The Art Matriarch

Frances Ademola tells the story of how art has evolved in Ghana forty years since setting up her gallery The Loom.

By OLOLADE ADEWUYI

From the creative ambience inside of her forty year old gallery called The Loom on Kwame Nkrumah Road, Adabraka, Accra, Frances Ademola has over seen the Ghanaian art industry and watched it evolve over time. Returning to Accra in 1969 after a 12 year sojourn in Nigeria where she had been married to the late Adenekan, son of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, former chief justice of Nigeria, she found out that the Ghanaian art scene could do with some tinkering. Stimulated by the creative atmosphere of Ibadan where she had resided, she craved to re-enact something of that nature in Accra.

“I was stimulated by Nigerian art and creativity and was curious to find out more about the art of my country” says 81 year-old Aunty Frances as she is fondly called by many. Ben Enwonwu, Bruce Onobrapkeya and Jimoh Buraimoh among many others were some of the major artists that she recalls coming into contact with during her sojourn in Nigeria. She had also worked as an assistant to author Chinua Achebe at the Talks Department of the Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation as well as edited an anthology of Nigerian poetry and prose titled Reflections that was published by the African Universities Press.

Hence, when she returned to Accra she set up The Loom, the premier privately-owned and run art gallery in the city. Forty years later, the fruits of her labour can be found around the gallery which now houses the works of about 120 artists, mostly Ghanaians. It was a different ball game when she commenced business in 1969 as there was a dearth of local artists. “When I started I could count the number of artists on the fingers of two hands” she says. The more notable artists were the ones who had come in through the academia like Ablade Glover, Ato Delaquis, Ben Offei-Nyarko and Larry Otoo. She feels the encouragement that she has given others outside of the academic environment has made more artists come out into the open with their unique creative eye different from those that attended art schools. Even then Ademola says most of the artists who were teachers have now opened their own art schools as an avenue to train artists who do no not have the requisite qualifications to enter academic institutions. “Art is no longer the preserve of the educated or elite” she says “everybody can (now) be an artist. I encouraged that revolution” she says with pride. “She has made immense contributions to the development and growth of art in Ghana since the 1960s and also helped create a forum for intellectual discourse of art” says John Owoo, a prominent Ghanaian culture writer and journalist.

Even though Ademola misses the vibrancy of the Nigerian art scene which she still keeps up with during visits to the country, she thinks Ghanaian artists are increasingly coming to their own. She feels that the reason for the vibrancy in the Nigerian art environment was because many Nigerians stayed true to their roots and kept their identity intact because of the diversity in the country. She feels Ghanaians were a little inclined to be Europeanized perhaps losing their identity until independence thereby keeping the creative scene on the back burner. But a cultural rejuvenation which is represented by the Akan word and symbol Sankofa has seen many Ghanaians reach back into the past to fetch the lost legacies. For a long time she used to receive works from artists who wanted to cater to the tourists’ market by painting works which they referred to as “African”, she has seen a shift into more serious work over time with greater experimentation among artists.

Designed by Kenneth Scott, an Australian architect, the Loom is located inside the Samlotte House named after her parents Sir Samuel and Lady Charlotte Quarshie-Idun, once the chief justice of Western Nigeria and later the first president of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa. It houses works of artists with varying backgrounds and the oldest artist with works on display in the gallery is about 95 years-old while the youngest is barely fifteen. “The future’s taken care of” she says. “Art is on-going and new artists are coming all the time”. Gearing up to take over the affairs of the gallery when she retires is her son Adekoye whom she says will bring in “21^st century ideas” to run the place. But before then, she makes it a point to reject works which are copies of other people’s artworks. “I’m the eye of the buyer. It’s a good thing that I’m not an artist” she concludes saying “this saves me from being prejudiced”.

Rachel Watanabe-Baton makes Shell's video with Tinny

Rachel (m) gives last minute direction to Tinny and an actress

Women have generally been relegated in the world of hip hop music to the background, and when they take centre stage, it is either as hos for the pimps or as video girls who shake their behinds for the rap stars. Hip hop has traditionally been uncomplimentary of women; it denigrates the female sex and calls it all sorts of names. And when women get involved in calling the shots, they either do it as foxy vixens that mouth foul words and proclaim their ability to match the male folk in their sexual escapades.

Not often does a woman come in the mould of music video director in that male-centric industry. But when one finds a Harvard graduate who has spent almost twenty years in the industry as a producer, writer and director, then one knows you have gotten an unusual woman.

When Rachel Watanabe-Batton stepped into the conference hall at Alisa Hotel on Thursday in a short navy blue dress and was introduced by MTV Base as the international music video director for hip life star Tinny’s new song “Incomplete”, not many people hailed her as a star. The director who stands at about 5”5 in tall entered the hall with a smile on her face. And when it was time for her to give a little speech, she spoke about how she was happy to be in Ghana, and back home in Africa, land of her father’s family. She intimated everyone about her plans for the video and how tight their schedule was.

At the end of the press brief I walked up to her to get a little bit of information about her job and how she had mentioned having Nigerian roots during her speech. From the very first instant I saw her I could tell she had Japanese roots. And seeing her name written on the file folders that were distributed, I could confirm she was really oriental but when she mentioned her African roots, she became more interesting.

And then she exclaims; “I’m an Ibo girl o”, in an unmistaken American accent. “My father is a professor at Nsukka (University of Nigeria) and he hails from Awka but my mother is Japanese-American”, she quickly adds.

Her infectious nature takes over and we talk about her family and how she was in Africa as a kid but has not been back for a long time even as her father visits the US often when he comes to see her and her six sisters. I ask if she’s ever thought of coming to do more work in Africa and she says she would love to come more often and came this time because of her deep interest in giving something back to Africa when she could have been doing some other jobs.

I then ask if I could get the opportunity of seeing her work behind the scenes on her video shoot. She says it will be okay but directs me to get permission from the MTV Base management who were calling the shots for the project. I speak to Jandre Louw, events manager for the channel and he says it will be good and that they’ll give me a call next day when they are set.

On Friday, I get a call from Dinesha Moonsamy, publicist for the project and she tells me to head to the La Pleasure Beach where the crew was having an afternoon shoot. I arrive the set just in the thick of business and meet the star of the day, Tinny, who seems to be enjoying it all. I meet Rachel, now dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans that float on top of her ankle, and she says she’s been trying to get through to me all day but unfortunately misplaced my card in the hustle and bustle of her work. Here on her work turf she doesn’t look anywhere as elegant as she did the previous day. She looks the perfect part in her work fatigue.

She introduces me to the production manager, a lady who asks me to make myself at home but not to get in front of the behind the scenes camera. I nod in agreement and take out my camera to take shots.

“Action” and then “cut, lets do that again”, she calls out. The scene is set at a bar where Tinny is surrounded by a bevy of beauties. He seems to be enjoying all the attention until he makes up his mind to walk away from it all to go back to his true love without whom he is incomplete, the title of the song.

I watch in excitement as she directs every scene from her story board with a practiced eye carrying everybody along with an aura of respect. Her energy and commitment to her job was second to none for that period of time. She makes Tinny do the bar scene over and over before she finds a perfect flow.

After a while, she goes over to the make up artist to monitor her as she applies some foundation on the lead female character’s face.

