Something struck me during this past weekend and I think I should share it with every Ghanaian. I asked myself a simple question; which aspect of our lives as a people has seen tremendous change and improvement in our generation?
I decided to use a base year of 1992 because that was when we decided as a people to return to multi party democracy and usher in our current 4th republican constitution.
In areas of Health, Education, Security, Social Services, Housing and Rent, Youth Employment, Infrastructure, Sports, Music, Movies, Media
As a Ghanaian, do you think leadership over the years has done enough to better your life?
Education
Can we confidently say that from basic school through to JHS to SHS to the tertiary level, Ghana as a country in last 30 years has seen massive improvements in teacher incentives and remuneration, improved teaching methods, improved schools and facilities and quality of the Ghanaian student has improved?
In AD 2026, Ghana still has school kids studying under trees and for over 30 years, leadership has not been able to solve this basic problem
Health and Healthcare Delivery
Health is wealth and one of the most important issues every leader must take serious. It’s been 33 years of electing leaders to fix the challenges in healthcare system. We continue to have no bed syndrome leading to unavoidable deaths and maternal mortality which the current one happening less than a month ago.
Doctors, Nurses, Midwives and other healthcare professionals are always demanding improved conditions of service which sometimes even leads to strike actions affecting negatively healthcare delivery across the country.
We currently have over 50,000 healthcare workers at home unemployed when there’s a huge gap in the Doctor/Nurse to patient ratio according to International standards.
Ghana as a country however continues to churn out thousands of these healthcare professionals from our tertiary institutions annually
Security
Are you safe as a Ghanaian after 33 years under the 4th Republican Constitution? Go back some 30 years and you’d see repeated retooling of our security services but do you feel secure in your small community or neighborhood knowing if you close from work at 7pm, you will get home safely?
Also there’s constant report of clashes leading to so many deaths in various communities around the country and I keep asking; is our security and intelligence agencies not picking up intelligence forehand to avert some of these needless deaths?
Housing and Rent
Ghana’s population as at 1993 was 16.5m and in 2026, it is estimated around 33m with a housing deficit close to 1.5m. There has been various housing policies by the state to bridge this gap but the housing challenges faced by many Ghanaians still persist.
The rent control department which is the state entity mandated to enforce rent laws has failed woefully over the period and citizens’ trust in that state institution is at an all time low.
Consistently, Ghanaian youth and families have complained about the high rent charges and more than 6 months rent charge which is alien to the laws. Very little has been done to fix this problem because the forces of demand and supply and desperation of tenants leads to these issues.
What has happened to the various housing policies by successive governments to bridge the housing deficit to curb the rent crisis affecting Ghanaians?
State Housing Company has a mandate but how many of their units are affordable for Ghanaians like Teachers, Doctors, Nurses, Bankers, Market women, Taxi Drivers and ordinary Ghanaians?
Sports
Sports brings Ghanaians and people all over the world together to Forster national cohesion and pride. Ghana sports has faced so many challenges of poor infrastructure to funding for other sports apart from football. Our local football leagues have deteriorated to a level where fans don’t even go to the stadium anymore. Our biggest league game, Kotoko vrs Hearts is currently struggling to fill the Accra or Baba Yara Sports stadiums.
Welfare of athletes and paying of their bonuses has always courted so much controversy with consistent non payments.
The Black Stars have failed to win the AFCON since the last of our 4 wins in 1982 in Accra and the saddest part is we even failed to qualify for the last AFCON with an expanded version of 24 teams.
When we qualified in the edition prior, we failed to win a game and couldn’t make it out of a group made up of Cape Verde, Egypt and Mozambique in 2024.
Music and Arts
Music and arts is something we seem to be doing well in with many young talents getting their works beyond the borders of Ghana and getting recognition. However, it seems that is so because it is not in the direct control of the state because policies and programs by governments have little to do with our success in this area.
The state has failed to maintain properly the National Theatre in Accra built some 33 years ago and the sorry state of that national edifice depicts our attitude and poor maintenance culture in Ghana.
There are no ultra modern event centers and musical concerts are held at venues that could create a stampede and cause avoidable accidents.
Infrastructure (Roads)
Almost every resident of an area in every region complains about our poor road infrastructure. Roads from farms to markets are so terrible leading to increase in prices. Again, in remote parts of Ghana, road networks are so bad that it affects healthcare services and delivery leading to avoidable deaths.
With improvements in technology, why are roads constructed in the 1990s better than what we currently construct? Corruption, kick backs and cronyism has become so pervasive that road contracts are given to mushroom companies with little or no technical knowledge and experience and that is evident in the poor roads construction we see comparative to years ago
Unemployment
One of the biggest issues currently facing Ghana is youth unemployment and it is at such alarming rate a former national security minister in a report called it “a national security threat”
Successive governments have introduced program after program but almost all have been unsustainable and a drain on the public without any tangible results as unemployment among the youth continues to rise.
I was thinking about all these entrepreneurship policies introduced and it struck me to ask, is there a fully owned Ghanaian business that has become an international brand and only Kasapreko readily came to mind. There may be others that I couldn’t recollect or not know but my point is, after 69 years, we should have more home grown businesses with Ghanaian roots expanding and becoming international brands employing the many Ghanaian youth.
There has to be a strategic state policy to support Ghanaian businesses in that light and it should be devoid of nepotism and cronyism. It seems cliche when we say the private sector is every country’s engine of growth but that is a fact and I believe the state should have a responsibility to help build up and support Ghanaian businesses to grow to curb the current unemployment crisis
So after asking myself a lot of questions about how my life as a Ghanaian has improved since we started this 4th Republican Constitution in 1993, I find it necessary to start a conversation on how leadership has failed citizens and a call for us to demand accountability because we are leaving the worst form of Ghana for next generation to come.
Written by: Serwaa Amihere, Esq.
Associate Lawyer & Broadcaster
Disclaimer: This opinion piece reflects the personal views of the author and does not represent the editorial stance of starrfm.com.gh.
