John Rapley
AFTER ITS CIVIL WAR, the U.S. imported millions of immigrants and urged them to colonise the country's west, which it saw as a vast but untapped reservoir of wealth (much to the consternation of its indigenous occupants). Unlike the African immigrants who developed the south, these ones came willingly. Among them were boatloads of Irish. Their homeland was then mired in a poverty that would last another century.
In recent decades, the Irish government took a page out of the American history books. In the midst of economic reforms that gave a fresh impetus to economic growth, it invited Irish in its large diaspora to return home to help develop their country. By the end of the 20th century, not only had Ireland gone from being one of Europe's poorest countries to one of its richest. Its brain drain went into reverse, as the descendants of Irish immigrants came home.
Now, the West African country of Ghana wants to employ a similar model. Like Ireland, Ghana has spent the last couple of decades implementing structural reforms that have made the country 'open for business.' As was the case for Ireland for so long, Ghana's development has been impeded by a brain drain of skilled professionals. Now, Ghana wants them to return.
But Ghana is going further than summoning recent emigrants. It is widening the call to include the descendants of those who went to the Americas centuries ago. It would like to make Ghana a haven for Africans in the diaspora. The appeal is not merely sentimental. Just as the U.S. government saw the west as a frontier of opportunity, Ghana seeks to become a land of economic promise for transplanted Africans all over.
The challenges are many. The links between the African diaspora and Ghana are more attenuated than they were for most Irish in, say, Canada or the U.S. The country is less accessible. Language and cultural barriers remain strong. And there are serious impediments to succeeding in business in Ghana, including bottlenecks in infrastructure and corruption in government.
OPPORTUNITIES
On the other hand, there are more opportunities than there have been in a long time. Ghana's economy, if performing below par, has been growing for several years at rates we here in Jamaica could only envy. Its political system has successfully moved from dictatorship to what appears to be a stable democracy. The government has an ambitious vision for the future, including a visionary shift to the frontiers of information technology.
But exploiting these changes, and propelling Ghana into the ranks of "tigers" like Ireland, will require capital. More capital than the government can get its hands on. Hence, the appeal to private investment: by streamlining the process of acquiring residency and citizenship, and trying to promote a culture of openness to a new type of returning resident, the Ghanaian government is hoping it can lure back the financial and human capital it will need to become West Africa's economic powerhouse.
Ambitious, it is certainly. It is unlikely Ghana will attain the sort of immigration levels Ireland did. But then, it doesn't need to. It has set relatively modest goals for increasing temporary stays in the country, and hopes to convert some of them into longer-term ventures. A little could go a long way towards raising Ghana's growth rate. Raised growth might then become itself a magnet for greater inflows.
Maybe it's wishful thinking. But then, if a quarter-century ago, anyone predicted that Ireland would today be one of Europe's richest countries, he'd have been laughed out of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. Stranger things have been known to happen.
John Rapley is a senior lecturer in the Department of Government, UWI, Mona.