“I would like to see the colour on her face”, she tells the lady with candor. She hangs around awhile watching every stroke of the brush as it leaves mascara on the young actress’s face.

Once or twice I catch her gaze, she looks away and continues with her work. I then seek out a member of Tinny’s management who tells me how “tremendous” her work has been. During break for lunch I catch up with her and she gives me a few minutes of talk time.

I ask about her experience and the difference for her working on that set and working on a New York set for Nas or Jay Z.

“The issues are the same,” she says. “Some things are not working, whether it’s the art department or some people are being late.

“The difference is really that we’re also working as a workshop and some of the people are students. So you want them to have a chance to learn so you have a difficulty of professionalism, of them knowing what their job is.

“My camera men and electricians have been really professional and more committed probably. My DP grabbed his lunch and took his whole crew to set up another shot whereas in the US, people will be griping about meal penalties. The crew is more committed here.”

Then I ask about her challenging role as a female director in hip hop where women are not given much respect.

“That has given me an advantage, actually,” she replies “because when I’m working with the female talents, I’m able to relate with what’s going to bother them. In terms of what goes on set, I try to ensure that they’re treated with respect.

Has she had any problems with guys on set?

“No, I work with an all male crew all the time. Somebody shuts you up on the street all the time in normal life, you just need to know how to handle yourself”, she said.

“And if you carry yourself well, people treat you well. Some men are very sexist but in general I try to look beyond it and just do my work.”

Just as I’m about to ask my next question on equipment and other stuff, someone comes to drag her away. I hang around awhile and see she’s not coming back, work had begun in earnest. And they would continue shooting the video till past 1 O’clock a.m. Everybody is exhausted when they arrive at Aphrodisiac for the after party where DJ Prince Charles from the UK rules the turn table.

But in true showbiz fashion, we all party into the wee hours of the morning, drowning out the stress in booze and heavy music awaiting the outcome of Tinny’s eventful video shoot.

Ghana goes to the polls

After eight years of John Kufuor’s rule, Ghanaians go to the polls to either create a “moving forward” or cause “change” in next week’s general elections. Analysts say it is a close race which could go into a runoff.

By OLOLADE ADEWUYI

Everywhere one goes to in Ghana these days there are political billboards with candidates’ faces smiling back at one. The most popular of these messages are either carrying the mantra “We are moving forward” or the less pungent message of “For a better Ghana”, the opposition’s signifier for change. And all across the country, opinions are polarized among citizens as many have taken sides with one of the two major parties contesting this December 7 presidential and parliamentary elections, the ruling National Patriotic Party, NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC. Things don’t get any easier because of the immense rivalry between both parties.

In 2000, incumbent President John Kufuor defeated then Vice President John Atta-Mills of the NDC and has led the country for the last eight years after another victory in 2004. It is Atta-Mills third time carrying the flag of the NDC which was created by former president Jerry Rawlings out of his revolutionary Provisional National Defence Council, PNDC. The tricky thing about this year’s election is that Atta-Mills will be going head to head against Nana Akufo-Addo, the candidate of the ruling NPP, a man who has been chasing the presidency since 2000. Whoever wins this time will make history in Ghanaian politics. If the ruling party wins, it will be the first time in Ghana that a ruling party will succeed itself. And if the NDC wins, it will be the first time that a ruling party goes into opposition and then comes back into government. The desperation of the NDC may cause a rift in the party’s ranks if it fails to win this time around, says Alex Frempong, a governance expert and senior lecturer in the department of political science at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The NDC feels it is very close to winning back power at this point in time when many Ghanaians have had eight years of the same policies of the right-of-centre NPP. It is asking the people to vote for change for the better while the NPP is campaigning for moving the country forward. Ghana has made tremendous success in the last decade coming from the background of a very highly indebted poor country to being a destination for investments and tourism. “Our achievement is one of the bedrocks of our campaign. We want to build on it. We want to work on the teething problems and make it smoother”, says Konadu Apraku, campaign director of the Nana Akufo-Addo Organisation. Konadu says they hope to ensure free secondary education for all Ghanaian students after having introduced tuition free primary education all over the country. They also want to ensure that the national health insurance that has been introduced which presently covers about 57 percent of the entire population is extended all over the country. He feels it is a deal which the electorate cannot afford to let pass them by. But the icing on their campaign manifesto is the fact that under its watch, Ghana finally struck oil in commercial quantity last year where it hopes to earn $15 billion in the next five years. Konadu says that with the increasing investments coming into the country and the proposed oil money they hope to be able to fund all these programmes.

The opposition has a different idea though. Asiedu Nketsiah, secretary general of the NDC spoke to TELL in an interview that the people are ready for a change and all they need is to be watchful on how the election goes. “If you walk around and interview people, you’ll realize that the urge for a change and the mood for a change is in the air so much that what we need to be careful about is that nobody tampers with the peoples’ verdict when December comes”, Nketsiah says. The NDC’s hope is premised on the laughable fact that the American Democratic party has just defeated the Conservative party. The Rawlings government was closely aligned to that of Bill Clinton while the Kufuor government has been aligned to that of George W. Bush. Hence, the feeling that as the Democrats take over in America so also will the NDC win in Ghana.

Such is the growing confidence of the opposition that it is only counting on the Electoral Commission to do its job properly in order to ensure that the votes are fairly and properly counted. Its confidence might be attributed to the performance of the party in the last two elections. The party has consistently scored about 44 percent of total votes cast and maintained its hold on four (Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Volta) of the 10 regions of the country. It hopes that this time around would be better and that it would perform a little better in the strong hold of the NPP which is the five Akan-speaking regions (Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Central and Western) of the country and as well as the Greater Accra region.

Interestingly, Atta-Mills has lost twice, plus a runoff in 2000, in his home in the Central region. But if he will lose again this year is what analysts cannot predict. Frempong believes that the Central region holds the key to the presidential elections this year. The Central region has always voted for the winner in any election since 1969. It is more noteworthy that in Ghana there are 92 ethnic groups which can be broadly broken down into Akans and non-Akans. Anytime that any of the five Akan regions have failed to vote for the tradition which the NPP represents which dates back to the JB Danquah and Kofi Busia days, the party has lost power. Hence, the NDC might get a foot in the door if they can find a way of swinging the votes of the Central region their way this time around if Atta-Mills could somehow find a way of shedding the tag of being a puppet for Rawlings.

One other permutation of this year’s election is the possibility of it going into a runoff like it did in 2000 when the NPP came into power. The winner needs 50 percent of the votes plus one to triumph. In 2000, the third parties, that is, the smaller opposition parties got seven percent of the votes which helped to push it into a runoff. This time around, anything between five and 10 percent for the third parties will definitely push the elections into a runoff. This is very possible considering the fact that the Convention Peoples’ Party is enjoying great resurgence at the moment. The party which was founded by Kwame Nkrumah, first president of Ghana has as its flag bearer Kwesi Nduom, a former cabinet minister under President Kufuor. A runoff might not be in the interest of the ruling party says Frempong. “It is not always good for the ruling party to allow itself get into a runoff as the opposition parties might gang up against it”, he says. But the idea of a runoff could also be disquieting for many Ghanaians. “They may vote en mass for one party to avoid going into a runoff which can be very aggressive thereby trying to keep the peace, one must not rule that out”, Frempong says.

