A Ghanaian commentator has issued a stern warning that the country’s culture of favouritism, nepotism, and loyalty-based appointments is quietly destroying its public institutions and pushing the nation toward what he calls “national suicide.”
In a hard-hitting opinion piece, Johannes Jafo Akunatu argues that what Ghanaians celebrate as community spirit and solidarity has, in practice, become a system that prioritises personal connections over competence with devastating consequences for governance and development.
Citing figures from the Auditor-General’s Department and the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Akunatu notes that Ghana recorded GH¢18.4 billion in financial irregularities in 2024 alone, more than double the GH¢8.8 billion recorded the year before. He also references a payroll audit that uncovered GH¢150.4 million in unearned salaries being paid to over 53,000 retired, separated, or deceased public servants kept on government books, he argues, by supervisors unwilling to remove people they know personally.
The writer draws on the work of historian Arnold Toynbee, who concluded that civilisations collapse not from external conquest but from internal decay when elites prioritise the interests of their networks over those of their societies.
Akunatu is particularly critical of appointments across successive governments, saying both NDC and NPP administrations have consistently been accused of rewarding political loyalty over qualification, resulting in mediocrity in the public sector.
He also turns attention to Northern Ghana, citing the University for Development Studies as an institution whose founding mission to correct historical educational inequality in the North has been undermined by ethnic-based appointments and internal politics.
“The young person in Damongo or Bole who watches appointments go to the connected rather than the qualified learns a lesson,” he writes. “It isn’t merit that moves Ghana. Network is.”
Akunatu calls for what he describes as “real empathy” one that protects institutions so institutions can protect people and warns that Ghana is at a decisive moment. “The door hasn’t closed yet,” he concludes. “It won’t be open long though.”
