Bigmanism and nyebroism-cracks in state institutions

By Theodore Mawuli K. Viwotor

It is important to stress here that the term ‘nyebroism’ was chosen for its popularity and relevance but has no tribal meaning or inferences. Nyebroism simply means the act of identifying with and helping one’s brother, friend or relative.

“Hello bro, do you know any big man in the Police Service, Immigration or in the Ministry of Defense etc.?”

The above question or enquiry is a common occurrence in Ghana, especially if you are a journalist, political activist or in a high position in one of the institutions in the country.

It is a regular occurrence to have a relative or friend call you to know if you are connected to any big man or woman in an institution of influence when one needs to get some business through, save someone from a dire situation or pave the way for someone else.

This phenomenon has become so rampant that people’s importance is measured by the number of big men they know, especially in the political class who are capable of giving orders from above.

In several instances of my interaction with the Police Service, I came to understand that, the term ‘Order from Above’ is mostly initiated by politicians who just need a phone call to make useless the entire hierarchy of the police command.

I recall an instance where a friend’s relative was arrested over an issue with a mechanic (name withheld) concerning an accident he caused; he reneged on the payment for some time, leading to the mechanic calling in a police officer closer to the President at the time. As usual, the calls started going round and he happened to be called because it was believed that, as a journalist he had the privilege of knowing big men who could cause his immediate release.
My friend called someone at the National Security Secretariat with the hope that he could do something about it. After getting information on the case, he realized the officer in question was one of the security attachés to the president; indeed, he was the head of the dispatch riders. The National Security man frankly told my friend to forget it because the man was too powerful to have his orders disobeyed. The case in question wasn’t even a criminal one in the first place.

If that man was less powerful than the National Security person, there would have been an immediate release as was the case of another man who was summarily released from police custody after the intervention of a big man.

There are many other cases of big men intervening to change situations that ordinarily needed no human intervention if our institutions were working well. In 2005, I was in the office when a woman walked to the Managing Editor (name withheld), crying over an issue with the Ministry of Defense. The woman’s son was once knocked down by a military vehicle and the woman had been going to the Defense Ministry for redress without success. On that day, she had been driven away at the entrance so had no option than to come to the office, hoping the Managing Editor would help.

After narrating her story, I saw the Managing Editor suddenly calling the Defense Minister to report the case to him. He then told the woman to go back to the same Ministry before it is 2:00 p.m. since the Minister would be leaving at that time. Magically, the woman got direct access to the Minister and the rest was history. Should the woman come to a Senior Journalist to have her case heard?
Many of such issues continue to happen around us and most Ghanaians have been made to believe that, they can only get some things done through big men or friends and relatives in influential positions. The reason is not far-fetched. Ghana, just like many African countries, have not been able to build strong institutions capable of functioning with less human influence. Our institutions have been left in the hands of people so much so that, they can only work through manipulations.

A simple example is the Passport Office or the processing of passports. This institution is one of the worse in the country when it comes human manipulation and influence. In the name of protocol, bigmanism, nyebroism and middlemanism, the institution has been reduced into an unserious one with Ghanaians pronouncing curses on it anytime they want to acquire a passport. To decently acquire a passport in Ghana today, one must either know a big man who can easily call another big man at the Passport Office and presto, it is done with no sweat. Alternatively, the applicant must know somebody in the office or be willing to pay exorbitant fees for middle men (goro boys) to get it on time and decently. Failure to do any of the above meant the applicant would have to queue for hours and at times, days to go through the process and would additionally be frequenting the premises to check on progress of work on their passport. Even with the introduction of the biometric passport to replace the manual one, the problem is still there. One hopes that with the introduction of the online application, the situation would change. Many observers claim it is just a mirage as long as our institutions remain in the manipulative hands of people instead of the system working on its own.

Why are our institutions not working?

A conversation I had with a German father might help with the answer. He told me, “You (Ghanaians and Africans) have a very strong social system in which each person is there for the other. We (Germans and Westerners) have a very strong welfare system in which the state takes care of all and each one for himself”.
To a large extent, the statement I true and reflective of the way we have lived over the years. In times of sickness, lack of funds, funerals, birthdays, naming ceremonies, christening, among others, we have always depended on each other. We easily call friends and relatives in such situations to help and they do, some are not even asked to do so but they still do. Even when it comes to loans for business, we prefer falling on friends and relatives than the banking institutions because the former is more reliable. This is not the case in the West where people depend more on institutions in such times than their relatives or friends. When a system is very reliant on relatives and friends, it is likely to become subjected to the influence of close allies; those in key positions become too powerful that they decide on who should get what.

This way of doing things has become so pervasive in our system that, people who could ordinarily get what they are legitimately entitled to, resort to using their links to get it instead of walking directly to the desks that deal with such matters. For instance, recruitment into the Police and Immigration Services and Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) should be right of any qualified Ghanaian desiring to get employed in those state institutions. Instead of using the right medium to apply, many people resort to middle or connection men and end up being duped under the pretense that they would be given protocol treatment. It is the mentality of people deeply immersed in the social system that is controlled by nyebroism and bigmanism.

Our institutions can only work if we deliberately insulate the human influence from the way things are done. In the case of passport processing, we need to give priority to Ghanaians who responsibly follow the rules by going online to apply, with less chance to those who would want to use protocol and supervision would be necessary. Supervision ought to be done with all the seriousness and partiality else that one too becomes another weakness in the system. There are many supervisors who have been compromised by friends, relatives and money and that in itself turns out into a problem.

The effect of bigmanism and nyebroism may not be felt by those in influential positions or have relatives in such places. To them it is grace and divine provision. But, to the numerous unfortunate ones who have no friends or relatives in key positions, it is a curse to live in such a system that is unfavorable to the down-trodden and less-privileged.

Making the system work on its own would take a long time, considering the institutional reforms needed and the deployment of technology required in an unfriendly environment that is used to the old ways of doing things; but, if commitment is put into it with the future generations in mind, a time would come when Ghanaians would confidently do things without fear or favor since everyone would become the system’s favorite.

The future generations deserve a better system than what exists now, else Ghana would become a class state where things work for the rich, connected and influential people but for the less-privileged it is gloom and painful wishful thinking. This is likely to breed a crop of people who would only see violence as their means of breaking through that circle of privileged ones. The resort to becoming rich at all cost would then endanger the system, especially for the rich who would likely live in fear of being harmed by the down-trodden.
It feels good to be at the enjoyment side of bigmanism and nyebroism but it should be the responsibility of all to help patch the cracks in the system by adding up to the efforts at bridging the gap between the more connected and the less connected. The pendulum might swing one day to the other side.