The Electoral Commission, EC, has assured of a free and fair election. Headed by Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the EC is one of the most respected in Africa for the way it has handled the previous elections. It is not without some fault of its own though as it was steeped in some controversy for the manner in which it handled the updating of the voters’ register recently. The register was over bloated by the fact that many under age people were allowed to register as well as people who had been previously registered. The EC laid the blame at the doorstep of the political parties who tried to cheat their way through encouraging their supporters to manipulate the register. The EC has cleaned up its house though as it has now expunged about 349, 000 names from its books. In an earlier interview with TELL, Afari-Gyan stated that the EC has in its books about 13 million registered voters for this year’s elections.

Apart from the presidential election, candidates are also vying to fill the 230 seats on offer in the Ghanaian parliament. Current figures from the last elections indicate that the ruling NPP has 128 seats, the NDC 94 seats, the CPP 3, the People’s National Convention, PNC, 4 and a single independent candidate.

Ghana will not be another Kenya” says Kwadwo Afari-Gyan

“Ghana will not be another Kenya” says Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, chairman of Ghana’s Electoral Commission as the country goes into elections in two days.
By OLOLADE ADEWUYI (interview conducted in October 2008)

How prepared is the EC for the December 7, 2008 elections?Election preparation is a steady process. You do one work after the other, they come in stages. The first stage is about to come to an end which is the registration and very soon we will carry out an exhibition of the voters’ register, a public display at all our polling stations for people to g and see whether their names are there. And if there are any persons whose names are on it, people can object to it. Afterwards we will be in a position to prepare the final register, take the nominations and from then onwards. We’re going in stages.

There has been some controversy trailing the registration of voters’ exercise that you have a bloated register in terms of under aged registration and double registration to vote, how are you looking to resolve this issue?
It is not a controversy really. We ourselves as a commission believe from what we saw in queues of people lined up for registration and various people who observed the process indicated to us that there were people who could not be 18 years old. And from the pictures that we’ve seen on the registration forms, we’re led to believe that this is the case and it is rather widespread. So we’re concerned about how to remove those people, the under aged, during the exhibition process. We also believe that there are some people who are not Ghanaians who managed to get their names on the voters’ register. This will also be a target group during the exhibition process. Another group is people who have already been on the register but want to register again because they have lost their ID cards or damaged them or have moved from away from where they registered. Even though we have a process for replacing damaged and lost cards, and transferring voter location, they didn’t wait for the process. Those are also part of the target group and we have to get them. So it’s not really a controversy. It’s a question of the belief that there are some people who are in the register but do not belong in the register. And we should try to get rid of them during the exhibition process.

What’s the number of voters you are looking to present for the general elections?
This registration was a limited one because we already had the database and we were only adding to the database people who had come of age since the last registration exercise. And our target was no more than a million but it turned out, because of what I have just indicated, the minors, non Ghanaians and the multiple registrants, we ended up with over 1.8 million people. If you add that to the people on the existing register, we’re saying that we’re going into the 2008 elections with a voter population of close to 13 million.

How much is Ghana spending on the elections?Well, it is very difficult until you finish the elections to know exactly how much money you need. But the election budget was over $40 million.

How is the Electoral Commission funded?It is the state. What we do is that we make a budget before the election. Parliament approves the budget after that the finance ministry releases the money to us. We don’t require the money at one time. There are phased releases of the money. As I told you the preparation is in phases. And for each phase we need so much money and when we’re about to begin a phase we apply for the amount we need for it. Up till now we have received all the money we need in connection to the elections.

Do you want to put a figure on it?Oh no, I wish the deputy in charge of finance will be here to tell you.

Does the EC get funding from international organizations?We don’t do our budget with international organizations in mind. The election budget is the bill of the government. If the government for one reason or another cannot find the money, it can appeal to the foreign donors to assist. That is the responsibility of the government not us. We do not go to donors and ask for money.

Recently, the EC increased the cost of nomination forms for candidates and the parties are claiming that you didn’t carry them along.It’s not the nomination forms. According to our laws you have to pay a fee to get nominated as a candidate. It’s a nomination fee and not a form. This is a deposit real, you put the money there to indicate your seriousness as a candidate. And after the elections you get a certain percentage of the votes, and then you get your money back. This is not money that the commission is collecting for its use. The money does not belong to the commission, it belongs to government. Of course if you fail to get up to a stipulated percentage, then you forfeit that money to the state. They are saying that the fee is high but we don’t think so. It’s about $500 for a parliamentary candidate and $5000 for a presidential candidate. We do not think it’s too much.

Are foreign organizations allowed to donate funds to candidates?By our law, no. it’s only Ghanaians that can contribute.

What if an organization is registered in Ghana?Well, Ghanaians organizations, yes, but you have to do it through a certain medium. The contributions directly to candidates are supposed to be on an individual basis. If you want to contribute as a company, you can contribute for the collective use of the political parties.but foreigners are not allowed to contribute.

What about foreign companies registered in Ghana?Yes, if you’re a company registered in Ghana, you’re a Ghanaian entity you can do that.

Are there any challenges you’re facing that you hope to surmount before the elections?
Yes, an election is always a challenge no matter how often you’ve done it. Of course the number of illegitimate registrations that we’re trying to get rid of presents a challenge. We hope that the Ghanaian people will assist by scrutinizing the register closely during the exhibition and object to names that shouldn’t be there. There’s also the challenge to get the right caliber of people to administer the elections come election day. It’s such a big undertaking that you have to hire a lot of temporary workers to conduct the elections. They have, ideally, to be people of integrity and it’s difficult because you’re hiring a lot of them. No less than 100,000 people will be hired. It’s a challenge to get people of the right caliber, honesty who will treat the poll fairly and so on. Training them is also tough because you have a short period of time to do that. So lections always present their challenges.

Looking at the coming elections, the stakes are higher than the last one because Ghana has now struck oil in commercial quantity, how independent will you say the EC is from the government in power?About that one, I don’t think anybody doubts our independence. The law not only guarantees our independence, it does actually insulate us from the control of the government. So unless you’re a wicked person you don’t have to do anything to please the government. We’re very well insulated from control by the government. I don’t think there are people in this country that doubt the independence of the EC.

Looking at Kenya which has had a lot of smooth transitions over the years and then suddenly imploding after their most recent elections…Well, like what we said, it’s not only the EC that is responsible for free and fair elections, it’s a collective responsibility. We have a part to play, the politicians have a part to play, the government has a part to play by providing the money. The police has a part to play by making sure that they don’t tolerate nonsense from any politician particularly with regard to election related violence and infractions of the electoral law. So we will play our role but let everybody else play their role. If everybody else does, there’s no question of Ghana becoming another Kenya.

Are there going to be foreign observers?
Yes, plenty of them. The Carter Centre is already here and they’ve been observing the registration process. The European Union has given an indication that they are coming. The Commonwealth are coming. The ECOWAS are going to be here very soon. And I’m quite sure that African Union is coming too. So there will be quite a large number of observers.

