Hard erred patriotism

“I prefer to give my money to the (Ghanaian) armed robber than give it to you (save in a Swiss account). You are the biggest armed robber”, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo.

This is one brave patriot in the person of no other than the CEO of Kama Pharmaceuticals making this pronouncement at a public lecture organized by the British council in Accra, Ghana. He was addressing about a hundred young people on Innovation. Such heroism could easily be misunderstood

Interest rates in Ghana are still high even though the Government has created a better atmosphere for business and entrepreneurs.  The explanation given for this high interest rate is that, it is risky to borrow, true. The shocking statistics according to him is that only 40% of people who borrow from banks do pay, I have no means of verifying this statistics. The 40% is held to ransom to pay through interest rates so the banks can recover the money owe them by the 60% somehow. Well, then it means it is more difficult to do the right this now, isn’t it?

Sorry for digressing. So what if the rich African businessman, or the politician save their loots, sorry their profit in the country’s financial institutions.

In the article “Hiding Africa's Looted Funds: The Silence of Western Media By Lord Aikins Adusei (Modern Ghana)” published June 18, 2009 http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Hiding_Africa%27s_Looted_Funds:_The_Silence_of_Western_Media it elaborates how some chunk of Africans resources ends up improving the interest rates of some countries, even contributing to their economic growth while African communities still ‘beg’ for aid to develop. Who will you blame, it is their money. But to the extent that most lose their security ID and all those fund will be kept without anyone knowing is a bug I will grow an understand one day.

On a lighter side, I have an uncle who lost all his money he accumulated during one of the coup d’état Ghana experienced.  He lost his money to this offshore bank because the banks changed its security feature excluding him in the process. Of cause he does not have that kind of resource to contest in any court.

But for Dr. Addo to have made that bold pronouncement to an agent form an international based in Europe…I’m amazed. On lesson I have learnt in all this is that my economic liberation must be linked to the liberation of the society that raised me.

A last quote from him is “use the knowledge you have to innovate anything you see”.