A former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobby has admitted to a failure on the part of his generation, in shaping the development of Ghana.
According to Dr. Wereko-Brobby, successive governments have been over-reliant on foreign aid to develop, and there do not seem to be an end to this trend in sight.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is giving Ghana US$940 million to help solve the country’s ailing economy, the latest in a number of bailouts from the fund since independence.
Dr. Wereko-Brobby said on the Citi Breakfast Show that he believes that there needs to be an effort to wean the country off foreign aid.
“I accept that our generation has failed. Ours and probably the generation before that. Collectively, we have failed in the sense that 20 or 30 or 40 years; it doesn’t matter which government is there, they are interested in what development aid they get,”he said.
“We have been independent for 60 years and all we worry about or go to vote for is what the government coming can get from the donors and what those donors can give.”
Dr. Wereko-Brobby stated that although his non-conformist attitude might have cost him key positions, it has taught him that he and Ghana, in general, is capable of succeeding on their own.
“Part of the reason that I have been sacked from virtually every administration that I have worked in is because I do not accept that we should not do things for ourselves. In 1978, I became the first African to be elected by universal suffrage to lead the largest students union in the UK. That, for me, suggested that we should not belittle ourselves,” he opined.
“I have always had the view that intellectually and capability-wise, I should not be subservient or seen to be subservient to any white person and a country that started it all by saying a black man is able to run his own affairs is still touting as the model of development. I have always suggested that let us solve our own problems and let us not sit there waiting for what the donors should or should not come and do as the basis of planning.”
Source: citifmonline
