Kuffour is the Worst leader in Ghana’s History

Rev. Titi Offei once said “Leadership is cause all others is the effect”, Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. Leadership is therefore very vital in any social sting because it mobilizes the energies of the people and channels them towards the desired impact. How successful a leader is, mostly depends on his charisma and ability to tap into the hopes, fears and aspirations of the people he/she is leading but most importantly timing. The issue of timing also comes with how lucky the leader is. Most wartime leaders become instant heroes just because of they happen to be in the positions at the most opportune time.

Ghana have had three main defining moments (times) when the hopes and aspirations were so high that the people were ready to endure just anything in the hope that the Ghanaian dream will be a reality. The first one was the period immediately after independence. I was not born but I could imagine how the people felt at that time, having your own people managing your own affairs for the first time under a nation state called Ghana and with a charismatic leader, there was no reason to believe the Ghana dream will not be realised. From all indications it seems Nkrumah was on track until his government was truncated, because everything that we can boast of as Ghanaians even up till today was done in his era. I must admit that on hind sight, he was leading us on a path of socialism, that have latter been found to be wrong, but with Soviet Union becoming a super power in just a few decades, there was no reason to believe it was the wrong path at that time.  Besides it would have laid a solid foundation for an economic take-off if his government was not truncated. Capitalism thrives on capital, where there are no capitalist or capital, that state needs to intervene to drive the economy in the desired direction and that was what Nkrumah sought to do. The import substitution industrialisation he adopted has been later used by all the emerging economies today at some point, South Korea, China, India and Brazil. Even the developed countries including the United States, Germany and France used that strategy at a point in their history. In short the 1966 coup destroyed the boat that would have taken Ghanaians to the Promised Land.

The second defining moment was the period after the 1979 revolution, after all the rots and decay that followed the decades after the overthrow of Dr Nkrumah, Ghanaians had another chance to break away from the past and to construct another boat that will take them to the promised land. The cooperation of the people surged to an unprecedented levels knowing that their destiny is back in their own hands. Unfortunately, the revolutionist had no plan on how to do that. All they had was their good intention which was woefully inadequate to deal with the dreams and aspirations of the people. By the time they were able to put up something they can call a plan the high hopes of the people had already fizzled out. The enthusiasm and cooperation of the people was no longer there, these are the events that led to the “kume preko” and other demonstrations.

The third defining moment was the period after the 2000 elections, I still remember the feelings back then, I was in KNUST. Fuel prices were doubled twice in less than a year and no single soul hit the streets, because we all believed that we needed to swallow bitter pills so that the ailment of the Ghanaian economy could be healed. We were taking through the painful surgery called HIPC with its harsh conditionality’s and we endured it hoping that the economy of Ghana will soon be back on track. Not only were the people of Ghana so enduring at that time, the international community particularly the western countries saw so much hope in Ghana after a smooth transition from ruling government to the opposition. They were ready and willing to support us to make a case that democracy is indeed the only way to go. The timing was just what any leader will wish for to be a hero, there could possibly be no better opportunity for a leader than that time.

All these expectations, dream and aspirations fell on one man J. A. Kuffour to manage and to direct them towards the desired results, guess what? He screwed it. During his era the few state owned enterprises that were not sold under that structural adjustment programme were sold including Ghana telecom, Ghana airways and all prime government lands in Accra and Kumasi. Corruption was state managed and directed from the castle. To add salt to injury, he declared in Cape Coast the any Ghanaian who is not rich under his government is lazy and proceeded to award himself with expensive medals.

These attitudes have created so much distrust of the people for government culminating in our lackadaisical attitude towards anything belonging to the state. Not only did he fail to deliver as a leader, he has also succeeded in making it more difficult for others that will follow in the near future.  It is based on these that I will rate him as the worst leader in Ghana’s history. Because he failed woefully to use the opportunity presented to him by time.  I don’t blame him when he keeps blowing his own trumpet, because if he doesn’t no one will. He probably thinks that he had done a great job, in that case he is alone in his thinking.