Could you please give us a brief historical background of your career path before assuming your position as Chief of Staff and Minister for Presidential Affairs?
I started my career in Ghana in the media. I started off with the Ghana Broadcasting on radio and television.When the corporation went commercial I started a small company with a friend of mine, making commercials for advertising agencies. Through this, I ended up actually working in an advertising agency, Lintas, which was a public advertising agency; we bought the company out in 1974, and I ran it in Ghana. We also opened up offices in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and we also had associates in Nigeria. We had to expand the range of companies there by starting up a market research company, which also did international markets, and we had a media house Afro-Media Ghana Limited, which was the biggest private media home in Ghana for some years.
How do you analyze the present transition process?
The transition is an on-going process, and I think Ghana has been very fortunate.The people of Ghana are very mature, long-suffering people who like to get on with being productive.They do not waste too much energy in unproductive ventures that yield nothing. For this reason they have always aimed at living a peaceful life.This is why I think Ghana continues to be a haven of peace. We were fortunate also with the support that we had from outside the country and in Africa itself: we have had tremendous support from other African countries to make the transition a success, because they would like to have an African success.We have gone on outside the continent, too, and have had tremendous help and support from the major international institutions.The Americans are very supportive, [as well as] the British, the Germans, the French, the Dutch, and the Scandinavians, etc. You have seen that the President has made a visit to Morocco, and there is tremendous support from Morocco.Last week he went to Spain where immediately 40 million dollars worth of aid, that has been blocked, is moving in.There is a further 100 million dollars that has been looked at, and it looks as if there is going to be more things and also different reciprocal arrangements with Spain—it continues beyond government-to-government relations to party-to-party relations.
As you know, the NPP is the party in power now. By the end of this year it will be a full time member of the Democratic Union of Parties within the core parties.You might be aware that the Force Italia and newly elected Prime Minister's party has been well featured as an ally of the NPP, which is now in government, and we are looking forward to cooperation with Italy.Beyond that, we getting a lot of individuals who are in very significant places: the movers and the shakers who have taken a real interest in what is going on in Ghana and have undertaken to help us to move forward.It is a wonderful thing that is happening, the way that everybody really wants to see Ghana succeed and that they have a government with whom they can relate.
What would you say have been the most critical issues and challenges you had to face during the campaign?
One of the biggest challenges was letting the people of Accra realize what was going on in the rest of the country. Accra is very different from Ghana.The people in Accra did not seem to realize that the country had made the move over, that within the country we were well on our way.When finally Accra clicked, it was incredible. The first time in our tradition, we won all the Accra seats, whereas in 1979 we won only one seat.Since I come from I Accra, I would say it was quite an achievement.
How would you describe the last moments of the presidential candidate John Kuffour before the announcement of the results?
Very relaxed. Within two hours of the polls closing, basically we knew that we had won because we knew the figures that were coming in had to come from certain areas in a particular way. So by 9 o'clock that evening I was in the campaign office drinking champagne, and he was very relaxed at home.
Do you remember some of the words the President may has told you at that time?
The usual sort of thing: “you have done well”; but then, the real struggle starts.I do not think anybody was under any illusion that we had a huge challenge ahead but, again, we found that as big as we thought that challenge was going to be, it was matched up to every expectation that we had.
What significant measures have been put in place upon your arrival in Office three months ago?
We have been concerned with the first rule, which is to stop digging when you are in a hole.What we have been trying to do is to stop putting ourselves deeper into the hole that we are in and making sure that we stop the leaks, such that we put in place the controls necessary to maximize the collection of the government revenues. We believe that about 40% of revenue to be collected was not being collected.So a number of checks have now been put in place to change some of the people in authority and change some of the systems. We can then work towards correcting that waste and give what belongs to the government to government.We are aiming at being a lot more transparent in the award of contracts to make sure that we do not have the sort of leakage that we had where things were costing 5 or 6 times what they were supposed to cost. I believe that as we come towards the third quarter of our first year we will be able to see that these measures that have been put in place have certainly resulted in more money being freed up within the budget. This will give us a better opportunity to start moving ahead with some programs. We also have a phase where we are spending all the time making sure that we know all the different levers—where to push or pull—and planning those things that have to be done. We are conscious all the time that the people have very high expectations of us, and they demand very swift results.You had a situation where some people thought that the day we took office we should have reduced school fees or petrol prices.Instead, they found that we bit the bullet that we had to bite, and we increased petrol prices by approximately 80%, electricity by nearly the same, and then water. We are biting the bullet because, as a government committed to the success of the private sector and to the success of business, there are certain things you must do.The first thing is to support the macro-economy.Through doing that we will be able to give business a chance to be able to do what it is supposed to do.There are a number of other things we are taking up to make sure that we do get to the “Golden Age” of business.
