Why Is Ghana and Africa the Way It Is?

A Background Reflection on Power and the Post-Colonial Mindset

I grew up in the northern part of Ghana, and during my school days, I would travel south during holidays to hustle for money so I could return to school. Every trip made one thing clear to me: the South seemed far ahead of the North. The infrastructure, the opportunities, even the weather, all felt more favorable. It was as if the North had been left behind entirely.

Years later, I made my way to Kumasi, Cape Coast, and Accra—places that were among the first in Ghana to encounter European explorers as far back as the 14th century. The Europeans came, settled, and established booming trade systems, including the brutal trade in enslaved Africans. To support their ventures, they built institutions. Eventually, some of these institutions—St. Augustine’s, Achimota School, Mfantispim, and others—opened their doors to the local population. Some of these schools are still where the rich educate their kids today.

From these early interactions emerged a new class of Africans. Some received formal education, showed promise, and were sent overseas to institutions like Oxford and Cambridge. These were the beginnings of Ghana’s own so-called elitism. But beneath the surface of their success was a troubling foundation.

For a long time, I wondered:

Why are so many African leaders so cold-hearted to the plight of their own people?

Why do we struggle to unite, trust, and a shared vision across the nation and the continent for a common good?

I began to realized from my readings that some of these answers lie in our colonial past.

Many people and my younger self included used to romanticize that colonialism, has brought us good things, “At least the British built schools and hospitals.” But not quiet, everything they built, they built for themselves. The schools I mentioned earlier were initially built for British and other's children, not Ghana’s. The hospital, shops in Accra were to serve the white officials, while Africans were often packed into underfunded institutions. Even the railways, often celebrated as colonial gifts, were designed to transport extracted resources like gold from the interior to Takoradi Harbour to be shipped back to Europe. 

It wasn’t development out of good will. It was extraction and exploitation at best.

But the worst legacy left behind wasn't physical. It was psychological—and it is still at work today.

The British trained a small group of African elites. They taught them English, groomed them in Western etiquette, and invited them to taste life in their spaces and in their midst and gave them a taste of what power is. Useful idiots in the making maybe. In return, these Africans began to look down on their own people, imitating the colonizer in both mind and actions. They were not just taught new skills, they were taught a dangerous lie: that they were better than their fellow Africans. This is the genesis of the "us versus them" mentality. The North and South dichotomy. 

So when independence came and leadership was handed over to Africans, the mindset didn’t change. It hasn’t changed even today. Many leaders ruled not as liberators, but as new tyrants and colonizers. They had learned how to taste power. They treated leadership as a privilege, not a responsibility to the masses. Power became personal. Corruption became normalized. And the people continued to suffer.

Today in Ghana, we still see this dynamic at play. The wealthy hide behind high walls, enjoying luxury while open sewers and poverty choke the surrounding neighborhoods. During my last visit, the contrast was heartbreaking. It’s as if we have normalized the ugliness in that nation. No wonder the youth are all on the mission of seeking greener pastures overseas. 

The also colonizer taught the Black man to hate himself, and we have carried that hatred into how we lead, how we relate, and how we build (or fail to build) community all around like a badge of honor. We compete instead of collaborate together. We see each other as threats instead of kin. A whole continent, yet no permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council? That is not just political—it is psychological and it's steep.

This is why the call for reparations is about more than just money to the continent. The damage runs deep. Africa is not poor because we lack brilliance. We are poor because we lack unity. And with a colonized mind, the West has nothing to worry about. All we want is that young people can find meaningful life and home right where they are in Africa without risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea for a better life that is not guaranteed. 

But there is hope in all this. 

Education must lead the way. Today, more people are getting education at record numbers. The quality is questionable I must add. But see, I am writing this reflection because I had the opportunity to be educated. In the Western world, children are taught from a young age to work in teams, to collaborate. We need similar practices in African schools: group projects, community service, and cooperative learning. From a young age, Africans must learn to build together.

We must decolonize our collective minds. We must raise a new generation of leaders with the mindset of Lee Kuan Yew, who transformed Singapore not through selfishness, but through sacrifice, vision, and a strong sense of community. 

See, I have tried doing businesses in Ghana and faced countless frustrations, not because there’s no opportunities, but because of our lack of loyalty and shared purpose. Excuses are painful to swallow. Too often, everyone is out for themselves. This mindset must die if Africa is to live for a better tomorrow.

Thankfully, this generation has something our ancestors didn’t: access to information. We can read. We can reflect. We can rethink. And we can write and educate. 

It’s time for us to move forward, together.

Recently, I heard people in Ghana complaining about migrants from Chad and the Central African Republic. But the truth is, people only migrate toward hope. If they’re coming to Ghana, it means we are doing something right as a nation. So instead of complaining, let’s keep building, so that someday, no African feels the need to flee their homeland to survive in land that will perpetually question their humanity. 

It begins with mindset. It begins with us. Let's fight for a meaningful change. 

Please leave a comment. 

God bless you 

-Pal Ronnie-