ROWLEY’S VANITY GHANA TRIPS

IN 1964, then-Prime Minister Dr. Eric Williams visited Ghana as part of an African Safari.

Williams wanted to meet President Kwame Nkrumah, the transformative leader who had led his country to independence less than a decade before.

Both leaders were anti-colonialists, and Williams was keen to exchange notes with Nkrumah, whose non-violent activism inspired Martin Luther King.

Ghana was the first African nation to achieve independence and Nkrumah’s style was modelled by other countries in the continent.

The Ghanaian socialist leader began an industrialisation process but soon became detached from the people.

He was overthrown in 1966.

But he remained a source of motivation to Williams and important Trinidad and Tobago personalities of the era, like C.L.R. James.

There remains a special bond by some Caribbean political and historical figures for the West African country of 33.5 million people.

But, like T&T, Ghana has not fulfilled its post-independence potential.

Bribery, misappropriation of funds, extortion and administrative theft are pervasive in Ghana, according to a recent report.

There is steep inflation (reaching a high of 53 per cent in January 2023) and subdued economic growth (2.8 per cent).

The public debt is an astounding 93 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Poverty levels are also high.

Crime is not as rampant as in T&T, but there are assaults, carjackings, extortions, and muggings.

Agriculture and services are the best-performing sectors.

Until a few years ago, electrical blackouts took place frequently because of an unreliable source of energy.

But the country has since invested in thermal power generation, which provides two-thirds of electricity needs.

The economy has declined from Ghana’s early independence years, when there was a lucrative gold trade.

So Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley is mainly grandstanding when he speaks of “tremendous potential for economic growth” through bilateral ties.

Rowley’s recent visit to Accra was his third since becoming Prime Minister, and there has not been any growth in trade and investments.

Not even the much-touted Ghanaian yams – said to be creamy, with a mild, nutty flavour – have crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Trade between both countries remains minimal.

Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon’s recent investment trip has not delivered any known results.

Rowley was engaging in typical hyperbole when he bragged that “there are businesses to flourish, contacts to be made, investments to be made” and opportunities for “recreational purposes.”

T&T has lost its investment appeal with the decline of the energy sector, to the point where there a major net outflow of multinationals.

Rowley was also true to form in crowing about the potential for “a direct air service between the Caribbean and Africa.”

He touted a Ghana Airways route from Accra to Trinidad and Tobago.

For decades, politicians have flogged direct Caribbean-African air travel.

But the proposal is a commercial non-starter because of travel costs and the fact that the destinations have not been sufficiently promoted in the respective destinations.

Typical of politicians visiting far-off countries, Rowley has hyped airy-fairy economic benefits in order to capture media headlines and seek to justify his funded trips.

His visits to Ghana were essentially bucket list Back to Africa outings financed by hard-pressed taxpayers.

At age 75 and with a critical general election looming, he probably wanted to tick off these Ghanaian sojourns from his register of lifetime experiences.

As with his previous trips, there are no benefits for the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

Rowley’s visits to Ghana were simply T&T-funded vanity expeditions.