The Lament of the Ghanaian Foot Soldier

Profile of the political Foot Soldier

The foot soldier in Ghanaian politics is usually young, male, unemployed and hovers around campaign headquarters of the various political parties.   Some act as “macho men” or assign themselves various “security” functions.  They yearn to be noticed as ardent supporters and praise singers of the candidate.  They follow the candidate everywhere, if they are able to, to swell the candidate’s perceived support base.

The foot soldier expects to be taken care of during the campaign (with handouts) and a job should the candidate be successful.  Some hedge their bets by straddling two campaigns.   This is risky for two reasons: the foot soldier may be exposed as double dealing, or may not be sufficiently recognizable as a supporter of either camp.

The Foot Soldiers’ Lament

The expectation of the foot soldier to be taken care of.  This notwithstanding, the lament heard most often is “I did everything for the party and I got nothing in return”.   For the foot soldiers lucky enough to be recognised, the rewards can include being put on the “protocol list” for job openings, selection for government sponsored Hajj pilgrimage, fast-track passport processing and official visas for overseas travel in government delegations or international sporting events.  But alas, only a handful of the most visible foot soldiers can ever realize this dream, thus the foot soldiers lament.

The Other Aspirants for Government Positions/Contracts

Ghanaians feign surprise when a well-known public figure who contributed GHS 2,000 (US$ 400) to a political campaign expressed an expectation of a job offer by virtue of having contributed to a winning side.   But that is the rule in Ghana: you pay to play!   It is rewarding to be recognized as being on a winning side.

It is unremarkable that most Ghanaians will drop everything to join a political administration.   It is fastest way to fabulous riches for themselves and/or their families.   And the route does not even have to involve “corruption” or illegality.   In Ghana, corruption is considered as such only if it involves an illegality.    A cabinet minister explained an eye-popping contract to the spouse of a prominent politician as follows: “the contract was awarded on the basis of restricted tendering, therefore no law was breached”.   Never mind that the spouse’s company was reportedly formed only months before the contract was awarded!

Of course, such contract awards are not just wrong, inefficient and wasteful but lead to the creation of “entrepreneurs” who can only realistically expect one such business coup of a life time.    After all, the largesse has to be spread around.   Moreover, such procurement practices constitute tremendous missed opportunities: government contracts can be used as vehicles for the incubation of young, innovative and dynamic indigenous Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors.  Such indigenous enterprises would be eager to compete and demonstrate their capabilities, create jobs, and constitute natural champions for the creation of a resilient national economy.

The Government as an Employment Bureau

Despite the Ghanaian foot soldiers’ complaint that they are unseen, unappreciated, unheralded, and unrewarded, those who support political parties as a path to government employment are not irrational.  The foot soldier mentality is pervasive in Ghana. The syndrome is also symptomatic of a stagnant economy.   In a stagnant or declining economy, government is the only or privileged  source of income earning opportunities.   This is in stark contrast to the role played by governments in dynamic, rapidly growing and resilient economies.

Contrary to expectations, the primary role of the government is not to provide jobs in the administration or patronage to its supporters.   In democratic governance, the central roles of the government are two-fold.    First, through the revenues that the government collects from the citizenry, the government (efficiently) provides services (social, health, education, sanitation, regulatory, judicial) that improve the conditions of the population.

Second, the government, with the excess of revenues collected over current expenditure (the primary balance) and borrowing, invests in collective productive infrastructure (energy, transport, (tele)communications, and water) to reduce the cost of production and to enhance productivity in the economy.   Investment in productive infrastructure pushes out the production possibility frontier and thus creates income-earning opportunities for the citizenry in the private sector as well as within the government. 

The government of Ghana consistently fails on both counts.  The services provided by government are notoriously substandard, not accessible, and fraught with corruption.  Service delivery is atrocious and, in the provision of productive infrastructure, project selection, contract awards, and project implementation are simply chaotic.  

Towards People-Centered Politics in Ghana

Ghanaians should be going to polls to elect political candidates who will pursue policies (undertake reforms) to create income earning opportunities (to level the playing field) for the bulk of the population.

The fact of a level playing field dictates governments which are not conflicted or indebted to any individuals (or groups) for their ascension to power or continued survival by virtue of their campaign contributions.   This is the main reason why it is important to set limits on individual campaign contributions and, above all demand that political parties and candidates are held to very strict standards of accounting for their campaign finances.

It is not only through campaign financing that administrations are compromised or influence is bought.   In fact, the smart money does not gamble but only emerges when a winner is declared and makes donations “to defray your expenses” or for “your inauguration activities”, or to “support your spouse’s foundation”.   This is why it is critical to insist on emoluments reform.

The reform agenda would not be complete without procurement reform.   There is rarely a valid justification for sole-source or restricted tender.   To eliminate conflict of interest, family members of prominent or “politically exposed” government officials should normally be excluded from tendering for contracts.   In any case, there are simply no justifications  for government contract awards to entities with no prior track-record in a given industry.

The Political Parties Cannot be Expected to Reform Themselves: “No Reform, No Vote”

It is illusory to think that political parties will reform themselves.   The dominant political parties have become complacent, smug and on auto-pilot, convinced that the voters will always vote for one party or the other. 

The way forward, therefore, is a grassroots movement that convinces the voters to pursue their own collective economic interests. Voters need to be convinced that it is an Improbable dream that they, as individuals, will be beneficiaries of one of the two political parties winning power.   The fact of the matter is that Ghanaians cannot all be government officials, obtain government jobs, contracts awards and/or benefit from socio-economic infrastructure for each and every community.

Politicians will have no other options if voters insist on political, judicial and social reforms and, thereby, enabling the emergence of national champions for the building of a resilient and dynamic economy.