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Interview with his Excellency
Professor John E. Atta Mills
Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana,
September 2nd 1999
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You have been the Vice-President of Ghana for 4 years now. What were your motivations to accept this position at the time?
I thought that I would be afforded an opportunity to also contribute to the development of this country.
We had begun to make great strides, a lot of initiatives had been undertaken by the government and I felt therefore that I would have an opportunity to contribute my quota to the development of Ghana. Considering that I had benefited from the resources of the country I thought it was also a way of saying thank you to the country and putting it back into the country.
In the beginning you refused the position. What made you finally accept it?
There is a time for everything and I felt the time was right for me to contribute. Moreover I thought that my exposure to the public service, I had been Commissioner of the Internal Revenue for 8 ½ years. It had given me the requisite background to move further up.
You are described in many fields as a very hard working man and very likely to succeed President Rawlings. Do you see yourself succeeding him?
For anybody to succeed President Rawlings you have to be nominated by the party. Our party has not met and there is going to be a congress. Anyone who succeeds President Rawlings will have a hard path to follow and I wish any such person well.
The president has often said that he will support you if you decide to contest the presidency. Do you feel that you need his support?
Certainly. Any realistic observer of the Ghanaian scene and anybody who wants to pursue the policies that President Rawlings has initiated will need his support.
Will you accept a nomination by the party?
I think we will cross that bridge when we get there.
The fact that President Rawlings supported you openly has, among other things, been said to be the cause of the break away of the Reform Movement. What is your opinion of the Reform Movement's position to break away from the NDC?
I think that every Ghanaian has the right to form an association with people that they want and if they feel that by moving away they will be able to realize their political ambitions and contribute to the country's development I think that it is their right. I think that the step that one is taking is a step that is in consonance with his best judgement and that he is acting in the best of faith. No one can deny any one his rights.
How do you see the future of the NDC and the government?
The people of Ghana are the best judges and the fact that we have won 2 elections in the past is ample testimony to the fact that the people of this country realize that the government is committed to improving their lot and that is why they have given us the mandate on occasions. I have no doubt that they will give us a further mandate in the year 2000. But we must recognize that we have been given a mandate to improve the lot of our people, to help to raise their living standards. This is the only objective that we should have and we should therefore not take the people of Ghana for granted. We should continue to work hard to merit the confidence that they have reposed in us.
What are the actions that you have put in place to achieve that?
Sometimes people choose to have short memories but any one who was in the country in the late 70's and the early 80's would know the economic situation prevailing in the country then. I think that even our harshest of critics would be forced to admit that we have seen some progress in this country. We have spent a lot of money and effort building on the infrastructure, looking at restructuring the economy so I think we are now poised for takeoff. We think that we have succeeded in providing a congenial atmosphere for investment, looking at the macro-economic scene, removing the bottlenecks in the economy. What we now have to do is to try and encourage both local and foreign investment and this is what president Rawlings especially has been doing. I will say that luckily we are getting some rather good responses. People are beginning to show interest in investing in this country and I think that we should support them and make sure that their investment is worthwhile.
What kind of measures have you taken in this area?
We have the Export Free Zone market. We have tried very hard to bring inflation down. The Export Promotion Council has been working hard, we have adopted the Gateway program which is there to facilitate business operations, to cut down on the time needed either to clear goods or to do other things. We have embarked on the Gateway program and we are very busily looking at the infrastructure for telecommunication. We have set up the Securities Regulatory
Commission to give a backing to the Ghana Stock Exchange, we are very busy divesting some of the enterprises that have been a drain on the economy and which we think can be best operated by the private sector. We are in constant dialogue these days with the private sector, going on trips with them to enable them to meet their foreign counterparts, we have had a series of meetings just to find out what problems come from them and how we as government can help solve this problem.
Would you say that this is one of the priority areas?
Certainly, because we have recognized that as government there are many things we cannot do well. We realize that we should only act as a facilitator, providing a congenial atmosphere for investment. The private sector should be the engine of growth and that is exactly the policy that we are pursuing to enhance the capability of the private sector to play its leading role.
