Ghana’s economic crisis due to lack of pure management, principles and practices by governments since the inception of the 1992 Constitution

When a country is governed on pretense, lies, and faking by governments and the educated society joining, such acts and behaviours are the constant results that Ghana always finds itself.

Governments run on pretense as well as the educated society becoming jokers in addition is the main cause of Ghana’s woes.

It does appear that governments know the right things to disrupt economic growth but fail to do the needful, leading by example and resigning (which is a sign of good governance practice). The same thing goes on in the ministries and other government departments, institutions, agencies, commissions, and authorities.

None of these sector leaders lead by example by resigning which would have sent a clear message to the Ghanaian citizens and the world at large that things are hard and beyond him/her and so, therefore, he/she will give way for new or fresh brains to come and fix the problems for the economy to strive.

This type of leadership practice is lacking in Ghana because of the do-and-die affairs and all costs to lead by force for selfish interest and gains, and it’s not about having the entire country at heart.

Based on these statements above one could deduce that the problem of Ghana as a country and its management principles and practice is gendered on the following terms: rule by all means and force, rule by pretense on unknown future, rule by faking actions, rules like chiefs and monarchy. One is yet to see the genuineness of democracy as a governance practice in Ghana.

On the other hand, educated citizens behave in a divided and confused manner on party lines whereby they engage in the media with hate, quarrels, unnecessarily heated debates, and above all compounds the problems that the country faces. No unity and trust in the systems render management of the economy useless and mercy to corruption, selfishness, and greediness.

Also, the Media houses and platforms have turned their stations into party houses or platforms whereby they rant on newspaper headlines and run commentary with the same people (the MPs and government appointees) who are supposed to make sure that Ghana booms but unfortunately, they sit and argue about who brought hardship and poverty on Ghanaians less or more to the people of Ghana without any remorse of failed deliverance of their manifestoes. They rant on those stations and platforms like movie actors.

They are supposed to solve Ghana’s problems which are paramount but not to be ranting on TV and radio stations. Even these days, we see and hear some journalists standing on their TV or radio stations and sacking public officers or people appointed by the President of Ghana.

That is how the economy is loose. Do we run offices or administration on TV stations? All such acts are mockery and inferior in the eyes of the world at large. Our inaccurate constitution is still paramount in ruling us as a nation and so it stipulates how to get individual citizen problems solved at a point in time using the appropriate channels.

The “uneducated citizens” who are normally referred to as illiterates have also failed to reason through their traditional cultural principles and allowed the politicians to pollute their minds which corrupts and diminishes their way of thinking truth and honesty. So, they are confused because they don’t understand the economic language, therefore, they follow tribalism, hypocrisy, and ignorance.

This has eroded their societies and communities since they tag each other on party lines. Hence, their decision-making process has been corrupted and that reduced their dignity as citizens. More importantly, the country is built on the constitution but the constitution itself has fundamental problems in terms of realities.

Hence, it is the major problem for Ghana since it is the one that defines our democratic process of electing leaders. But the moral brain and management principles and practices are enshrined in it which are not put to proper and accurate use.

In management theory and practice, it is stated that if decisions do not conform to plans it is the management’s duty to take control measures. This means that in terms of Ghana’s management, who takes control measures in the constitution which already have fundamental problems.

This means that Ghana already has very weak fundamentals in its set up hence, the need to correct that by introducing pure management principles and practice as the economic operational tools or activities to change the governance systems and structures for the better, without both internal or external influence, fear, or favor.

This is the more reason why President Obama said in Ghana here that Africa doesn’t need strong men but strong institutions. This is a big caveat for Africans to take steps to change the poor fundamentals of governance systems and structures through the constitution first by proper amendments to suit the world governance as current practices with pure management principles and practice in place.

In view of all these the governments of Ghana, including their appointees, must be prepared and ready to vacate their positions when their decision fails the country, Ghana. This is the best practice of democracy but not the aforementioned bad principles and practices such as ruling by force, pretense, and faking, as chiefs and monarchy.

