Yes, this article you read, was conceived, composed and
emailed from deep within the forests of Breman Asikuma. The Breman Asikuma
which until November 1996, did not even have electricity.
This weekend, my wife and I, were summoned to attend the 9th
Speech and Prize giving day of the Ave Maria school in Breman Asikuma. Oh my
commanding wife, in her capacity as an illustrious daughter of the town, was
billed to deliver a keynote speech. So you can imagine the panic I felt, when
at Gomoa Potsin, half way into the journey, I received a text message from my
editor giving me up to 6pm, to submit my article. I had left my trusty laptop
back in Accra. The only tools I had to meet that deadline were my Blackberry
phone and the MTN service in Breman Asikuma. Private enterprise, with the able
assistance of technology, had inadvertently, come to my rescue.
I can't help but recall the supposedly good old days, when
the government tried to be omnipotent and omniscient, by being all things
business, to all its citizens. Ghana Telecom, the sole provider of all Telecom
services, struggled to provide the semblance of a telephony service, even to
the capital city. My beloved Breman Asikuma, never had a fixed line service.
Spacefon, now MTN, was the first provider of telephony services to this
distinguished town of old.
Today, any Bremanese, with his brain and technology, can
create value or knowledge, publish it and participate fully in the
decentralized global economy. I could just as easily, have been submitting this
article to the New York Times, the Washington Post or the Financial Times. From
the forested depths of Breman Asikuma. We have come a long way.
This is why I have grudgingly come to the conclusion that,
the goverment must gradually disengage itself from business and from providing
services to its citizens for profit. Instead, the goverment should focus on
creating the environment and framework within which private enterprise can take
root and flourish, providing much needed services to the people of Ghana.
Grudgingly because, once upon a time, I was a proponent of
the goverment being in business and providing much needed services to the
people. But that will be the subject of or fodder for a debate or argument on
the merits or otherwise of government involvement in business.
Just like my favorite pastime cooking, the development of a
nation has a recipe and ingredients. One of the essential ingredients of
development is private enterprise. Private enterprise is basically the God
given ability to create value and provide services, usually locked and hidden
away within individuals or groups of individuals. The government of Ghana, took
the bold step of opening the Telecom sector to all qualified entrants in the
90's. Those of us, avowed Nkrumaists, watched with apprehension as supposed
newbies and "greedy capitalists" set up shop and started providing
services. Today we benefit from and see the long term benefits of these bold
initiatives.
It used to be anathema to think about private companies
building roads and charging us for their use. I hated to imagine the day when
private companies would build, own and operate hospitals instead of the
government. Now I look forward to the day when all this will become reality.
It is now drizzling lightly in Breman Asikuma. I have completed
and reviewed my article. I will press a button and in less than 5 minutes,
Patrick will receive my article and breathe a sigh of relief. That sigh of
relief would trigger a series of bureaucratic processes which would ultimately
culminate in a cheque.
I, Kobina Obu, would have created value. From the forested depths of Breman Asikuma.
Long live private enterprise. Long live Ghana. 
No comments:
Post a Comment