SLAVE IN PALACE: Oxford Fellow Says Ghana Won Political Freedom But Still Fights for Economic Independence

Ghana may have raised its flag and broken the chains of colonial rule nearly seven decades ago, but for Dr George Asiamah, the country is still waiting for its second independence — economic freedom.

And he has a striking way of describing what he believes Ghana’s current situation looks like.

“Economic progress without freedom… is like a slave in the palace,” the Ghanaian political economist said.

“I’d rather be a free man in the rough environment than being a slave in the palace.”

The powerful analogy came during an interview with Kafui Dey, where Dr Asiamah, a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Exeter College, University of Oxford, reflected on Ghana’s development, dependence on the global financial system and the country’s unfinished economic liberation.

For him, development cannot simply be measured by growth figures, infrastructure or access to international finance.

A country must also have the power to determine its own economic destiny.

And, in his assessment, Ghana does not yet have that power.

“Are African countries free? Our economies, are we free?” Kafui Dey asked. “Not as currently, at the moment, no.”Dr. Asiamah answered

Ghana will mark 70 years of independence in 2027; a milestone that should ordinarily represent generations of freedom and self-determination.

But Dr Asiamah believes the celebration must come with a difficult question: How independent is Ghana economically?

“We have the political freedom, but then you are still fighting for economic freedom,” he said.

His concern is rooted in Ghana’s continued dependence on institutions and markets over which the country has little control.

He pointed to Ghana’s repeated return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), despite previous declarations that the country had moved “beyond aid”.

But, according to him, the IMF alone is not the real evidence of Ghana’s dependence.

The deeper problem, he argued, is the structure of the global financial system itself.

A country may decide that it no longer wants to depend on aid, he explained, but when it turns to international financial markets to raise money through Eurobonds, it does not get to dictate the terms.

“You don’t determine the interest rate, the rates that they would be offering the loans to you,” he said.

Then come international credit rating agencies, whose decisions can affect how expensive it is for countries such as Ghana to borrow.

“You have those rating agencies downgrading you, which you have no control,” he added.

For Dr Asiamah, this is what it means to remain at the periphery of the global political economy.

“The big players are just controlling you, determining everything,” he said.

His argument becomes even more striking when he turns to Ghana’s most valuable natural resources.

Gold is central to Ghana’s economy and, increasingly, to discussions about strengthening the cedi and managing the country’s reserves.

Yet even with gold, Dr Asiamah argues, Ghana remains vulnerable because the country does not determine the global price of the commodity.

“Even gold prices are not determined,” he said. “It’s determined somewhere in London.”

That leaves Ghana exposed to decisions made far beyond its borders.

His question is simple: if the value of a commodity supporting your currency falls, what control do you really have?

“You don’t have any say in that global political economy,” he said.

The conversation eventually led to a question that has hovered over Ghana since independence: Who will complete the economic liberation project?

Dr Asiamah’s argument echoes an old concern associated with Ghana’s first President, Kwame Nkrumah that political independence would mean little if it was not followed by economic emancipation.

But almost 70 years after independence, Dr Asiamah believes Ghana is still struggling to achieve that second goal.

And perhaps the uncomfortable part is that the country no longer seems to have the same appetite for the radical economic transformation once imagined at independence.

“We need economic freedom fighters,” he said.

Not necessarily politicians carrying the same slogans of the past, but a generation willing to confront the structures that keep Ghana dependent.

Because, in his view, political independence without economic power leaves the job unfinished.

Could agriculture be the starting point?

If Ghana could feed itself instead of spending billions importing food, would that move the country closer to economic independence?

Dr Asiamah agrees that agriculture is important but says Ghana must look beyond simply producing more food.

The bigger issue, he argues, is what happens after production.

Ghana moved from an economy dominated by agriculture, but failed to build the industrial base needed to transform that agricultural strength into greater wealth.

“We needed to strengthen our industrial base,” he said.

He used Ghana’s cocoa industry as a powerful example.

For years, Ghana was one of the world’s leading cocoa producers, yet the country largely exported the raw beans instead of capturing the much larger value created through processing and finished chocolate products.

“We were just exporting the beans,” he said.

The result, he argued, is that Ghana captures only a small fraction of the value generated along the global cocoa value chain.

“That larger section of the value chain will be here, so that we add value to it,” he said.

For Dr Asiamah, the answer is therefore not simply more agriculture. It is industrialisation.

Ghana must produce, process and manufacture at home before sending its products into the global market, he argued.

“We need a stronger industrial base,” he said. “That should be the focus.”

That argument takes the discussion back to the central question of Ghana’s independence.

Nkrumah’s generation fought to end colonial political control.

Today, Dr Asiamah appears to be asking whether Ghana needs a new generation willing to fight a different battle — one fought not with flags and speeches, but with factories, industries, value addition, economic policy and the power to make decisions without being dictated to by forces beyond its control.

Because nearly 70 years after the Union Jack came down, Ghana may have won the freedom to govern itself.

But Dr Asiamah believes the harder freedom; the freedom to control its economic destiny is still waiting.