The people of Ghana are not what's wrong with Ghana. Like many other Ghanaians, frustrated beyond measure either by the perverse road culture of others or by the poor service in restaurants or bars or by mindless processes at say the Licensing Office, we attribute everything to "these Ghanaians" as in "as for these Ghanaians" or "what's wrong with Ghanaians". Even the famous Osagyefo, according to his British Secretary, Erica Powell, occasionally slipped into "these Ghanaians" frustration. It is a satisfying as a short hand explanation for the indiscipline or our response to governance, but really Ghanaians, for all our unique attributes and "behaviors", are like other human beings. We respond to incentives, just as we respond to sanction, including naming and shaming, like other human beings. In short we bleed like others. No, the Ghanaian is not what is wrong with Ghana. What's wrong with Ghana is that we have allowed wrong to grow, strengthen, institutionalize as part of national life and metastasize that it seems to have overwhelmed our leaders and our institutions. As we break into a national chorus on the peace and unity that the death of President Atta Mills has unleashed, let us pause from this national kumbaya moment, however satisfying momentarily, and reflect on what really is wrong with Ghana. The quality of life of Ghanaians depend on getting real, our development efforts depend on it. And so we do not forget, this is a nation that has seen its fair share of exhortations, including a period of a national patriotic movement that came with a national pledge, made at the cost of our honor daily; a nation that tried on a number of occasions to defy economic behavior and the markets with appeals and prayers and a nation that takes its religious worship and sermons seriously. No, a national moment is not what is needed to end what is wrong with Ghana. As you read this, a deadly impact object (DIO), a long dark container on an articulated truck, has sat on the Accra beach road in the centre of the Accra-bound lane, for at least two nights, without lights, blinkers, flares or even warning twigs- an invitation for a major road accident or deadly crash, with loss of lives. This DIO sits only a few meters from the Teshie Nungua Police Station. You can fill in the blanks. Is there nothing the police could do, even in terms of alerting on coming vehicles? Can a nation that imports official vehicles for state occasions and send thousands of people with no discernible purpose to conferences abroad every year not afford to have a fee paying road towing service or contract such services to the private sector, save lives and spare the agony and loss of our human resources? Will the head of the station and the driver of truck be held accountable? The answers are obvious. That is part of what is wrong with Ghana. Driving between Accra and Axim over the past week there were many such DIOs, with even deadly prospects. Along the road, one of the state institutions, It is presumed, had sign posted the number of dead road users at different points on the road. It seems admirable but it was observed that car speeds at those points were not noticeably slower; on the contrary they were brazen. Just as motorists, presumably a fair share of them church or mosque goers, in Accra or elsewhere drive recklessly, cut in at dangerous speeds without even turning on their trafficikators or create illegal lanes and get ahead of law abiding motorists, the deadly behavior on our roads and the utter lack of civility or charity is not a demonstration of lack of social messages. And we probably do not need those who study how people behave in groups to tell us that the cost or penalty of anti- social or criminal behavior, such as fines, temporary confinement of DIOs and administrative sanction, including enforcement of code of conduct through work places, have a better impact on behavior than exhortation. Exhortation has it's place- it just seems to work better in an environment of enforcement and undesirable penalty. The prospect of hell apparently is quite remote for some. Signage of course is very important, don't get me wrong. But for a nation hoping to exploit tourism, the lack of adequate and visible signs, just as the paucity of information on our beautiful tourist sites, is difficult to understand. We could of course invest in signage on the way to Axim or Kakum or Bole in the same manner as our road safety campaigns. Somehow, there is a sense of casualness in our approach to economic enterprise, a situation affecting even service at some of our top hotels. Of course they are private. But both the central government and municipal administration have tools for compelling action such as inspections followed by visibly posted notices regarding review of rating etc. The bottom line is that we are still in a seller's market and there are so many places open to those whose spending will lift the economy. If businesses fear for their bottom line, they definitely will respond. That works everywhere and will work for Ghana. The list could go on and on. If the road worthiness program works, or the countless road checks by the police work, how Is it that we see many vehicles on the road without lights, yes, without lights? Yet for the law abiding citizen going to the small number of places for the annual road worthy certificate this can be a frustrating experience. Should we not invest in a data base that can track vehicles that fail to go through proper checks while opening up the centers for checks to providers to improve the quality of life of Ghanaians and maximize efficiency? The changes made at the Licensing Office, including computerization, has been beneficial but thousands of drivers and those registering new cars etc still spend hours milling about the Accra office, trudging after officials in the baking heat and losing countless man hours on a service that could be simplified including at points of sale or by mail. The same goes for the court system, where traffic infractions etc could be dealt with by mail so the courts that focus on cases dealing with land disputes etc that affect our investment potential. Such quality of life approaches to policy can reduce the stress of living in this blessed land while adding to our economic outcomes. Then there was Ghana Airways- a lost national opportunity which in the case of Ethiopia can be equated to our gold or cocoa. Ghana Airways and the way we debate issues or pronounce on issues in this country shows what is wrong with Ghana. If our national project is to reach the heights dreamed by our founding fathers and mothers, we cannot approach issues of national importance the way we currently do. And that includes a national airline or taking advantage of our skilled expertise in piloting etc and our potential as a gateway. The decisions regarding foreign exchange accounts and our goal of being an important off shore financial services centre. In all the discussion regarding judgment debt or the health/ medical protocol for our leaders, something that should extend to medical boards for senior officials with medical issues, not much focus has been put on how to respond to future occurrences or avoid repetition. Both those in government and those outside it have become fixated on the argument of what happened or did not happen, which is proper, but lost in the accusations and counter accusations is a leadership question- how should we protect our nation from incurring such mindless debts in future. This applies to the disregard for planning rules or deliberate authorization against the planning rules and the compensation the state pays when we have to break down buildings. Others have written about developments closet the Tema Motorway. We still have not focussed on building a new airport, a worthy national project requiring discussion and decision. What is missing in all these areas is a certain leadership based on vision, determination and effective management. Malaysia and South Korea come to mind and please do not say we started life as an independent nation ahead of them. It is pointless. What we can do is learn from them. Effective leadership cannot however be left alone to a President, even though we expect our Presidents to lead. We need our political leaders, other civic leaders and those with ideas to be thought leaders who help generate ideas; and we need our leaders in government to cultivate the habit of listening because winning an election does not confer a monopoly of wisdom on the winners. If we had true leadership of thought, we would have heard the "unthinkable" discussion of a national/government after every major election to tackle our major national projects that would finally ease the hard lives of our people. That of course requires courage that we have yet seen. But at least, let us have a commitment that we will be a serious nation and that the person with the authority to lead will make us reach for our better angels in our civic interaction,the same way Nkrumah de-tribalised politics by his governance, and that this will be a nation of laws and not men and governance can be smarter. What is wrong with Ghana is that we are still waiting for the leadership. 14 August 2012