This way of practice has never yielded any better economic growth for Ghana but what we constantly see with these bad principles and practice is life goes on with constant debts and challenges which makes us continuously poorer. In contrast, countries that we refer to as advanced and developed, practice proper management principles by resigning if they cannot manage their decisions or if their decisions fail.

They give a chance to others but this is the law or constitutional system they have been practicing. The happenings in the UK regarding Prime Ministers of UK position in the space of 6 months, they changed three Prime Ministers.

Let’s not be mistaken and think that the problem that these advances and developed countries have has been the same as Ghana’s problems, no. What it is, is that their problems directly affect Ghana and Africa as a whole since currently we depend heavily on their economies and investors. This must be a win, win situation. With the practice of management principles, it will bring good governance and discipline to society and the economy.

The educated society must as of now behave maturely with open minds, and objectivity, and maintain truth without political colors or taking a side. By so doing we will have the governments and the public sector working well with deliverables. Moreover, the illiterates must follow their culture and tradition to make decisions without influences or tribalism.

If tribalism is what we use to make voting decisions, then no wonder all the elected members and leaders of the institutions are behaving like gods and untouchables. No one can change this unless the people.

Again, the greediness and selfishness we have in the governments and the public sector institutions must be changed through the implementation of good managers’ not just politicians or party people. This is the way the administration and governance of the country are mismanaged.

What people should understand is that demand and supply or elasticity of demand and supply, and scarcity of goods and services can be achieved if only pure management principles and practice are put in place but not a party or political reward sharing.

In this case, I would encourage governments to always create proper job designs and advertise for suitable candidates with a management background and experience but not just appoint party members without the relevant experience and qualifications.

Currently, Ghana’s economy and administration is been managed by political parties sharing the economic wealth of the nation, Ghana. This cannot give us better development.

The Media men also run their stations as if they are political party houses and so, therefore, there are a lot of hullaballoos in the country from the media journalists. The journalists must change their style of reporting. Reporting in Ghana by practicing the Western or EU, and the American style will never give us good society and governance.

In all these, the fundamentals of Ghana’s constitution and the kind of models that the governments practice is yet to be identified. The moral behavior and patriotism among the old and the young are distasteful and this needs to change. This means the youth need proper role models to emulate in Ghana and then strive.

For example, you see the youths of today joining politics not because they wanted to but it’s because there are no jobs or enabling opportunities, therefore, they have no choice but to join a political party with the hope of becoming like the current or past politicians.

In the nutshell, the country must take steps to introduce proper management principles and practices in the administration and governance of the economy for the better. If not, they will never be any hope for them. We have to now decode what the 1992 constitution mean by propagating the term “management”, “to manage”, and “economic management”.

According to a renowned Management guru and theory, Henri Fayol, identify 14 principles of management namely division of work, authority, and responsibility, discipline, unity of command, unity of direction, subordination of individual interest, remuneration, centralization, scalar chain, order, equity, stability, initiative, and esprit de corps.

Is this what the constitution predicts? I bear to differ and governments must engage professionals with prerequisite qualifications and experience to manage public sector and government institutions and not just by appointing party members.

The civil servant’s role and responsibilities must be a true leadership position that can make concrete decisions for the institutions without political interference or influence. All these principles and practices will be meaningless if the constitution will not be changed to reflect pure management principles and practices, and our institutions will continue to be weak, not strong.

The truth also is that the four-year term in office to manage the whole country is too small for imagination. How many years do you take to build a house and how more a whole country in just four years?

The destruction of our economic growth and progress is real. Besides, it seems people think of national development as just a presidential thing, no. All citizens have to have the same mentality of doing good and right things with the government’s administration.

Without the nation thinking right together, we can never achieve proper human capital development as a nation. The constitution currently divides us and so until it is amended to bring people together in a rightful way.

Besides, the regional divisions are not an example of togetherness, hence, our challenges have been compounded. Therefore, all boils down to the shaky constitution. Ghana’s problems are never four years term solutions. So, we must set the constitution, systems, and structures right.