Ghana’s President Kufuor reminds me of the United State’s President Bush. Both preceded their presidencies with a series of unsuccessful businesses. Both appear comfortable with looting the treasury for themselves and their cronies at the expense of the people in their countries. Both countries will likely survive these presidencies. But both will be damaged, and will the voters in both countries have the wisdom and the will to choose better leadership?

In many areas where Ghana was a leader 50 years ago, she has fallen behind. The most critical of these areas are education and health care. A healthy and educated population is the foundation of successful business and development. The best thing Ghana could do to improve her position in the world is bring back free universal public education. As an article on GhanaWeb points out:

Socially, Ghana’s government says the country has made strides in both health and education.

KSP Jantuah, disagrees.

“A child from a poor family had a better chance of going to a good school then than now”, he told AFP.

“We made (primary) school free and compulsory.

After the coups people had to start paying again”, he said, insisting that the same applies to health care.

If Ghanaian businesses wish to grow and expand, the best thing they can do is work to restore and expand access to education and health care.