The Senegalese economist and industrial development expert Papa Demba Thiam has said Ghana must have a common direction on its economic development.
He said, the practice where a few politicians of varying political ideologies continue to determine the country’s development and change direction from one political cycle to the next must stop.
Dr Thiam said there must a paradigm shift in the thinking of African leaders with regard to the pathway for the continent’s development.
Speaking with Nana Yaa Mensah on Sunday Night on Asaase 99.5 Accra, he said: “If I was a politician in Ghana, the only objective I will set for myself would be to have a national discussion on the economic module that Ghanaians could agree upon to design their economic strategy in a more inclusive way; because I have many contenders, many people who want to rule the country … and they make promises but there is no common direction for the Ghanaian people to know what they are going to make of their country.
“The national debate has to take place,” he said.
Grass-roots debate
“When there were riots all over the place in the 1990s, people began to organise national conferences but during these conferences, people in Africa were talking about how the political elites were sharing the countries …
“What would it be if in Senegal, Togo or Ghana the people decide to create a forum and say, ‘We would like a large consultation with everybody who has an idea of how his/her own village, district or region should be developed.’ What will be the thinking framework that would be used to leverage our wealth and design our own transformational instruments to transform our environment?” Dr Thiam asked.
He said that, with all the modern digital platforms “at our disposal, we could have this type of dialogue very quickly and very broadly and get people to bring all these ideas together – a bottom-up approach”.
“Once you do that then you know which type of institution you should develop to support this infrastructure,” he argued.
Watch the full interview below:
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