Could you explain to our readers what responsibilities are falling under the umbrella of a Minister of State in charge of Presidential Affairs and Chief of Staff?
The main responsibility is to ensure that the vision of the President or promises that the President made to the electorate are delivered, which means basically putting in place a policy management team organization that will ensure that decisions that have been taken are implemented. It is also about making sure that the President gets the best possible access to different options. I am not an expert in any particular field as it were.My job is to ensure that expert economists are made available to the President, so that he has the benefit of whatever advice they can give him—so that he can bounce things off them and they can get productive comfort. The Ministers who are in charge of implementation come with ideas, but the President is also briefed on other ideas. There is a proper dialogue or discussion before the President decides on a policy, and the Ministers leave to implement their policy.At that stage, we ensure that whatever has been agreed for implementation has been implemented as it is and has been delivered on time in a cost -effective manner.
Have you seen concrete evidence of these policies and objectives being realized?
Unfortunately, we inherited a situation in the early days, but we had tremendous support from the Canadian government who offered 5 million Canadian dollars towards setting up the policy management group.This had been on offer for about two years but had not actually been used, because nobody wanted to do what we want to do now, so they are helping us. They have sent people from my office to Canada, and to the White House to see how the White House is set up. We are also having tremendous support from the UNDP, the George Soros Foundation, and the World Bank. Within the next three months the entire Office of the President will be completely intra-netted. This will be first department of government to be completely on-line, because we are taking the lead in moving government forward into becoming a new government at some stage in the future. We will have a proper monitoring group up there that will be monitoring and reporting to the President at the touch of a button exactly what is happening, in what Ministry, at any particular time.The attempt is to put in place the proper management procedure.
One of the highest commitments of the President is certainly the 0% tolerance for corruption.Could you elaborate on that issue?
The President is committed to that (zero tolerance for corruption), and we are a part of the process of setting up the Office of the President and an office of accountability and government integrity.The President has already agreed to this, and it has gone through. There is also Ghana's Anti-corruption Coalition, a code for all political appointees to which you sign up if you accept appointment within his government.The Office of Accountability will be put in place, so that the general public can have easy access to it and report any malfeasance that they become aware of, regarding any member of government and beyond: for example, if they hear of a contract being diverted or whatever. That office of accountability will then do the initial investigations and establish if there is a case. If there is the need for further investigation they will hand the case over to the Committee for Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Serious Fraud Office, the CID, or the Security Agencies. They will then make sure that they follow up to see that there is a conclusion to whatever happens there. You do not start a process where a report is made against a Minister and then five months later it dies out. They will follow up and see that either the Minister is found to be free of the accusation or if it was properly founded, that it is dealt with by whomever is supposed to have been involved.
Would this be a government organization, and if so, where would it fall under the structure of the government?
