedented devaluation.  As a nation, we need to know that hard work will always keep us going as a nation. Borrowing for every single project will forever destabilize our macroeconomic environment.

Going forward, we must plan according to our cash flow and develop alongside it. Loans can only be taken purely under project financing where the loan is expected to service the repayment and nothing else.
Secondly appointment of people into leadership positions should be solely by merit and nothing else. I see the fiscal policies by the Economic and Finance Minister; Mr Set Tekpeh clearly shows that he is a man not up to the task. Compare Seth Tekper to Osafo Marfo and Kwabena Duffour and you will come to terms with why our economy is getting worse.

For the issue of Dumsor the least said about it the better. A concrete, cost effective and long-term solution has been proposed by my good self but all has fallen on death years. In case I have to remind my readers, the solution is to get the water back behind the dam to power the turbines. Build more smaller hydroelectric dams across the country and fix in these features to recycle the water during the dry seasons and it will be all. This is not a speculative suggestion, I have presented details on how to do it in the past and I still stand by it.

In conclusion, I love to say that that nature was complete in its creation, hence leadership should first look within and around us for solutions to problems that confront us rather than importing wholesale solutions from outside which are mostly pregnant with problems bigger than the very one they were supposed to resolve.

This is what we get when the mind-set of government is always to score political points and win the next election. This nation will never record meaningful development so long us elections means more than anything to those at the helm of affairs. Problems require critical thinking to be able to settle for the best solution out of the lot that comes up. An elections minded leader always lacks the patience to choose the best out of the good because they always appear to be running out of time.

Today, the Cedi is stable and the power flow has improved but the cost of this is beyond the initial problem.

We deserve better because we can do better

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