New wealth, fresh challenges

Beneath the promised wealth from Ghana’s oil find are challenges of equitable distribution of resources, infrastructural development and environmental degradation.
By OLOLADE ADEWUYI
(Piece written for TELL Magazine, Lagos)

Abuesi, a small fishing town on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Ghana’s Western Region, is one community that is set to feel the influence of oil. Its 7000 inhabitants have lived off fishing since it was founded many years ago. The agile men of Abuesi and its sister community Aboadze, like many in Ghana and along the Atlantic coast of West Africa, are used to leaving their homes early every morning for the cold embrace of the sea. There they cast nets out of their wooden canoes in search of ever decreasing fish catches. But the lifestyle of Abuesi may soon change.

Last year, the government of Ghana working alongside Tullow Oil, Kosmos Energy, Anadarko Oil and E.O Group, all petroleum exploration companies, struck oil in commercial quantity about 140 kilometres off the shore of Takoradi at a place called the Western Cape Three Points in the Tano Basin. The government has been assured that there is between 500million and 1 billion barrels of oil under those waters.

The announcement of the oil strike in June 2007 was met with great joy and celebration by the whole country. President John Kufuor told the world that the oil find will transform Ghana into an “African tiger”. “Even without oil, we are doing great. With oil as a shot in the arm we’re going to fly”, he said. Many in Ghana hope that the finding of oil will bring great improvement to their lives, even as the country aims to become a middle income country by 2015.

Already there is excitement in the air about Takoradi, capital of the Western Region, as locals tell of the influx of foreigners into their town, land speculators and all who want to make a quick buck by investing in real estate, property and hotels. Doris Annan, a lady who runs the Silver Pot, a European style restaurant on Liberation Road in the strategic heart of the town. has observed a steady flow of strangers coming to inquire about business opportunities in Takoradi. But she does not know how to go about making use of the opportunities offered by the oil find herself. Many, like her, are unaware of the tremendous opportunities that lie in their backyard. For most respondents at the Market Circle, the heart of slow-paced Takoradi, their laxity towards the opportunities that the oil find is placing on their door steps is due to ignorance, because they feel, since they lack technical or engineering skills, they will not be able to function in the new scheme of things.

This is the major challenge before Kwesi Biney, mayor of Ahanta West, the district which governs Cape Three Points where the oil find was made. A former journalist, Biney says that Ahanta West is “potentially one of the richest provinces of Ghana considering the number of investments coming into the community”. These investments have been coming because Takoradi is mainly saturated with development hence Ahanta is the next destination of investors. There are already huge investments in the purchase of large plots of land by speculators who are hoping to resell to serious investors on the long run. In Ghana, lands are under the purview of the traditional leaders who keep it in trust for the community. Hence, he has asked them to report any such offers of purchase to him to ensure there’s a background check on interested buyers to see if they are ready to develop lands bought. Biney is also working at helping to develop the capacity of his constituents educationally to enable them take up jobs with the oil companies when the time is ripe. The Western Region is the most resource-rich region in the country producing 60 per cent of Ghana’s gold; 60 per cent cocoa; 25 per cent timber; 100 per cent bauxite and manganese; 15 per cent oil palm and 100 per cent of rubber. Biney observes that the region still suffers deprivation in terms of good road networks and social amenities. “It’ll be in the interest of the nation that this region is taken good care of if we should avoid situations in other parts of the world where the oil regions suffer deprivation”, Biney says.

That is necessary to create an enabling environment for incoming business concerns. The organized business community is already gearing up for the imminent oil boom. Yawo Agbesi, branch manager of the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Takoradi expresses the feelings of the banking sector. “Oil and gas is what is going to push business forward in the coming years”, he says as he targets the share of the unbanked 80 per cent of the city’s population. The subject of oil has also enticed the sensibilities of foreign insurance companies notably from Nigeria who have suddenly found Ghana as the next destination in their West African expansion strategies. In the last six months, about four major insurers from Nigeria have set up offices in Ghana to take advantage of the oil find. “We have the experience of oil in Nigeria so we want to find a way of participating in it”, says Ishola Akintunde, general manager of Equity Assurance, Accra, a recent entrant from Nigeria.

But with the joy and influx of investments comes some apprehension among many Ghanaians of the myriad number of problems oil has caused in other African countries notably Nigeria and Angola. Charles Tetteh, a well traveled music record seller at the Market Circle in Takoradi sums up the thoughts of many. “When I look at the condition of the Niger Delta (Nigeria), it’s a far cry from the benefits which it (oil) offers” he says. Like many other people, he hopes the government will enact laws that will make sure Ghanaians enjoy great benefit from the oil considering the fact that the exploratory companies are foreign-owned.

Apart from that, there is an undercurrent of agitation for an equitable sharing of the oil revenue. Ghana is a unitary state where all wealth gotten from every resource belongs to the central government which is then shared among the 10 regional governments and 138 local governments or districts as they are called. The central government holds onto the bulk of all revenue giving about 13 per cent to the district assemblies depending on the level of economic activity and level of deprivation. Nii Moi Thompson, economist and director of the Development Policy Institute, Accra, says it is very small because ultimately development occurs on the local level and not on the national level which is characterized by waste, vanity and theft. Thompson hopes that when oil starts flowing, 25 per cent of the national revenue will be given to the local districts to enable them build their capacity to ensure that more meaningful development takes place closer to the people.

Those are not the only challenges the government is facing as it seeks to protect its interests in the emerging oil industry. It also has to deal with in-fighting among the citizens as some communities have already begun a tussle over the ownership of the oil fields. One community is claiming that its name is not included in the appellation given to the oil basin. Thomas Manu, director in charge of Exploration and Production at the Ghana National Petroleum Company, GNPC, Tema, says no community can lay claims to the oil fields because they are offshore on the continental shelf, a place which is outside the purview of any village. Biney prefers to say that it is only a misunderstanding between the two communities and that it will be settled like the “brothers that they are”.

Among the many fishermen along the shores, there is a great clamour for the protection of their fishing grounds by the government. Since the coming of the oil exploratory companies on the shores of Cape Three Points, fishermen have found that the light from the oil platform attracts the fish away from their usual fishing grounds. The men have therefore found a veritable fishing spot by the rig side. The government has tried to alert the fishermen about the danger of fishing close to the rig. It has warned them that anybody caught fishing close to the rig will be prosecuted. A worried Nana Kojo Konduah, traditional ruler of Abuesi and chairman of the region’s association of canoe fishermen is one man who is aware of the great change that oil will bring to their lives. He has called on the other chiefs in his area to pressure the government into creating better opportunities for his people as their lifestyle goes through drastic change in the next two years when crude oil will begin to flow from the rigs. Though expressing happiness at the oil find as he hopes it will free Ghana from the clutch of fluctuating and ever rising world oil prices which has thrown the country’s budget into a spin, Konduah believes that fishermen along the shore need to be reassured via environmental impact assessment that their means of livelihood will not be totally disrupted. Not only that, he says there must be corresponding compensation from the government for the loss of their fishing grounds. “If they deprive us of our fishing grounds they have to give us something which our children can benefit from”, Konduah tells this writer at his traditional palace in Abuesi while flanked by two of his chiefs.

