Conclusion

The positive results of effective economic policies do not show overnight; once implemented, these policies need to be rigorously scrutinized by capable analysts until completion. As the most capable analysts are usually those who conceive these policies, administration restructuring, brought about by changing governments after every 4 year democratic term, hinders progress to some extent. An example of this effect is observed when comparing the democratic Ghanaian economy to the more industrial economies of the Ashanti Kingdom and autocratic Malaysia.

Known as the only Ghanaian tribe to fight against and defeat the British, the Ashantis have single handedly built up colonial Kumasi (Ashanti Region capital) to the industrious region it is today; apart from a few government owned buildings, everything belongs to the Ashantis. Kumasi is rapidly becoming more industrious than the Ghanaian capital Accra, and the Ashanti communities experience better living standards than the average Ghanaian. Their foreign policy being to use coercive but diplomatic to become bigger and stronger, the people of Ashanti are dedicated to working hard as one people under the autocratic governance of the Asantehene to realize this goal.

The Ashanti culture is such that they believe all their souls lie in the ‘Golden Stool’; they believe the stool binds their soul together under the leadership of the Otumfuo (king) who sits on the stool. Whatever the Asanthene (king) decides goes without critique; he knows best.

The democratic policies employed in the rest of Ghana, on the other hand, allow the people to speak against the president and in this way affect the policies employed by his government. This has had two conflicting effects on the Ghanaian economy; on one hand it has maintained political stability in a country that has historically been plagued by military coups. In this way,‘brain drain’ processes have slowed down and Ghanaians can now live in peace . On the other hand, some uneducated Ghanaians representing the majority of the population do no understand the economic policies being employed by the new government to improve the economy for future generations. They thus speak against these policies and sometimes hinder development processes.

Furthermore, investments in the Ashanti region readily occur as investors only have to answer to the Asantehene. Conversely, investing in other parts of Ghana can become a tedious affair; an investor may have to go to ten different government officials to buy infrastructure only to find out weeks later that it had already been sold. Sometimes the infrastructure is land that had been confiscated during the Rawlings era; people always come back from being in exile to reclaim this property. In this way investing in these regions could be unreliable and discouraging.

One might argue that Ashantis have had a longer period to develop their economy than other regions of Ghana. But this argument is weakened by the fact that autocratic Malaysia, which also gained independence from the British in 1957, has shown a faster development rate than Ghana. An example that illustrates this is the development of the palm oil industry in either country. Malaysia, which imported its first palm oil trees from West Africa in the 1950s has not only become the largest palm oil producer in the world, but has also developed a high-tech industry which makes sophisticated chemicals and food additives from the raw berries. Historically rich in palm trees, Ghana still only processes these berries to produce cooking oil and soap for local consumption.

This analysis is still open to debate because the political history of Ghana differs from that of the Ashanti region and Malaysia. Additionally what worked in these regions will not necessarily work in Ghana as different variables come into play; Ghana is more culturally diverse, has less capital and autocratic governments in the past worsened the economy and oppressed Ghanaians. Thus autocracy might not necessarily be the answer.

Moreover, though recent IMF programs have shown little progress in developing the Ghanaian economy, there is still hope for improved turnouts in the future. Ghanaians are now more unified in their quest to improve the economic conditions in the country than ever before. Time will tell.