This is a department of the Office of the President that will report to me and report directly to the President. We are setting this up and hope it will be successful.I do not think any government has made such a thoughtful effort like this before, and it goes beyond that.The President has also recognized that one of the major problems we have with corruption in this country is the huge gap between what public officials are paid and the cost of living.Take, for instance, a Senior Principal Secretary or Chief Director, which is the most senior level you can get to in the Civil Service, in any country in the world that person can expect that their children—given that they are bright enough—will go to university, to private school and will have a chance to end up as a professional by the mother or father.Here the amount of money that they are paid cannot guarantee meeting the necessary fee, so as such an official it is a tremendous question of finding time to do something else.The other bit is that if you are going to have a Golden Age of business and a private sector that will flourish, you must have a public sector that creates an environment for the private sector to flourish. | You cannot have a Golden Age of business if you are paying the public sector so poorly that when you go to register your business, they put your registration form at the bottom of the pile and then look at you. They are obviously telling you that it will not move from the bottom of that pile unless you do something. That is not the way to tell people that you have an environment that is friendly for business and that is going to encourage business to do well; you cannot have your people paid so poorly that you want to do something about poverty alleviation.For example you want to help a village get clean water which means putting down a borehole, you should make sure that even in the dry season the water continues to be delivered.For this to happen, the borehole must reach one hundred feet down, but somehow because people want to skim, they do not go further than seventy feet and so when the dry season comes round, you find that there is no water. The people go back to the stream, back to getting guinea worm and other diseases that come from non-clean water. In effect, you have done nothing for poverty alleviation and nothing for the people.In fact, one would have wasted a lot of energy and effort that way. So, the President is very committed, and we are looking now into a series of different discussions with different bodies about how we can properly remunerate the public service to free it to be able to concentrate on building this environment for the private sector to really take off. One of the President's raw models is Prime Minister Lee Kwan Yu of Singapore
This Prime Minister had a thing that the public servant must be every bit as good as the private sector person, but the public service must be able to attract the brightest and the best in the society.Finally, you end up paying more to public servants than the private sector is paying. This is a person that the President takes a lot of his inspiration from, so we are definitely fully committed. It is also the way to eradicate the need for the corruption.Then, if you are paying somebody adequately for the work that they are doing and they steal, it is pure greed.
How would you characterize Ghana's relations with the E.U?
I would say they are very strong.As you know, Francophone countries whose currency was supported by the French Franc surround Ghana; but from January 1st it will be supported by the Euro.The President has made no secret of the fact that he wants to change the currency of this country. One of the alternatives would be to get into the CFAO zone.There are discussions with Nigeria, but we are also looking at other options, and if it makes sense, he will make a choice.He strongly believes that even if we have the self-discipline to be able to make sure that we do not print our own money, and therefore undermine the macro-economy, nobody can speak for what will happen in ten to twenty years time. We may not then have a leadership that is as disciplined, so let us take the opportunity beyond discipline and concentrate on bigger issues for creating wealth.
Ghana has a very good relationship with the United States, especially since AGOA. Do you see AGOA as an opportunity for Ghanaians and the Ghanaian economy?
Definitely, but I think we need to move beyond our current capabilities to really be able to get something from it. What we are looking at is Morocco, where you have a number of entrepreneurs who have been able to do something in the textile industry, an industry that is a major opportunity for us. We have offers of support to break into the sector as Mauritius did. As you know, Mauritius took over the textiles industry and used its quota into Europe. It has been very successful and now is moving on. They have the know-how and the capital.Our present move is to try and send a delegation to Mauritius. People have come in to make a number of special contacts possible and again to look at bringing those people in here, together with Ghanaian businessmen, and forming joint ventures to realise those opportunities.
When do you expect to send this delegation?
As soon as we have the time to put things together, we will do that.We have two people now at the moment going to America on USAID funding, to look at the textile industry. We also have a number of people coming forward to help the President.Once we know that, we can supply goods and that there people who can facilitate getting through to the major American chains to get the size of orders that we need to get.
What sectors of the Ghanaian are you targeting for expansion or increased development?
To move this country forward to become a middle-income country we have to grow at the rate of 8%.Firstly, we have to get the agriculture sector right, because to stay in power and to be able to do all the things you want to do, the cost of food must be brought down to levels that people can afford to eat reasonably everyday.Once you have got agriculture right, the maximum growth is still about 5%. We need to do about 3% above what we can do with agriculture alone.There are 3 sectors that immediately show themselves; one of which is tourism, which is the biggest growth industry that we have now. We have to expand tourism: this is what the visit to Spain and Morocco highlighted and this is what the visit to South Africa will highlight.The South Africans developed the tourist industry in Mauritius and have been doing a lot of sun and sea tourism.Secondly there is IT [Information Technology]. We are getting tremendous help from the UNDP with IT.I hope that by the end of next year we will have the first IT village developed. Already one American company has set up a data processing enterprise here, and we are looking to facilitate and bring other people in, as well.
What measures are being implemented to further develop tourism?
