By Prince Kofi Amoabeng, former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the now-defunct Unique Trust (UT) Bank, expressed his intention to replace President Akufo-Addo if he had the chance.
He believes that democracy is the optimal form of governance, yet he holds reservations about its efficacy in Ghana due to its failure in yielding effective leaders. During an interview on JoyNews’ AM Show, he emphasized the pressing need for transformational leadership in the nation.
Mr. Amoabeng remarked that numerous leaders enter office already tainted by corruption, complicating efforts to curtail such practices.
“By the time the leader gets into position, he is corrupt already. He owes too much money. Too much favours. He owes the party. He owes individuals, then our constitution also makes him too powerful to satisfy all those he owes. For example, the president appoints or approves over 6,000 appointments and he has to make sure all his people are there. “
According to the former CEO, many presidential appointments are made primarily for political reasons rather than based on expertise or merit.
“The way of awarding the position to people is that who has served me or who can serve me.”
“I have a problem with a whole lot of appointments. I don’t want to be mentioning names. People get appointed not because they know the subject, not because they have the expertise and experience but it’s because they are serving the powers that be,” he said.
Furthermore, he highlighted the government’s failure to address significant challenges, particularly in the education, roads, and health sectors.
According to him, road projects have either stalled or are advancing at a sluggish pace due to the government’s inability to settle its debts with foreign financiers.
“A whole lot of things have come forward. Cocoa has gone down, the volumes have gone down even though that’s a main source of foreign exchange. Bank of Ghana is owing six hundred and something billion, when they call the figures, you can’t even understand.”
“The corruption that we see and feel and the disrespect and arrogance of those in power makes Ghana not a nice place to be. This is the only land that we have so we have to do our best about it,” he said.