Closely related to that is the challenge of security on the open ocean. Ghana will need to protect its oil against illegal bunkering amidst unconfirmed claims by fishermen who say they have sighted ships on the seas carrying contents which they suppose to be crude oil. The Ghanaian Navy, George Asiedu, a Takoradi-based broadcast journalist, claimed, has in its fleet very old patrol ships. He should know, as he sailed on one of them, the GNS Yogaga, on his visit to the Jubilee oil platform run by Kosmos Energy and Tullow Oil. He says it took the naval ship 18 hours to arrive at the rig from the Sekondi Naval Base a distance which should not have taken more than three hours in a good boat. When the waters cannot be protected, Asiedu says, it will lead to the loss of the country’s resources.

Ultimately, Ghana faces a challenge to bequeath a lasting legacy to its people with oil wealth in this time of spiking world oil prices. It has heated up the December 2008 presidential elections with candidates already talking about how they will utilize the enormous wealth. Nana Akufo-Addo, candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party, NPP, who estimates that the country will earn about $15 billion in the first five years plans to use it for developing agricultural potentials in the largely underdeveloped northern part of the country as well as to promote the manufacturing sector. John Atta-Mills, candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress, NDC, has stated that he will make sure there’s a transparent management of oil revenues to enhance faster growth of the economy.

However, there are indications that, unlike other African countries, Ghana might be able to stem the potentials problems before the blow into the open. The government has tried to quell the anxiety of the populace by involving the whole country in the decision making process. It has tried to carry the people along during every inch of the process of engaging laws that will make the country not commit mistakes made by other countries. “The first thing we did was to call a forum where we called those with know-how to share with us their experiences the outcome of which was documented and taken round the whole country to enable people add their ideas”, says Felix Owusu-Agyapong, Ghana’s energy minister. This painstaking arrangement has made the government decide to toe the path of countries with best practices in the oil industry like Norway which has invested the bulk of its oil revenue in a $350 billion fund for future generations while avoiding the Dutch disease, the sole dependence on oil as a means of earning foreign exchange.

A lot of African countries have suffered the curse of oil, Ghanaians hope that theirs will be a different story even as their country has been hailed by the West as a symbol of good governance. The coming of oil will definitely test the strength of its 16 year-old democracy.

Hotel room blues

I stayed in a hotel called Asempa Hotel in Takoradi, Ghana during my recent sojourn there. On their house rules list were some expressions I felt l couldn’t but share with you guys.

House rule No 6: customers are advised not to entertain too many visitors in their rooms as this may DISTURD fellow lodgers.
House rule No 8: kindly refrain from TEMPERING with electrical installations. All problems must be reported to the front desk.


Never mind the typos, it's a great place to stay if you ever find yourself in Takoradi. It's relatively new and affordable. Single room goes for $35. With free breakfast.

And it is in the centre of town along the city's Liberation Road close to the Market Circle where you can find the cheapest fish in the world as the city is bordered by the Atlantic.

Cradle of prize fighters

Bukom, a neighbourhood of Accra, Ghana is the home of boxing in Africa with its concentration of boxers who fight to escape the poverty of the ghetto.

By OLOLADE ADEWUYI (For TELL Magazine)

Fight night at Prisons Canteen, Accra

It is a cool evening at the Prisons Canteen, Danquah Circle, Accra where Thomas Azurie, a lanky Tema-born welterweight fighter is preparing to enter into the boxing ring. His coach George Neequaye helps to strap on his red gloves while giving him some last minute instructions. Azurie is heading into his third amateur fight after losing the two previous ones by points and a technical knockout courtesy of a bleeding nose respectively. He had approached the Billy Kotey Memorial Boxing Gym, Bukom three years ago to master the art of boxing which had so enthralled him as a kid. The 20 year-old has since come to feel at home under the tutelage of Neequaye. He was scheduled to fight Emmanuel Obeng, a stocky muscle-bound pugilist from the Attoh Quarshie Boxing Club. The crowd which consists of beer guzzling prisons officials and other enthusiasts have gathered round the square ring of the Prisons Canteen courtyard in anticipation of a great fight night. The rusty ring sits under the moonlight as the many boxers prepared themselves for their bloody sport. The ring looked like the ancient Roman Coliseum, a place which has seen the building of many professional careers and the end of many even before they had begun. Two 10 year-olds go at each other in the first bout of the night. The crowd screams in applause whenever a good punch is landed by any of them, even though it is a non-scoring fight. Neequaye gives his ward last minute advice before entering the ring. “He’s going to come at you with force but relax and take him out with your left hook”, he says.

Thomas Azurie gets last minute instructions from coach George Neequaye.

The boxers commence and there is a flurry of punches as they size each other up. The first round ends with Azurie breaking his nose again, the scars of the past coming to haunt him. The doctor again stops him in the second round even though he wants to go on. The lad is flushed with anger. His coach tells him to calm down. “A loss at amateur level should not discourage a fighter because it is a learning curve”, he says. Azurie is painfully led away from the gym by Neequaye who tells him to resume training in two weeks after his nose heals up. Amon Neequaye, an Olympian at the 1984 games in Los Angeles sums up the spirit of the Bukom boxer; “They are courageous and persistent”.


Front of the Billy Kotey Memorial Boxing Gym, Bukom, Accra.

Hail a taxi cab anywhere in Accra; destination- Bukom and the cabbie will most probably ask which boxing gym you want to visit. Boxing is the major pastime of the young men of Jamestown and Bukom in downtown Accra while every foreigner is perceived as a would-be student. The gyms of Bukom attract the attention of boxing practitioners from Europe with many making regular pilgrimages to test their strength against the will of Bukom’s fighters. They sometimes donate fight equipment to the gyms to help keep them going. A United Kingdom, UK, sports company GAP organises yearly teaching exchange trips to Bukom for UK based athletes. The sport is what has put their small rusty town on the world map. Bukom is regarded by many as the boxing capital of Africa. From its small population has emerged some of the greatest boxing talents in the world. It is said that kids in Bukom learn to fight as soon as they can run because the law of the jungle holds sway here; eat or be eaten. There is a form of bullying which goes on in Bukom which many refer to as a toughening process for young boys in this town where poverty is as real as the stinking overflowing drains that ooze out of its shanty homes. But for many kids here, boxing is a ticket to the good life. Its almost 30 rundown boxing gyms have achieved the feat of producing toughened boxers on a regular basis and these have brought glory to the slum. From out of the shacks of Bukom have come such names like Azumah ‘Zoom Zoom’ Nelson, a three time World Boxing Council, WBC, featherweight title holder who is regarded by many as Africa’s greatest boxer; DK Poison, WBC featherweight champion; Clement Quartey, Ike Quartey, World Boxing Association, WBA welterweight champion; Alfred Kotey, WBO bantamweight champion; Raymond Narh, Commonwealth gold medallist and reigning International Boxing Federation, IBF, bantamweight champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko.