This is the policy of the present government. What do you envisage if the opposition should come to power next year?
I do not know if they have as yet told us what their manifesto is. I really do not think that they can deviate from the path that we have established because I think that is the only way that has been proved beyond reasonable doubt. I do not think that they have some other alternative policies they can pursue.
If you become President what would be the first things that you implement and what will be your priority area?
It is a pity that we are not self-sufficient yet in food production. To have any meaningful development you must concentrate on agriculture. That is basic, people must be able to feed themselves. Our land tenure system has been a source of lack of progress. We have come out with a land policy and I would want us to pursue it to its logical conclusion to make it possible for investors to acquire land. Now it is okay to have a subsistence economy, to have individual small holdings, but if you want agriculture to make a meaningful impact then you need large holdings so that it will make the investment worthwhile. I would concentrate on our efforts to liberalize our land tenure system to make it possible for private investors to invest in agriculture. That will be one of my priorities. Then education. We have pumped a lot of resources into it, we have made very great strides in this area but there is still a lot that needs to be done. One has to look critically at tertiary education. The policy that we have adopted has been very good but in terms of implementation there is a lot more that needs to be done. Opening up the country is also important. So far our road network system is not in the best of shapes, it has to be looked at. There are certain parts of this country which are really cut off during certain times of the year. Mobility will be easily enhanced if we look at all these roads and it will also enable our farmers to bring their foodstuffs to the urban area. Another priority is to assure the rural people, they are as much entitled to all the goods as those in the urban areas. We would need to concentrate on these areas. Give them all the amenities so that the rural-urban drift would cease, people would feel content to remain in their areas and engage in meaningful economic activities.
How do you want to approach it?
Continue with the policies that this government has been pursuing. Make sure electrification goes to all parts of the country, that they have good roads, water. These amenities will serve as an incentive for people who are coasting to work in this area. A lot of people would want to go to the rural areas but they complain about schools for their kids and other amenities. We must make sure that the amenities in the rural areas are comparable to those in the urban areas so that people who go to the rural areas will not feel that they are missing anything or are being discarded.
| Ghana is pursuing a policy of obtaining a middle income status by the year 2020. Do you believe that Ghana is on the right path to achieve that, given the global economic difficulties?
I think we are on the right path but there are indeed difficulties on the global economic scene. Unfortunately our destiny in certain areas is in the hands of some other people. Indeed we think that there is a very unfair world economic ground. We have a situation where gold price is plummeting, cocoa price has gone down but the oil price has not so we are in a lose-lose situation and this is obviously going to affect our projections. It is also going to affect our performance and yet we do not seem to have any control over this. What we need to do in the medium and long term is find solutions to this problem, lessen our dependence on these export sources, try and broaden out, find some other exports. Tourism is one of the things that we can promote, non-traditional exports too. We are thinking very seriously as far as diversification of our exports is concerned.
What are the main alternatives that you are looking at?
There are a number of prerequisites if you want to promote tourism, good infrastructure, good telephone system, good accommodation. This is one thing that we are looking at, we have been encouraging investors who want to go into this area to do so and at the same time we are improving the roads. I think that the most important one is the promotion of non-traditional export. If you look at the world market things like black pepper, pineapples, some agricultural produce have very good world market prices and it does not take too long to cultivate them. I think it is high time to look very carefully at cashew, black pepper, sunflower because they have very good world prices.
Do you think that Ghana is capable of becoming the Gateway to Africa given that it is challenged by Nigeria in a way since they have returned to civil rule?
I think that even our brothers and sisters in Nigeria have realized our potential. I have no doubt that we can be the gateway. I do not think that we need to compete unnecessarily, we can collaborate with one another but Ghana is geographically well placed and luckily for us we have the human and other resources to be able to play this role. If we put our mind to it, and luckily we have, we should be able to make it. Nigeria will only complement our efforts.
Are you collaborating already?
Yes. The level of cooperation in the past has not been as good as we had hoped but it is our determination to do so to broaden the areas of cooperation because without that none of us can make any remarkable progress in our development. For example we are now thinking of getting gas from Nigeria. We are going to construct a gas pipeline and within 2 years we hope to have the West African Gas Pipeline to utilize. Nigeria imports salt from us so why can we not do it.
