Professor Ransford Gyampo of the University of Ghana has said “the argument about democracy and development is nonsense” saying there is no correlation between the two variables.
His comment is based on the fact that some dictatorial and monarchical nations are developing at the expense of some democratic states.
Prof. Gyampo says Ghana has not been able to develop despite its abundant resources unlike other countries who have no natural endowments, concluding that the argument between democracy and development is a facade.
Prof. Gyampo, sharing his experience from his visit to the Islamic Republic of Saudi Arabia said it would be better Ghanaians traveled to other developed nations to learn from what happens there in order to influence how things are done here.
He says development is about making the physical lives of the citizens better, something that almost every leader in Ghana has experienced in other jurisdictions but are failing to implement in the country.
According to the Political Scientist, democracy, as many presume to be the panacea to development is not a fact considering the system of governance being practiced in other countries without democracy.
The Political Science lecturer, during his preliminary comments on the KeyPoints Saturday, March 2, 2024, noted his visit to Saudi Arabia made him experience things which made him realise the quality-of-life people can have is not dependent on the system of government that is practiced but the quality of leadership.
“My President has been here, my Education Minister has been here, my VC (Vice Chancellor) has been here so why are they not thinking like this?” he said in relation to calls some Ghanaians made to him whilst pursuing his PhD in the United States to come and help develop Ghana after his course.
Expatiating his argument on how systems are working in Saudi Arabia, he noted that people are working but are not paying taxes because the government uses the oil proceeds to fund its budget, adding that the minimum a worker in the Islamic Republic could be paid is $1,000.
“My friend told me that, here I work but I don’t pay tax and I asked why and he said they use the money they get from the oil to do everything. I’m a University Professor and I don’t get that. And there, the minimum that you can pay a human being who is working is 1000 dollars. He said I’m in an apartment and I don’t pay water bills. I don’t pay water bills. The lights don’t go off. It is about the improving the physical quality of life of your citizens not democracy,” he expressed.
He also cited the pricing of goods and services in dollars which is putting undue pressure on the local currency, saying that in Saudi Arabia, you cannot make transactions with a foreign currency but rather their local medium of exchange.
“There you cannot be pricing in dollars like we do here. I carried dollars and they say what is this? They want their money not the dollars,” Prof. Gyampo indicated.
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