Empowerment

How do you empower people who have been rendered helpless? That is the question that I keep coming back to. Over the last two months I have had countless conversations all with the central theme of development. That is to say development in general: economic, social, and political because my sense of development cannot stand unless it is supported by all aspects of society. Conversation after conversation we always come back to the idea of empowerment. That is, individuals, communities must have the ability to fight for the changes they see necessary and their voices need an outlet, they need to be heard. It’s not enough for the government to make empty promise in the form of policy initiatives, average citizens need to be at the heart of any kind of movement towards national development. I always come back to the America during the 1960’s. I know it’s a bit cliché at this point, but it really was such a powerful time in our history. It was a time when ordinary citizens took responsibility for their country and their future into their own hands and changed the system, created a new status quo. It was a perfect example of empowerment. What were the conditions that fostered the civil rights movement, the women’s rights movement, and the environmental movement? How does a country like Ghana replicate such a revolution under its own terms?

Sometimes, the more you think about it the more impossible it seems especially because development is a nonlinear and multifaceted concept. My contemplation has led me to believe a few things on this subject and first and foremost corruption must not be tolerated. There is a serious problem when the president of a third world country is given two houses, four cars, exemption from taxes, and whatever else he wants, while a good number of his people cannot read or write. The corruption is not centralized in the highest reaches of government it is diffused among bureaucrats and police at every level. The police salaries in Ghana are so low that bribes are not only tolerated but expected to make up where legitimate pay falls short. Yet people simply say, well that’s just the way things are. Shit, get angry! Demand change. Stop relying on God to solve all of your problems while those in power continue to squander money and fail to stick behind policy. If a democratic government is what you are working with then institutions are key in my opinion. Institutions set the stage for behavior, and when institutions are strong and correct they have the ability to direct a government and its people in an appropriate and positive way. In my opinion that was central to the revolutionary movements of the 1960’s in America. The necessary institutions were in place to direct behavior and allow for change. The issue becomes complicated when you realize that maybe a government doesn’t want to get the institutions right; doesn’t want to expel corruption when that corruption is stuffing the pockets of the elite. When you think about it like that the question of development becomes even more grim and farther out of reach.

I’m not trying to be cynical or negative. I’m just trying to open a discussion and face reality.