For many families in Bukom, boxing is a trade they take closely to heart. Boxing coach George Neequaye tells of how his family has been into the trade for a long time. The gym where he trains new fighters now was started by his father. His brothers and nephews have fought out of it their whole life. “I met it in the family”, says the portly 42 year-old Neequaye who presently has 10 students training under him. The Billy Kotey Memorial Boxing Club is, like many other clubs in Bukom, an open courtyard in the back of a colonial style building. It shares space with the women’s laundry line. Its punching bag, now removed, hangs from a weather-beaten wall. Some worn out boxers’ shoes lie around the concrete floor, the years clearly telling on them. The gym could as well have been an old clothes dump. But it’s a place that has produced great fighters, including a certain Raymond Narh, 1998 Commonwealth Games gold medallist now fighting professionally in the United States. “Raymond is my nephew, he trained here”, quickly points out Neequaye, who doubles as an officer of the Ghana Fire Service. For many in Bukom, boxing is a path to the promise of much wealth and escape from the ghetto where the worth of life is very cheap. With its high hopes comes the ugly underbelly. Neequaye tells sorrowfully of how another of his nephews, a young promising boxer was stabbed to death right around the corner after one of his fights. It is an incident that Neequaye remembers with pain and anguish written all over his face. He shows me a large framed photo of the deceased lad even as he avoids taking a look at it himself. “I can never look at that picture again”, he says. “It brings back bad memories”. Dauda Lartey, a young carpenter’s apprentice who used to be a boxer confirms the fears of many in his neighbourhood. “If you stay in this area and you’re not strong, you have no chance”, he says in a voiced laced in fatality. It is the proverbial no man’s land where fists are used to resolve differences between people, young and old. And when a fight arises, “nobody will separate them until one party runs away”.

The tough street training is one of the ingredients that helped shape Joseph Agbeko to become what he is today. The reigning 28 year-old IBF champion won his title after stopping Nicaraguan Luis Alberto Perez in the seventh round of a title fight in Las Vegas in November 2007. His story reads like typical rags to riches, his fist being his meal ticket out of the slum. “Bukom is the home of Ghana’s boxers because it’s where poor people come from and become rich”, he says.

IBF Bantamweight champion Joseph 'King Kong' Agbeko, notice the tattoo on his arm

Agbeko began boxing at an early age like most other Bukom kids and enrolled for his first formal boxing classes with Attoh Quarshie Boxing Club at about ten years of age in 1990. “In Bukom, when children are fighting nobody separates them until one of them gets tired”, says Agbeko. His childhood instincts have made him into the best fighter in his weight category in the world. The lack of adequate training materials does not deter the Bukom lad from aiming for the world championship title. It is the largeness of their hearts Aand their great guts that have placed many on the ladder of success. “The people over there are very independent, they want to get to where they want to get to, and they don’t think too much about facilities, they aim high”, says Agbeko fondly called King Kong. Even though some boxing critics say that Ghanaian boxing is on the decline due to the impatience of boxers and coaches alike to want to make quick money, the fighters of Bukom have made a name for themselves out of the misery of daily life by letting their punches do the talking.

My Photo in BBC Focus On Africa Magazine July-Sept 2007 Edition

I finally saw this photo entry that I sent to BBC Focus on Africa Magazine today. It's been more than six months since I sent it to them. It was taken at the VIBE FM Street Carnival celebrations of of Ghana's 50th Anniversary on Oxford Street, Osu.

Don't know who the girls were but I think I might have made them famous. BBC should pay me, don't you think? I'm gonna go out and buy me a copy tomorrow.

Check out the original page here

My fight with Kufuor's Government - Prince Kofi Amoabeng

Interview conducted by Ololade Adewuyi for STAR Newspapers, Accra. All photos by Ben Dzaka for STAR Newspaper

You were recently quoted by a paper to have said that the Ghanaian economy is worse than it was at independence in 1950, What do you believe are the solutions to Ghana’s problems?
First, do you agree with that statement that I made?

I would not have an opinion on that.
Ok let me explain what I meant by that statement. As part of our ten-year anniversary celebrations at Unique Trust, we organized a seminar to empower SMEs (small and medium scale enterprises) who are our main clients. At that seminar, we got the services of EMPRETEC, which Unique Trust paid for, to give them expert insight into how to manage their small businesses. We had to chat to that group about our own experiences at Unique Trust and where we are coming from and how we have been able to reach where we are in ten years. Therefore, I had a special session with them at the closing and told them about my three principles for guiding anyone doing business. The first principle is the fact that one needs to be realistic, seeing things as they are and take away all the fantasies and emotions that go along with it and see things as they are. In addition, under that topic, what I said is that for example, with the redenomination of the Cedi, we say one cedi to replace ten thousand cedis the value is the same. When in life did one become ten thousand or one become the same as ten thousand? It is not true. We can say the value is enhanced, what do you mean by the value is the same? If we were changing one-cedi note to another one-cedi note then you can say the value is the same. However, this is something Ghanaians are living with and we sing it all the time. In addition, I said under the same breath that our economy has deteriorated because the major measure of a country’s performance is the GDP capita. I said it is a fact that our GDP per capita was around $400 at independence fifty years ago. Point number two is that $400 fifty years ago in today’s terms is about $2,500. If you want to challenge that fact, you can go ahead and challenge it, otherwise I am telling you that our present day GDP of between $400 and $500 means we have deteriorated. It is a fact.

The government has not disputed that.
Nobody can dispute that fact except that Ghanaians themselves do not even see it. That is one aspect of not being realistic.

So seeing all the negative facts on ground, how would you change Ghana if given the opportunity to become leader seeing how easy it is to criticize other people, how do we make things right? Can you give concrete measures?
If I should become leader, that is extremely hypothetical. I would not be in a position to change things because I would never venture in active politics but the problem has everything to do with our culture. I believe the most important ingredient for development is having respect for all. Our culture is a culture where you respect somebody because you feel you can get something from that person or you think you need that person in your life. Giving respect for all is not an African thing. Africans believe in worshipping the authorities even bothering on the edge of sycophancy and raising those in power to the highest level in order to get what you want from them. In Africa, the moment somebody enters a room, everybody is trying to find out ‘who is he?’ and if they do not see that you have some power of influence or they need to cultivate your good side then they just trample on you. I am saying that does not bring development. That leads to retrogression. That is the reason for Africa’s lack of development. By saying that we do not give respect for all, the question should be what would ensure that we have respect for all in order to bring development. That is putting in place systems and procedures that are quite transparent and enforceable in its totality. It does not matter who you are the laws should apply. For example, we have broken all the systems that we have down intentionally. Our police system is steeped in corruption and cocaine deals; our court system is not delivering justice on time even though we are making efforts to improve it. Our public sector has broken down and our state institutions are not working. If anything would happen, it is selective. If the government does not like you, you can be sent to jail in two weeks. If the government likes you, you can be hanging around for several years for worse crimes. That is not justice for all. It is not respect for all. Furthermore, what selective respect as the African culture wants is that you appoint people into places based on their connections with the authorities. This means it not the best of the capable hands that gets there. Therefore, the person who gets there does not know the job and feels that he is being pursued or undermined by other people because he has inferiority complex, as he knows he is not the best for the job. Instead of doing the job and being measured by palates, his relationship and not his performance is what ensures he stays thereTherefore, it brings everything down. Whereas if you put the right person there with targets to meet, to be evaluated and judged, he then delivers and everybody gets a benefit out of that. For me, it is very clear why we are not developing.

So what must we do?
Well, that is very difficult. The culture of the people is their way of life. Moreover, even though we want to believe that it is dynamic, it changes very slowly more so in Africa where we still chew chewing stick and kocha. We have not changed from that way. Our chiefs will sit atop twelve people and be dancing. We have not seen a need to replace that with donkeys and chariots. The worst thing is that if you should try to change that system for the benefit of the so-called ordinary person, that same ordinary person will be the same one who will revolt because it is their way of life. So the solution even though you can talk about it, its implementation is very far off.

