“THE TIME FOR A PARADIGM SHIFT IS NOW!”
I was honored to be named Honorary President of Solidaire Governance Forum (Ghana)–a think tank and advocacy group formed by some of Ghana’s leading academics and opinion leaders. The Forum was officially launched on September 21, 2021. https://nationalistgh.com/prof-atuguba-atta-mills-other-academics-form-new-cso-to-fight-inequalities/
Below, I reproduce my maiden communication to this illustrious group of Honorary Fellows of Solidaire Governance Forum (SGF) as well as reproduce their responses while redacting the messages to protect the privacy of the Honorary Fellows. As the reader can verify, the responses confirmed our assessment that Ghana is in sore need of deep-seated social, economic, political, and constitutional reforms, as conditions sine qua non for eradicating corruption, inequality, and economic decline.
Moreover, we believe that the Agenda for Reform cannot wait for the political alternation of power. Indeed, we elect our leaders and law makers to enact laws and champion reforms that enhance efficiency in the provision of government services and the use of public resources, as well as level the playing field for all to realize their full potential as productive citizens of Ghana. Our leaders must be judged on how they wielded their political power and used the apparatus of the state to the benefit of the population and not on what monuments or edifices they left behind. Above all, we do not elect our leaders to award contracts, be adjudicators of contract awards, or to execute projects and contracts.
We are of the view that current and future leaders cannot evade political party and political campaign financing, procurement, and emoluments reforms, as well as constitutional amendments that ensure accountability. As an Honorary Fellow put it so succinctly “The Time for a Paradigm Shift is Now”!
We believe that while the call to the country’s leaders to “Fix the Country” reflects the frustrations of Ghanaians (and especially the youth) with growing unemployment, income inequalities, and generalized economic hardships, the #FixtheCountry movement provides little guidance on how to proceed. There is also a risk that the political leadership may attempt to “Fix the Country” to their liking and/or resort to voluntarist policies and programs that would be dead in the water in the absence of profound systemic reforms.
In the weeks and months to follow, we intend to use our collective experience and analytical skills to (a) identify the dysfunctions and the adverse effects of existing campaign financing, procurement and emolument laws, (b) study the best practices and advocate and propose legislation and constitutional amendments to effect systemic reforms in Ghana, and (c) prod and urge our fellow citizens to engage our leaders in an agenda for reform.
| MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA |
Tue, Jul 13, 2021 6:38 pm
(cadmanmill@XXXXXX)
To:XXXXXXX@XXXXX.com + 16 more Details
Dear Fellow,
On 18th March of this year, I accepted the kind invitation to be the Honorary President of Solidaire Ghana. I jumped at the invitation because a proposed think-tank with social democratic orientation seemed to me an ideal instrument to strive to be part of the national debate on the evaluation of the past and possible paths for the future of Ghana.
Indeed I had planned to be in Ghana on August 4th 2021 for the launch of Solidaire Ghana and to give the maiden presentation to start the national debate on the agenda for reform of the Ghanaian body politic. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen events, it appears that I may not be able to be in Ghana on that date. In consultation with the Executive Director and the Board, therefore, we have decided to reschedule the launch until September 21st which, fortuitously, also coincides with Kwame Nkrumah’s birthday.
To be fully transparent, I come to this debate with a lot of optimism about the future of our continent and Ghana in particular. I believe that in the next decade or two, Africa, with its vast untapped human and natural resources, will emerge to take its rightful place at the center of the global economy. Africa will become the “new frontier” that will drive an environmentally sustainable world economy. And the time is now to position Africa to play this role with determined (single-minded) effort to launch a process of accumulation in productive infrastructure (transport, communications, renewable energy, water, etc.). This will require mobilization of domestic savings, to be sure. However, resort to (and efficient use of) foreign savings will be inevitable. More importantly, it will also require fundamental reforms in the body politic to ensure (1) efficiency in the use of public resources, (2) transparency and value-for-money in procurement systems that also favor the use of local talent and resources, (3) emoluments reform to tamper cronyism and “pay to play”, as well as (4) constitutional reforms/amendments to make governments more accountable and responsive to the demands of labor and the population.
Needless to say, it is equally my view (which I am confident is shared by the vast majority of Ghanaians) that Ghana sorely needs these reforms. The fact is, partisan politics aside, things are simply not working in Ghana. To simply blame everything on “corruption”, “incompetence”, “arrogance” or “colonial or tribal mentality”, “family and friends focus” of the political leadership is to either miss the point or to confuse symptoms with the root causes. It also begs the question of how a democratically elected government (and Ghana is a democracy!) can get away with corruption, arrogance, and lack of accountability.
It is my belief that the agenda for reform must begin with (1) the structure, funding, scrutiny of the financing and audit of political parties as well as campaign financing laws, (2) strengthening of campaign financing laws and eliminating unlimited contribution by Ghanaians to political campaigns which only serves as a conduit for foreign financing of politicians, (3) procurement reform (especially to criminalize conflicts of interests and award of contracts to family and friends), (4) emoluments reform to eliminate “gifts” to public office holders, (5) constitutional reforms to render Parliament an independent third branch of government, among many other pressing reforms (the judiciary, the police and military, labor unions, etc.,) which are indeed too many to enumerate.
I am very keen and indeed excited to be part of this debate. And I am confident that you have been selected as an honorary fellow because you share the concern about Ghana’s downward trajectory and are committed to engage in the search for solutions.
I hope this short note breaks the ice and I look forward to many fruitful exchanges with you on the agenda for reform.
All my best.
Cadman Atta Mills
Fellows’ Responses.
From: XXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXXX,COM
Sent: Wed, Jul 14, 2021 5:27 am
Subject: Re: MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA
Dear Doc.,
Thanks for the wonderful piece. We all look forward to fulfilling this agenda. The time for a paradigm shift is now.
Best wishes.
| Re: MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA |
XXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX,COM
To:you + 2 more Details
Dear Honorary President
It’s encouraging reading from you and noting your passion for systemic reforms in our country. I share your views and pledge my commitment to
the reform agenda. I look forward to meeting up with you in September for the launch.
Stay Blessed
XXXXXXXX
……………………………………
| Re: MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA |
Wed, Jul 14, 2021 9:15 am
XXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX.COM
To:you + 2 more Details
Thanks Sir, for the heartwarming message.
We should not be where we are today, as a Nation, and Solidaire Ghana has the potential to begin to set things right.
Best Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
| Re: MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA |
Thu, Jul 15, 2021 6:02 pm
XXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX,COM
To:you + 2 more Details
Sir,
It was similarly a pleasure and honour to be invited and I am looking forward to learning a lot from you and the other senior fellows at Solidaire Ghana.
God bless you for accepting to lead and shape the future, Sir.
Kind Regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
| Re: MESSAGE TO FELLOWS — SOLIDAIRE GHANA |
Mon, Jul 19, 2021 10:06 am
XXXXXXXXXXXX@XXXXXXXX.COM
To:you + 2 more Details
Response to Honorary President…. (107 KB)
Dear President,
Thanks for your mail and its content which I read with great delight.
I have accepted the invitation to join the SOLIDAIRE GHANA FORUM (vide the attachment), and will be attending a meeting on 4 August to meet colleagues for the first time.
Your proposed date for the launch on 21 September to coincide with Dr Nkrumah;s birthday is symbolic and acceptable to me. God willing, I hope to attend.
Looking forward to meeting you soon,
KInd regards,
XXXXXXXXXXXX.
