Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has given a harsh critique of Ghana’s post-independence economic model, claiming that the country’s historical reliance on state-controlled industry has “destroyed” the entrepreneurial spirit necessary for long-term wealth generation.
The former statesman said on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, during the launch of the Legacy Dialogue Series, a program of the Design and Technology Institute (DTI), that there was a basic misunderstanding of how economies develop throughout the changeover from the Gold Coast to contemporary Ghana.
According to Mr. Kufuor, the early Ghanaian state tried to perform a function for which it was not intended.
In his opinion, the government shouldn’t be the main risk-taker in industry.
By doing so, he claimed, the government systematically squeezed out the people whose initiative could have formed the foundation of a strong business class.
“Gold Coast that became Ghana, demanded the state to bear the risk of expanding industry and maintain the private sector. The former President said, “We removed that risk taker from boosting our economy.”
The country traded innovation for inefficiency by replacing the drive of the individual entrepreneur with the rigid machinery of bureaucracy, he said.
In reference to the period of huge State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), Mr. Kufuor observed that the proliferation of government-led initiatives stifled the private sector.
According to him, this policy was not just an oversight but rather a destructive force that tore apart thriving private enterprises.
He stated, “So it was State Farm, state this, state that, leaving out the private sector,” adding that the state had destroyed these early private ventures because it had not realized the need for the private sector to collaborate with the state in order to create wealth.
The former leader claims that the outcome was a nation that put the needs of the state ahead of the real production of wealth, which led to an economy that was weak and lacked a strong industrial foundation.
Mr Kufuor stated that his pursuit of a “Golden Age of Business” was a deliberate attempt to address these historical distortions, based on the principles of his own administration (2001–2009).
He stressed that the real driver of the economy is the private sector, and that his administration aimed to regain its trust.
“I felt I should stress the need to bring back business to usher in the golden age of business,” he said to the audience of politicians and businesspeople.
Given that Ghana is dealing with a heavy debt load and a renewed emphasis on private-sector-led recovery under the current government, his remarks occur at a crucial moment in the country’s present economic debate.
The Legacy Dialogue Series, which seeks to close the gap between historical experience and future policy, gave Mr. Kufuor a chance to remind the nation that the state’s wealth creation initiatives will continue to be hampered by the ghosts of its bureaucratic past unless there is a “risk-taking” business class.
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