Let me take you a bit backwards to when you said the whole economy has gone backwards, there is progress as there is sufficient evidence to prove that the banking sector has grown.
The banking sector has grown by relation to twenty million people compared to independence when you had about six million people. It is only one sector. The sectors that have grown in Ghana are the telecommunications sector only because the technology was not there at the time of independence because we did not have the colour TV and the mobile phone technology that we have now. The banking sector also has ridden on the back of technology to grow. If Unique Trust is doing well then what would we mean by depression in the banking sector. Look at education; it is the vehicle for development. When I went to university in Ghana, I got a letter in my village; got there, was received and given a room, three meals a day, ice cream, tea, coffee, exquisite lecture rooms and allowance to study. Final year I had one room to myself. Now what does the Ghanaian who enters university have? The very room that I had to myself now has about eight or ten students to that room and it is for ‘in out out and out’. No meals, student’s loan is hard to get and now we have people going to school under trees even in Kumasi. A mate of mine teaches in a school in Kumasi where the blocks have been blown off so the students learn under trees. Here in Accra, there are places where you have fifteen JSS schools in one compound. So education has run down. Under transport, what do we say? The rail transport is non-existent. Where is Ghana Airways? Black Star Line, which Kwame Nkrumah brought about, is gone. We constructed a few roads but look at the majority of our roads presently; they are in dismal shape.

It is possible to go on and on counting the inadequacies of the system.
Now do you see how far backwards we have come? I just want you to have a better glimpse of why I said those things. In industry, we used to have a match factory, a corned beef factory, a tomato factory, a glass factory, etc. they are all gone.

Do you not think that most of the problems Ghana is experiencing like other developing countries are because of the economic policies of the stronger western powers?
No way, absolutely no way. I genuinely believe that the advanced countries would want to see one or two African countries develop so that the attention of African immigrants going to Europe will be redirected to West Africa. I believe they genuinely want to put money down so that one or two West African countries develop.

You think the West is sincere enough to want us to develop seeing that there have been revelations as to how Europe engineered Africa’s underdevelopment and its policies today still entrench for our lack of forward movement.
The whole world is about exploitation. If you expose yourself, people will take advantage of you. It is up to you to know what is happening in your environment then strategize to improve your lot. Then people will respect you. When Singapore, Korea and Malaysia were developing, they were not stopped by the advanced countries. The West did not become poorer because they became richer. So it’s not true. We are the cause of our own failures. Do not look anywhere for your own problems. We should blame our leaders. When the black man (Ghana) woke up to demand for independence, they accounted for their governance and packed up leaving our country to us. They handed over to us railways, universities and so many other things that were working. They also handed over to us reserves running into millions of dollars with no debt. That is a foreigner running your country for you. Since the white man left, every that has come government has accumulated more debts for us. Then the NPP declared an emergency enabling us to have our debts written off, which is quite disgraceful. We have started piling them on again. If you talk about the woes coming from the white person, I personally will say no, it is not true. We gave them some opportunity to abuse us a bit but what have we done for ourselves since independence?

You do have friends in influential places, politicians and ministers…
(Cuts in) No, I do not.


You don’t.
I know them but they are not my friends.

Oh well, when you meet them what do you tell them?
I do not talk to them because they always misconstrue what I say. If you do not say something in their favour then you are against them. Ghana has now been polarized everything is looked at in political terms. When I started Unique Trust in the 90s and people saw we were doing well, they began to say, “He’s NDC. He’s coming from the military and they gave him some money with which he’s now doing business”. Then the NPP came and they said, “Now the man’s NPP”. Others said “no he’s NDC” then the NPP began to come after Unique Trust. Even in football, Hearts of Oak is supposed to be NDC while Ashanti Kotoko is NPP. What kind of a country is this? I do not waste my time talking to politicians because it all is ignored. People ask me why I even talk when I have built a company and I am okay and things like that. I am not after bread and butter. It’s when you leave your house in the morning, you meet the first traffic light, and you see your fellow human being begging among the traffic. You see the look of desperation in some of their eyes. You look around and see filth and you imagine the opportunities that we have. You can’t just say you won’t do anything. Your hearts bleeds for the people. That is why some of us talk. Unfortunately, for some people if it’s not in favour of the government of the day then you’re against the government. It is sad. Ghana is even better than some other African countries because I know their cultures are worse and they abuse their people more than we do ours. Nevertheless, ours is still very bad.

You seem to have a feeling for the underprivileged, what have you done to alleviate suffering among the underprivileged populace.
I don’t think there’s much that I can do. Most times, I’m not even sure I’m doing the right thing. One of the few things that give me pleasure is when I look at the faces of my staff and see that the about two hundred and fifty people who I employ have a means of livelihood, self-respect and are able to feed their families and relatives. I look at the investments that we’ve made and the interests that we’ve paid higher than treasury bills. We’ve paid pensioners and organizations we know that we’ve added more valuable to them. I look at the people we have given loans to and the numerous businesses that we’ve saved not withstanding what anybody says. And I know the individuals who are benefiting from our services so that gives me some satisfaction that I’m putting something back into the system. I look at the taxes that we’ve paid; for 2005 we paid c10 billion in taxes that were supposed to go into the Consolidated Fund to help the government disburse as it deems fit. Even though I have my problems as to how it is disbursed. I look at the corporate social responsibility work that we do whereby we give to orphanages. If you look at what the average person is suffering, then the underprivileged people need to be pitied. Even those of us who have jobs are complaining then I say what about those who are crippled, blind theirs would be pitiful. So we try to give something to them in the special homes. We went to the National Trauma Centre where people are lying on the floor and spent about c600 million trying to rehabilitate it. We also adopted it because it’ll be rundown again before you know it. How much can one company formed under just ten years do? There should be more companies like us if the system is functioning properly so that there would be lots more taxes for the government to collect and take care of its citizens. But there are only a few success stories.

