……Because Of Camp Politics In Government

Osahene Boakye Djan, the supposed originator of Ghana’s 1979 military coup has accused the current government of taking bribes from foreign investors who plan doing business in Ghana.

Boakye Djan, made the remark in a recent interview he granted Baffour Ankomah, Editor of the Africawatch magazine. DAYBREAK reproduces excerpts of that interview:

Question: But people think that, looking at the economy now, he is not doing much.

Answer: Who could have done better? Ruling a country is not a personality thing, it’s a whole culture. If there is something going wrong, it doesn’t start and end with Mills, it start with the whole crop of people put together to assist him do the job.

The real danger to me is that the country is running down to a halt because of camp politics. You try to arrange a meeting at the Castle to see the president, before you get there; they would have assessed you to find out whether you are pro-Rawlings or pro-Mills? And if the person who does the assessment is pro-Mills and you are pro-Rawlings, then you will not see the president.

I have investors coming to me to complain that to reach a point of action in government, you have to choose your steps carefully because the first question they (in government) ask themselves is “Is he in the Rawlings camp or is he in the Mills camp?”

If somebody has introduced you to the government from the Rawlings camp, that’s a good reason why you won’t be listened to, you understand. It doesn’t matter what you are coming with. Now, if you happen to be sympathetic to Mills and the executive officer in charge of the particular request you are making is a Rawlings supporter, then you are in trouble. No matter how Mills professes or wants action to be taken, nothing will happen.

I have got a lot of investors coming to me, complaining that they have to bribe their way into the two camps to have things looked at. You don’t rule a country like that and get things going.

Unless we as a people change our politics from this irrational calculation of interests to a rational calculation of interests that will benefit everybody, we are going nowhere.