What would you say are Ghana's strong points to attract foreign investors?
I think the most important point is the peace and stability that we enjoy. If President Rawlings deserves credit for any one single effort I would say it is the peace and stability that he has maintained in this country. All around us there is confusion so that engenders a certain amount of confidence in those who want to invest in this country. There can be no economic development, no progress, no personal satisfaction if you have no peace.
What has to be put into place to maintain this stability?
It is a common understanding that we all need peace. We all have to work hard to invest in peace and stability. Each one of us has to contribute to this. We need to properly equip the police, look at the armed forces who have really sacrificed, to look at our democratic structures, the governance system, to make sure that each one of us has a complementary role to play. We as politicians should be seen wanting peace, you should not wrest political power just because you want to rule. We must be able to use the political power to improve the lot of our people, to ensure that they enjoy higher levels of living in a peaceful and stable atmosphere. That is what every politician should aim at. If you are a politician, a leader and there is always confusion, bitterness, dissension, chaos then you are not utilizing your mandate. Everybody; clergy, press, private sector, we should all invest in it.
It is not only the government it should be a collective effort.
To what extent are you looking into developing the justice system?
Many of us are very unhappy about the state of our judicial system and the administrative structure to support it. It takes so long for cases to be decided and it does not help. I know that a process has been initiated, the supreme court has got a recording system but the pace is rather slow. There is no justification for our judges writing in long hand now because how many cases can they really look at? We have to ensure that the administrative machinery is good.
It is said that one of the reasons for the economic growth of Ghana is the good relationship between President Rawlings and the US. What is your personal relationship with them?
To the best of my knowledge it is good. I have a lot of friends in the US and I have dealt with them in an open, frank and very honest manner. I want to maintain this kind of friendship. We need them to invest and we know that no one wants to invest for nothing, you want a good return on your investment. As long as we all agree on a common way of doing things, with transparent regulations we will all get on well.
Which market would you consider as a model for Ghana?
That would be very difficult. There would be the temptation to say the American market but that also has its pluses and negatives. I think it will have to be uniquely Ghanaian. What we will do is adopt and adapt. We want something that is really Ghanaian. It is very difficult to find a market that fits perfectly into our social milieu. I want the type of market which is consumer sensitive, where you can make a good return on your investment and one that recognizes the social values of the people.
It seems Ghana has often been compared to the Malaysian market. What is your opinion?
I returned from Malaysia about a month and a half ago and there is no doubt that they are ahead of us and that is attributable to the unanimity of purpose. They worked hard, invested a lot in human resources so it is not surprising. There are quite a lot of lessons we can learn from them. The good thing is that they have also known peace for a long time, they have been able to build on their resources and now they are in high-tech. We are learning from them so as to avoid some of the mistakes that have crossed them.
How do you see the future for Ghana as a whole both politically and economically?
As the years go by, I think the little differences between political parties will fade out and I think that once we are able to strengthen our private sector the government will feel comfortable playing its role as a facilitator. Economic issues will very easily surpass political matters because people will be more interested in business than in winning political power.
As the Vice-president of Ghana what would you say has been your most satisfying achievement and what would be your message to Forbes readers?
My most satisfying achievement is the fact that we have been able to provide the right atmosphere for private investment in Ghana. We have also been able to accept that there are certain areas into which government should not go. Accepting the role of the private sector and that of the government, recognizing that it is government's responsibility to remove impediments and obstacles in the way of private investors. We have come a long way in this country to accept that. Now people have their businesses and it is more of what my company is doing than what the government is doing. There is a lot of potential in Ghana and the government is very sincere when it says that it is going to support and encourage private investment. Naturally in every country you will have problems here and there but I think that our years of peace and stability have taught us a very important lesson and we are determined to move forward with a common vision and objective to help raise the living standards of our people.
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© World INvestment NEws, 1999.
This is the electronic edition of the special country report on Ghana published in Forbes
December 13th 1999 Issue.
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