Let me take you up on that. You started ten years ago and are now the second best indigenous company in Ghana, how then did you develop so well if you accuse the same system of being so unruly?
You might say I’m a bit crazy but I teach people and say be realistic. Don’t listen to what people tell because that’s not the truth most of the time. Our upbringing in Africa is even wrong because we were brought up to fear authority. The father is coming to the house and the children have to run and hide. The father is never wrong even when he’s being stupid. Moreover, even if there is any misunderstanding you have to beg your father. You see that we grow up fearing authority, not challenging the status quo and being timid. This is our way of life. When I was growing up people believed I was a truant who didn’t respect authority and all supposing things. But the good side is that if the boss is wrong I can say so. He can fool all of us but even though I can’t do anything I’ll tell him that he’s wrong. Most people take it that the government is trying but I believe the government is doing absolutely nothing. If you want to develop a people you start with information about the people. This is a country where we don’t even have addresses so the government doesn’t even have a clue where the people live. How do you say you develop such a people? So the tax man is limited and the government doesn’t know what is required where; it doesn’t know what to take from where and therefore is not capable of developing the people. I was realistic about the country’s situation so I did my own investigations by going to the markets and knew how they were suffering when it came to accessing loans. My own experience put me in touch with the banks and I knew that the banks weren’t treating clients properly and were not responding to the needs of the people. It hit me and I said I’m going to do what the banks are supposed to do in a different efficient way. In those days you had to listen to people and try and solve their needs because business is about trying to satisfy the needs of people. If you don’t respect people you can’t even think of what is worrying them to determine what their needs are. When you look at someone, you should be thinking about how to improve his life. That is when business starts nurturing. We started with these goals in mind. I said I was going to do loans for 15% a month and people thought I was crazy but I knew that people were given loans in the market at 30-50 % a month. So I said if I can give loans to people at 15%, I’ve saved them something. People said nobody would take a loan at 15% but I knew it was possible. I started giving out money at 84% per annum and I knew that with discipline I would still have a margin. As situations improved, I narrowed down interest to a situation where we now give out loans at between 3-8% per month. You have to be realistic and stay focused on the job. The problem is that our culture will always take you away from your job. As soon as you start making some money, employing one or two people, everybody will zoom on you. They will want to make you chief, there is a funeral here you should attend, you want to look after your brother, your mother wants this and the money you have to invest in the business is being frittered away. You have to know this culture is wrong. I would not spend the money that is supposed to grow the business to do something else. People even borrow money to satisfy cultural demands or societal pressures. That is wrong. That is how we have been brought up. Only a few people would be realistic and say “what is happening to me is wrong and I wouldn’t go that way”.

Do people come to ask for loans to do burials?
Yes, people come to take loans for so many frivolous things. A guy came here to borrow money because every summer he has to go to Europe for summer with his wife, three kids and a help. Therefore, that year he came here to borrow money to buy tickets because his money was not ready. It was what was expected of him so he needed to take a loan to fulfill his obligations. I asked myself what are their priorities. We always want people to see us in a certain respectable light. I do not care what people think about me. I just focus on my goals. The society makes unnecessary demands that people unfortunately cave in.

How difficult is it retrieving loans from defaulters?
It is very difficult. However, in giving loans, you just do not give money to everybody who walks into the office seeking one and then you go after them after a month to collect the money, no. it requires understanding the person, getting the truth about the need for the money and if they will use the money for that. Once you establish contact with a client and he/she tells you exactly what their situation is, and then you are at the beginning of trying to give a good loan. Then you have to use your better education and knowledge of the business to evaluate the business the client has told you about. Factor in the cost of the interest to the business and ensure that the client will make a profit or his position will improve. You have to agree with the client that this will be the result if he agrees to do what we say we will do with the moneys. The client says yes I am happy with it, I will abide by it thank you very much before we go into giving the loan. There is some mutual understanding about how much money we are giving out, what the money is supposed to do and the probable problems that will occur. Many people after doing the type of business they wanted to do and making the money start having ideas different ideas. Therefore, you have to be there to monitor and pick up the money when it comes in. if your monitor and evaluation is good, you will do good loans. However, you still have people in the system who will come in and lie or people who tell the truth but as soon as they leave the office, they turn around as need that is more urgent arises and they divert the money. In that situation, I really do not have a problem. My issue is that when they have disrespected you and the cause for which you gave them the money, they should come back and tell you that something went wrong and I could not stay by what we agreed. The typical Ghanaian would put off their phone and not stay in their house trying to avoid you. I have put my telephone number at all of our offices saying if you have a problem, you should call me directly. You do not call me; we call you but get no response, we have a responsibility to the owners of the money then we come after you.

So you enforce retrieval of the loans.
The point is that these very disrespectful crooks and cheats in the system know that the system can be manipulated, because if you take them to the police station they can bribe their way, the court system is slow and adjournments can last up to three years. They misapply the money and try to use the weak system to their advantage. we have our own problems but I believe we are one of the companies who deal with them better than the others.

How do you go to bed at night knowing that you have taken away a family’s livelihood while retrieving a defaulted loan?
I sleep very well. I am a very happy person. The only time a relationship will start between a client and us is when we have analyzed the client’s desperate situation and taken other people’s money to give to this client. For such an action, nobody can say we are bad people for giving money fast to people in desperate situations with feeling and respect. Ninety five per cent of the people pay back and are grateful. The other 5% who lack respect for civility want to abuse our trust and say we are bad people. However, I sleep very well at night knowing my God is behind me. When people walk in here and ask us for a loan bringing along a guarantee, they are simply saying you can liquidate this thing if do not pay you.

At the end of the day if this person cannot pay and they ask for a little more time, what do you do?
I am saying that come back and tell us you have a problem. I welcome all of them. I respect people because I have a soft side that most people do not know. I want people to be truthful about their conditions. If you come back and tell me about the situation then I am ready to help you figure something out.

People respect you for what you have achieved in the country because you have turned adversary into something great. Don’t you think that people like you ought to stand up for positions of leadership in this country? Why are the good men standing down when they should be counted?
You need to listen to some opinions about me before you make such conclusions.

The young people look up to you because you inspire them.
They are in the minority. Ghanaians do not like the truth. If you say the truth too much and you are disrespectful and do not like the party or the big man, they take you as the enemy. I would not venture into politics by myself, ever. I know that the way I talk and say the truth, majority of the people will not want to vote for me. I am smart enough to know that. In a situation where the majority of the Ghanaians cannot stand the truth, I know it will be a waste of time. If I have to put myself up to serve the people, I know I will put in my best so you bet that I will never bribe anybody to vote for me. You cannot win elections in Ghana without paying and telling them lies.

In essence, you would run for president if a party adopts you.
No party would adopt me. I do not think like them. I have found it refreshing that somebody like Professor Frimpong Boateng will put himself up for president. I’m praying and hoping there will be some miracle from somewhere to see that he’s a genuine guy who can change Ghana.

Many people were surprised that you supported him.
He is the only person worth my support. People are not realistic anymore. Here’s someone who has excelled in the medical profession, in the cardio surgical field, with a high IQ and he says he wants to replicate his success for his people. he’s been named a bad person because Ghanaians always call a good person bad. If we’re realistic, there’s not another candidate who can stand up to him among the lot. We say we are developing so we don’t need him but if we realize we’re not developing but going backwards then we’ll realize we need a different person and not the usual breed of politicians because they have only succeeded in bringing us backwards.

You think the political jobbers are just wasting our time.
I will not say they’re wasting our time but that they don’t know what it takes to develop people and they get side tracked by the cultural demands on them. For example, the president has to go to a funeral every weekend. We have only 24 hours in a day, how can you go and spend hours at a funeral? I do not get it. In addition, he has to go with a convoy of about 40 cars in a show of strength because that makes him popular.

In essence, you are not friends with the president.
I have not met him before and have never shaken hands with him. I only see him from afar.

What if you had an opportunity to have an audience with him, what would you tell or advise him?
The presidency is an institution you cannot but respect. I am a trained soldier and we take seriously rank and position. I do not think the president will need my advice because he has many people around him who he has trusted for so long and would not now come to ask for my advice. One thing I assure is that if he ever asked for my view, they will not be dressed up at all. They will be as raw as I am talking to you.

So if you ever came into a position of authority, how will we know that you would not sing another tune?
Then they would have to listen to hard truth all the time. Moreover, I know I will not last because they would probably sack or kill me.