Business mogul, Alhaji Asuma Banda has described Professor John Evans Atta Mills, as a man too honest to be President. According to him, the challenge for the President is to find many people as truthful as himself to help him lead the country.
Alhaji Asuma Banda was speaking on the Citi Business Edition on Friday November 19, on the subject, Business and Politics. He told the programme host Saint Doe Tamakloe, that corruption which appears endemic in politics and business particularly in Africa, could be greatly reduced if successive governments decide to pay more attention to the private sector and concentrate on building a viable middle class.
Alhaji Banda says a strengthened middle class will help reduce the greed of politicians. He emphasized that a strong private sector can be taxed and the revenue used to provide social services for the entire populace.
He buttressed his case for a middle class with the example of President Mills.
“In this country, the interest rates of the banks are very high so will you call that corruption? I am working for the maximum profit I can make and if you are charging me taxes that I cannot pay, I will find another way of saving my money elsewhere. So the corruption can be stopped if you have a middle class. Even in our administration, at least we have seen that with President Mills, money means nothing to him so he is a middle class person. He has reached a stage where he is not thinking of money. When you reach a certain stage in life, money means nothing to you so you want to leave a legacy. And that is what he is doing now” he said.
“Can he get twenty people to think or behave like him? The little I have known about Mills, you cannot even tell him that ‘let us have this and we will build the political party that brought you to power.’ He will not understand. He has got a problem which is that he is too honest to be President for Ghana” he stated.
Asked whether that was a compliment, he answered in the affirmative and said “he is too honest and it didn’t come from money. I don’t think money is his problem.”
Alhaji Banda added that more business people must get into politics. He told Citi FM, governments run better when business people occupy key positions.
“Let’s get people who have done businesses because if somebody can turn money and make profit, running a government is like running a business. There is no difference between the two.”
He cited current Finance and Economic Planning Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor as one who gained more experience from doing business in the insurance and banking sectors.
“Would you agree with me that Kwabena Duffuor who is certainly not in politics for money gained more experience from doing business? Today he is one of the finest Finance Ministers we have" he noted.
Alhaji Asuma Banda urged Ghanaian businessmen not to hesitate to serve in Government circles with their vast experience.
“I think some of us are also greedy and would not want to leave our businesses to go into politics. Ghana is very rich with human resources and Kwabena Duffuor has set an example. And some of the Ministers who have worked with international bodies and not necessarily owned businesses are very good. I mean if you are a President and you have a country where you have successful businessmen, the President will sleep and he will get whatever he wants by taxing them and use it to give social services to the nation,” he said. ?
Source: citifmonline.com
