BY: Henry Adjei Boadi, the writer, is a corporate generalist and researcher
My excitement about a statement made by the Honourable. Johnson Asiedu Nketsia, the Chairman of the ruling governing party on 26th August, 2025 that “Ghanaians are beginning to forget about merit in recruitment – it’s all about protocol and whom you know” stems from the fact that the current leaders of Ghana are not only identifying Ghana’s deliberating problems. They are showing leadership, not just by mere rhetoric. They are showing commitment, setting the right environmental tone and making pragmatic efforts in dealing with the very issues impeding our desired growth and development.
The short history of governance in Ghana can be summed up simply as:
“Law and terrors do but harden
All the while they work alone;
‘Tis a sense of blood-bought pardon
That dissolves a heart of stone.”
As a country, we have experienced regimes which have proved that it is not enough to have the knowledge of the law in one’s head, nor is it, to have it written on leaflets or in books. If what coups have produced in the country is anything to go by, we probably don’t have to deceive ourselves it could still be our best bet in “delivering the goods” in any future eventuality. Now, we are witnessing a mixture of brains at work and a seeming fear and love of God at play. It could still be better since we are not getting all the blocks at the right places for the foundation, and the fact that governance is a process, with a step, at a time, we will arrive at making Ghana better for all its citizens.
Mr. Nketsia’s observation, if not nipped in the bud, could escalate certain vices like cronyism, nepotism, favouritism, bootlicking, ingratiation, pessimism, and a possible breach of psychological contracts with damming consequences.
Based on well-established research, in two series of articles, I will do a comparative evaluation of how Singapore rose to become an iconic nation of the world at the back of meritocracy, pragmatism and honesty and mediating steps to mitigate Mr. Nketsia’s fear. I will seek to examine the possible outcomes of cronyism like organisational deviance (OD), organisational cynicism (OCy), and counterproductive work behaviour and touch on the mediating variable violation of psychological contract (VPC) among cronyism and its possible outcomes. I will also attempt to establish significant relationships and correlations between cronyism, nepotism, favouritism and societal cynicism (SCy). In addition, I will try to indicate how the correlation generates deviant attitudes and behaviours (DA/B), leading to a break or violation of psychological contracts (VPC) and counter production in societies or workplaces. (CPWB).
LEE KUAN YEW” S CLASSIC MODEL OF MERITOCRACY, PRAGMATISM AND HONESTY
Lee Kuan Yew adopted a nontraditional leadership style by applying the top-notch model to state governance after realising that a high degree of professionalism was essential to the success of his government. He emphasised strongly the importance of having a top-notch state bureaucracy. He achieved this by employing and fostering the best candidates. Lee felt that his policies could best be implemented in the context of outstanding state institutions, and only if he could have the full trust of his fellow citizens in his leadership. He relied on strong, just, and equitable leaders who possess the moral fortitude to win the people’s esteem. Yes! Lee’s government appointments were strictly based on meritocracy.
Lee’s focus on human capital development was another tenet of Singapore’s strategic management strategy. It is often said that Lee and Singapore were lucky not to have had natural resources to exploit; making them emphasising the value of education right from the beginning. “The single most important factor affecting national competitiveness is the quality of a nation’s people resources,” he said. People have a distinct competitive advantage because of their inventiveness, entrepreneurship, teamwork, and work ethic.
Indeed, good leaders always desire their followers to be challenged, and to continue to strive to be the best and never settle for being average. Lee Kuan Yew for instance would often say, there is a glorious rainbow beckoning those with the spirit of adventure, and there are rich findings at the end of that rainbow. Follow that rainbow and ride it. He set out to create glorious opportunities for all his citizens to have a better fortune as a consequence of their contribution to the building of Singapore.
Great leaders build teams centred around mission or purpose instead of the organisation focusing on personality cults. Our society is ripe with cynical notions like “it’s about who you know and not what you know”, “need to be connected with a power broker for sponsorship, for it is no more about meritocracy nor is it about what you know but whom you know.
If Mr. Asiedu Nketsia and his government his government under the leadership of the President and indeed, the whole nation to build a society where a meritorious villager from the North, who does not know anybody in the system, could equally get an opportunity to serve mother Ghana, it would go a long way to help reduce nepotism. Ghana would be the winner for such an effort because there would be value for money (VFM) in almost all our SOEs and other state agencies making huge losses year after year. They will begin to experience a turnaround that will ensure accelerated growth. He could then be described as a mosquito inhabiting a big man on the Ghanaian developmental scene, who may emerge in other times and other places, as a comparator to the world statures like Churchill, Disraeli or Gladstone (paraphrasing President Nixon’s description of Lee Kuan Yew).
