The Attitude Lounge with Kodwo Brumpon: The frictional soul

“When death finds you, may it find you alive.” – African proverb

To the casual observer, the narrative of Ghana is one of the African success story interrupted. On the surface, one sees a nation of vibrant churches, bustling ‘tro-tro’ adorned with slogans of faith, and a political stability that is the envy of the Sahel region, if not the whole of the continent. Yet, underneath the surface of this democratic darling lies a stubborn stagnation that many lazily label as corruption.

Nevertheless, when one makes the effort to listen to the buzz in the corporate boardrooms or the kiosks that litter the streets, you realize that corruption is merely a symptom. The underlying pathology is far more complex, Ghana is suffering from misdirected moral energy. We are always engaged in an ethical discourse. From the churches to the mosques, there is no shortage of moral capital. To add to that, while our neighbouring countries grapple with political instability, our nation remains a predictable democracy.

As a nation, we possess the raw ingredients that should, by all rights, have birthed an industrial lion by now. Our ‘hustle culture’ is not just a survival mechanism; it is a masterclass in entrepreneurial instinct. Consider the roadside hawker. While a formal corporate analyst relies on lagging data and financial terminals, the Ghanaian street entrepreneur operates on a sensory, real-time feedback loop. They understand supply chain dynamics with a precision that would baffle a logistics professor. They know exactly when the tro-tro flows will peak, which intersections yield the highest customer lifetime value, and how to price-discriminate in a split second based on the make of a car or the expression on a driver’s face.

To the uninitiated, the cacophony of an Accra traffic jam, the persistent tapping on car windows, the balancing of enormous crates of sachet water, the frantic negotiation for imported electronics, looks like a desperate scramble for survival. Many intellectuals often file this under informal sector inefficiencies. Sadly, they are profoundly mistaken. What happens on the hot asphalt streets is not just a struggle to eat; it is a sophisticated, high-stakes masterclass in entrepreneurial instinct.

Yet, if the street is a masterclass in agility, the institutional corridor remains a mausoleum for merit. The tragedy of the Black Star of Africa is that we have grounded our raw, kinetic energy with a culture that prioritises pedigree over performance. We have created a society that worships certificates, where a PhD in theory is held in higher esteem than a masterstroke in trade.

This is where the ‘misdirected moral energy’ curdles into systemic friction. In Ghana, we often spend more spiritual capital policing the morality of a neighbour’s sudden wealth than we do demanding the efficiency of a public utility. And we have romanticized the struggle to such a degree that efficiency is viewed with suspicion, and success, unless birthed by political patronage, is treated as a moral failing.

The ultimate bottleneck, however, is the over-politicization of opportunity. We preach the Christian work ethic on Sundays, but by Monday, we acknowledge the quiet reality, which is that the shortest path to prosperity is not a better product, but proximity to power. The downside of this attitude is that when the state becomes the primary dispenser of blessings, the entrepreneur stops looking at the market and starts looking at the politician.

To transition from our renowned hustle to a development powerhouse, we must recalibrate our moral compass. We must shift our reverence from the ‘Dr.’ on calling card and on the door to the ‘doer in the field. The moral energy currently spent on performative piety and political tribalism must be redirected toward the sanctity of competence. Only then will the brilliance of the roadside hawker find its way into the DNA of our national industry. The soul is willing, and the instinct is sharp; it is time for the system to stop standing in its own way…

 

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