Today we had a guest lecturer for my Economic Development graduate seminar at the Institute for Statistical, Social, and Economic Research here at the University of Ghana. His name is Samuel Ameyaw and he is the Officer for Financial Stability at the Central Bank of Ghana. Being that Ghana just revalued its currency whereby 10,000 cedis = 1 new Ghana Cedi, he was a key player in the promotion of the revaluing such that investors would have greater confidence in the Ghana Cedi.
The topic of the day was poverty and the nature of the term. We discussed absolute and relative poverty, how to measure poverty, and characteristics of poverty in the rural and urban areas. This was all very interesting considering the discussion was being led by an official from the central bank who was willing to put position aside to speak freely with us; however, what was most interesting was what came later in the form of a discussion about the problems of development in Ghana.
Similar to the problems that I spoke of in the last post regarding lack of volunteerism, the central banker mentioned that in Ghana it’s the people that must want development first before any changes can take place. Too often nepotism, and the desire for power and the spotlight lead to problems of corruption and failure of programs. Ghanaians want to be leaders and take the credit and control before they have the qualifications and ideas to fill the role. In the vying for leadership, they lose sight of the problems and people they serve. Rural areas do not get their voices heard as local district assemblies have little capacity for governance. So, nothing changes there and politicians forget them. Lack of volunteerism makes development a distant thing that no one addresses because it often involves some self-sacrifice and humility.
It was strange to hear this from the central banker, but he was genuine and even gave several hundred dollars to development projects in the past without credit for them. It touched me to invigorate more Ghanaians to serve their nation by volunteering, and made me appreciate the spirit of community service in the United States. The central banker made it clear that politicians are selfish and control-hungry so they don’t welcome experts or others who come ready to help because it would mean loss of control. Even at the local level, chiefs of villages fear loss of control and so hamper development. Yes, development in Ghana and likely globally requires self-sacrifice and passion- a passion that goes beyond selfish desires and humbly recognizes that no I don’t have all the answers.
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2 comments:
What this really shows me is what insight one can gain from seeing these sorts of things firsthand. It's easy enough to read up on Ghana and proclaim expertise, yet quite another to truly experience it. Bravo! And why no further posting Mike? Are you back yet?
Hmm, highly courageous of him to admit that much.
See, the problem is true even in Nigeria. Is it a black man thing or does it cut across the world over?
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