It was by orderliness, coupled with a corruption-free environment, little tolerance for complacency and technological advancement that Singapore became known globally and very attractive for billions of foreign investments and multinational firms choosing their destination as a preferred place of doing business, which has helped them, emerge successful.
As it happens in Singapore, Ghana, must begin to put in place, a program that aims at changing the mindset of the Ghanaian populace and continually seek to attract high-calibre nationals and foreigners who would create employment, bring in much-needed capital and most importantly, pass on their key skills. These pragmatic measures complemented by a fair and transparent judiciary would undoubtedly accelerate Ghana’s economic ascendancy, for there would be an unleashing of the forces of upward social mobility for all, and businesses in particular to thrive. Mr. Yaw Nsarkoh once said, “All societies from the Periphery that have made major development strides, first built cultures of discipline, laser focus, grit and hard work. I could not have agreed with him more.
SETTING THE RIGHT TONE OF ENVIRONMENT AND A RENEWED MINDSET FOR THE GHANA WE WANT
I have heard several members of the current administration making statements that send a good signal to the general populace that they care about the plight of the masses. They also make statements indicating that they are morally alive and therefore poised to drive the needed change. They are not succumbing to fatalism, pander to the so-called Jason’s law and cynical clichés and pessimisms like “nothing will change,” “there is no hope for the nation,” “moko aya, moko aba”, “obiara boa”. They have braced the challenge to make a difference and there is no doubt that with sustained effort, we will catch up with the Asian tigers, who happened to be our comparators at the time of independence. Certainly, it will not be a walk in the park but with a step at a time, we will achieve a preferable dignity among the league of respected nations.
“A lot of people think we are creatures of habit but we’re not. We are creatures of the environment.” Says Roger Hamilton
People, everywhere in the world are born into and shaped by their physical, social, cultural, and ecological environments. The African and for that matter, Ghanaian not being an exception, right from birth, absorbs and internalises the values, norms, customs, and behaviours of the immediate environment. Whether at home with family, at school, or in the workplace, in the majority of cases, people would easily be under the wrong influence to follow the herd.
Yes! As Ghanaians and by extension Africans, we are who we are by nature or genes. It is significant to point out that; genetic contribution to the socio-economic development of a people is infinitesimal compared with the environmental factors. It is equally true that we are a by-product of our environment as we are highly influenced by our surroundings, social interactions, and experiences. Yes! It is the case that these nuances significantly shape our thinking, behaviour, ambition and development. The question is how our environment is positively affecting the respective nations on the continent or how it is helping us achieve our collective goals and aspirations as a continent?
There is more than enough philosophies, genetics and scientific research to prove that there is no difference between the black race and other races and that there is an equal match in all the variables. Research in biotic genetic philosophy however indicates that a particular race is dominant whilst the other is recessive.
Scholars like Andre Gunder Frank consider underdevelopment as an inherent part of the global economy as each developed country has come through this stage. There is however overwhelming scholarly work disagreeing with him which believes that the development of a nation depends on the knowledge of its population and on the manner and way those societies are governed.
Several Africans travel outside the continent and adopt different postures or conform to their host environment. That is a contagion effect of a compelling environment. I must say though that there is a school of thought which suggests that those who leave the shores of the continent and fit in very well elsewhere, inherently have a gene which does not resonate with that of their origin, the reason many of them subconsciously desire to live elsewhere with near-perfect systems and structures.
While it is true that the environment plays a major role in influencing who we are as a continent or a country, the good news is that we have the power, ability, and these, combined with the right and needed skills, we should be able to nurture our environment to become what it ought to be. The continent or the nation we want would depend largely on our personal choices, inner strength, and a collective ability to respond to our respective circumstances.
We will get the Ghana we aspire, desire and want, not only through annual national budgets, and individuals’ daily routines, but also through reshaping our environment that matches the future we are planning to create. It is not lost on me that we have evolved as a people with a certain ethos, but that notwithstanding, there is a need for clearly defined and very pronounced national values that everyone will run with. We need an environment which, does not only resonates with the nation’s values and vision but also programs that will propel it.
Ludwig Bamberger’s assertion that “no people has a pure culture and that the most cultured peoples have it in the least” gives impetus to a general known fact that culture is dynamic. That being the case, we should be in a position as a people to alter our ways of doing things, which have not served us well. After all, this article has sought to indicate that human development is inherently linked to the interaction and mutual impact of nature (gene) and nurture (environment)