Patrick Awuah: I'm sad our leaders don't listen

Ashesi University Founder, Dr Patrick Awuah, has said he sometimes feels sad for Ghana because the country’s leaders do not listen to good advice.

Dr Awuah, who was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year 2014, by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship told Albert Ocran on Joy FM Sunday that he wished Ghanaian leaders could listen to technocrats, who proffer advice on Ghana’s development.

“I have had instances where public officers have come and asked for advice, we’ve given it, and they’ve ignored it,” he revealed.

“And I’ve seen that exact same advice implemented in other countries in Africa and be very successful, and when I see that I feel a little sad for Ghana that the people in charge don’t always listen, and don’t even pay attention to the evidence in front of them, and I wish they would,” he added.

The Elon University Entrepreneurship Medal winner said there were a lot of lessons Ghana could learn from Singapore in order to develop.

“In Singapore the Government had clearly identified things that they were doing and they also created a lot of space for the private sector to operate and the Government also made a point to not promise an easy path for the people, so they didn’t promise that things were going to be free; they didn’t say electricity is free, fuel is free, this and that is free.

“They chose a path of pragmatism of saying people will have to pay an economic price for what they use and their Government is also not obstructionist against the private sector,” the Haas School leadership award winner said.

He, however, added that the “leadership has to convince people that they can do that and create the space, and create the enabling environment for people to do that.”