A professor of history at the University of Cape Coast has rated Ghana’s development performance since independence at just 50 percent, citing weak nationalism, corruption and policy discontinuity.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Thursday (5 March), Kwame Osei Kwarteng said Ghana should have achieved far greater progress over the past 69 years.
“Ghana, per our constitution, retires people at age 60. If a nation has attained 69 years, it presupposes that the nation is matured,” he said.
The historian argued that while the country has made some gains, particularly politically, its economic development has fallen short of the vision set by Ghana’s early leaders.
He referenced the ambitions of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, whose administration established several state-owned factories as part of an industrialisation drive.
However, Prof Osei Kwarteng said many of these industries collapsed due to corruption, lack of maintenance culture and partisan politics.
“Everybody was cutting corners. People were not sincere to the system,” he said.
He also criticised Ghana’s persistent political divisions, arguing that governments often abandon policies started by their predecessors.
“When one party comes to power it initiates policies. Once it loses power, the next government abandons those policies and starts new ones,” he said.
Prof Osei Kwarteng contrasted Ghana’s trajectory with countries such as Malaysia and South Korea, which were once comparable to Ghana but have since become industrial powerhouses.
Today, he noted, Ghana imports products such as palm oil and automobiles from those countries despite having the resources to produce them locally.
He also questioned why Ghana continues to assemble imported vehicle parts instead of manufacturing them domestically.
“Something has gone wrong and we need to sit down and reflect,” he said.
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