To attract tourists you need to have the attraction, the marketing, and the provision of the products. The question is how to avoid mass tourism.I do not want to get planeloads of people coming in here and going back, because ultimately the bulk of the money they spend stays in the country where they booked the tour. The net comes into the destination country, because they import their lifestyle and you have to pay for that; thus, by the time you finish it is really a tiny fraction of you paid that actually stays in the [local] economy.We need to get the high spending tourists. The number one tourist aspect is obviously conference tourism; we have a number of UN agencies that continue to have conferences on a regular basis.They are looking for three star hotels with good halls where they can put their meetings together, as well as a safe place where the people will not be mugged, they will not be liable to huge charges, etc.Every multi-national company operating in Africa now has at least one major sales marketing conference, production conference every year. Once those facilities are here, again this is a natural place for them to be.What do we need?We need some of those 3-star hotels; we need some of the conference facilities. At the moment we are short of hotels so room rates are very high.If we can get to a stage where we are able to get enough hotels then we can bring the room rates down.A three or four-star hotel may be charging in excess of a $100 US a night if you are coming over for a conference, but if you can get that same room at $65 to $70 US dollars a night plus your conference facilities, you will stay there. There are other higher spending tourists who come in for what you actually have, not coming in to replicate the lifestyle they are living.For those who come in for eco-tourism, we do not have a lot of big game. However, Ghana's culture is very much alive; we are not like the Red Indians with tee-pees who put on special dances for tourists.It is something that we live everyday, so it is very much a part of our daily lives that is available.Then for Europeans, the Black Americans, and Africans in the Diaspora, we have the largest collection of surviving slave trade sites, which matter most times in history. These are also still of interest to those who left from here and those who came and built up elsewhere. We are looking at Scandinavians, Germans, Dutch, English, Portuguese, Black Americans and all the countries that were involved to come and see part of their history, which is here. There is a lot to do.
To your opinion, what could be done to improve the investment climate?
There are a number of little things that are missing at the moment.There are potential investors who have been coming through my office since we came into government, and a number of them have been to this country before. They have had previous interests, have gone away, and have come back because they still have that interest, and they still know that they can make money here.A lot of them did not like the circumstances that prevailed previously.I think that they feel more at home now, they see that there is a government that recognises that we have 30% [of profit via corporate income taxes] of every single company operating in this country through this country. Thus, if companies come in and make money, we will make 30% of whatever they make.So it is in our interest to make sure that they make as much money as they possibly can, because then our 30% will yield the funding that we need to look after the less well-off in our society.We can also [re-invest] that in [the investment atmosphere] to make sure that we have a climate for people to do better business: e.g. to invest in education, to raise the standards and levels of education, etc.
What final message would you address to the half million readers of FORBES GLOBAL?
We are looking for foreign investors as well as Ghanaians in the Diaspora to come back and invest.We are not looking for people who will just trade in the stock exchange.I am looking for the investor who wants to come here and realise the huge potential here. The sky is the limit. Come in not just with the money but also with the skills, and then come in for long-term partnerships. We want to go into long-term relationships with businessmen and women that we are inviting into this country.[Linked to this,] one of the most important events that we are organising towards the end of July is the first Homecoming Summit, and we are inviting Ghanaians in the Diaspora, as well as the contacts that they have in the Diaspora to come home. We are also organising a two-day workshop program where we will be discussing the problems that they face and what the opportunities are here.We hope by then that we will have the dual nationality book in place for signing, that will allow Ghanaians to maintain the nationality they have gained outside, as well as their Ghanaian nationality. So we are will lay special emphasis on bringing our people back, because at the end of the day there are lots of different countries going out to appeal to investors outside.It is easier for one to go into a country where there is someone to hold their hand and lead the way, somebody from this country who can encourage and guide them.
If we can get the local Ghanaians to start investing in their country—which they were not doing efficiently before—and get the Ghanaians in the Diaspora to come back home and invest their money, time, and effort in their country, we believe the foreigners will also follow suit.
The other thing that I think is important is that we obviously will do everything to earn the respect of the world: we are not looking for handouts. We are not looking for charity, but the world must realise that this is still a very fragile economy and that we need to make sure it works.It is much better for everybody in Ghana if it works or succeeds in what it is doing because then all the other countries around us will learn from our success and will also come on board.The Africa that is actually looking up to itself, growing in its wealth and looking after its people, will be the much desired Africa. With a little bit of help now in getting Ghana moving, the returns could be tremendous.I think the world needs to know this.. |
V.I.P. INTERVIEWS 
