Former Chief Executive Officer of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP), Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, has highlighted the slow pace of development in Ghana and Sub-Saharan Africa, noting that democracy itself is not the main obstacle.
Speaking on GHToday on Thursday, January 22, 2026, Ofosu Nkansah cautioned against celebrating marginal poverty reduction. He said while progress has been made, it should not create a false sense of achievement.
“I don’t want it to get into our heads that more people are getting out of poverty, and we should be happy, throwing parties and celebrating it, when we should have been doing better than we are doing now,” he said.
On governance, Nkansah noted that democratic systems in Africa are still relatively young but should not be blamed for slow development.
“Sometimes I wonder if it is our democracy model, but when you look at Europe and North America, it’s the same four-year tenure, sometimes five, and they are developing with it,” he observed.
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He contrasted Africa’s experience with China’s one-party system, which allows for continuity and long-term planning, but stressed that democracy in itself has not prevented sustained growth elsewhere.
“If we start counting from 1992, that’s a little over 30 years. So let’s hope that with the stability we are having, we can consolidate our democracy and accelerate our development at a faster pace than what we are seeing now,” he added.
Ofosu Nkansah emphasized that African leaders must act with urgency to close the development gap and ensure that democratic governance delivers tangible results.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
