Varsity Dons: Why are They Turning to Politics?

Published on 7th June 2013

Professor Michael Quay of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) had to abandon working as academic proffer, in order to nurture his political ambitions. He thus served as an MP, a minister of state and later as a deputy speaker of Ghana's parliament.

Professor Frimpong Boateng, Africa's finest heart surgeon, almost abandoned his calling in the medical field and his academic responsibilities, all in pursuit of political ambitions. If he had won the elections, that could have been the end for all the young doctors who were studying under his tutorship and probably the end of all those patients who needed the services of Ghana's ONLY heart surgeon for their survival.

Today, there are still many professors serving as MPs, ministers and ambassadors while our local universities and research institutions run short of professors. Countless others can be found in the rest of Africa most especially in Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Kenya and Uganda, among others.

But why are many of the professors gradually abandoning their calling in the classroom for politics at a time when the tertiary institutions need them most? The answer is not far-fetched.

In Africa, politics is currently the highest paid job! There is no doubt about that. Just check the affluent lifestyle of the politicians contending with American hip-hop stars and European footballers who have been flaunting their wealth everywhere.

Imagine a whole professor, who manages to teach some ‘small boys’ to become graduates in 4 years. Then just after 2 years, these small boys become MPs/ministers, get paid $10,000 per month, ride Toyota land cruisers, the V8 type of cars with free fuel, live in mansions, travel abroad on diplomatic passports, and have all the other under benefit. Why do you think the professors will want to remain in the classroom when they consider themselves more knowledgeable and hardworking than these politicians?

For instance, while teachers in Kenya are paid a meager salary of about $250 per month, Kenyan MPs earn a basic salary of $6,000 per month excluding other bonuses such as free accommodation, expensive official vehicles, fuel allowance among others, totaling over $500,000 per MP per year in real revenue. As if that is not enough, the politicians embark on numerous overseas trips for holidays, all paid by the taxpayer. No wonder even retired MPs are demanding diplomatic passports as their birthright in Kenya, Ghana and many places in Africa.

As if that is not enough, these MPs (in Kenya) who recently found themselves in parliament barely two months ago, have just voted to increase their salaries to $10,000/month per MP ($120,000/yr) at a time when the average worker in Kenya earns merely $1,600 a year. This is after MPs in the previous parliament awarded themselves a $107,000 retirement bonus in of the last sessions before the just-ended elections.

What is the justification for demanding this ridiculous pay? These politicians claim they're working hard. Meanwhile, when the health minister is sick, he catches the next available flight to Europe for his medical treatment; leaving the poor taxpayers to die in horrible hospitals in Kenya. Even in Ghana and Nigeria, when our MPs, the senators and the president are sick, they all fly to Europe and America to seek medical treatment at ridiculously inflated prices while pregnant women lie on  bare floors in the collapsing local hospitals.

Here in Ghana, the recent out-going MPs cashed $150,000 each as their ex-gratia whiles those remaining in the parliament house took home $100,000 each. This does not include the huge amounts of moneys/aid which some of them looted while in office.

Why Business Is Booming In Ghana Politics

Immediately after taking the oath of office in January 2013, each Ghanaian MP cashed $25,000 as accommodate allowance. Seven (7) days later, they were awarded another $50,000 each to buy the state of the art vehicles: Land Cruisers Prados, Toyota Tundra, Range Rovers, depending on individual preferences.

Apart from their monthly salary of $3,200, MPs in Ghana receive free fuel, unlimited mobile phone calls; other bonuses including $30,000 monthly allowances paid into their account (consolidated fund), which ought to be used for "emergencies." Although the consolidated fund is intended to cater for the needs of their constituents and other developmental projects (roads, hospitals, classroom blocks, libraries etc.), the reality is that in Ghana, most MPs spend such monies with their girlfriends. Others keep a huge percentage of the consolidated fund as the main source of funding their political campaigns during the next elections.

Ghana MPs usually abandon all developmental projects and wait until the election season finally kicks off. It is until then that little attempt it made to initiate a few road projects, only to be abandoned later as soon as the elections are over.

Meanwhile the minority (in Ghana) had been boycotting parliament, for many weeks, despite claiming all their salaries, bonuses and all personal entitlements. If these politicians are not wicked, then probably I don't know the true definition of wickedness.

Today, because the MPs are enjoying so much wealth and power, even professors are abandoning their calling in the classroom for politics. The attitude of our politicians suggests that politics in now a lucrative business! It is probably a business which is booming far better than oil and gas, and perhaps, even trade in cocaine.

No wonder politics is all that our media talks about every day and night. Even on weekends, our local media doesn’t spare us those election and political debates, especially on issues bordering on the welfare of the political elites and why their salaries must be increased. Meanwhile medical doctors and nurses have been threatening to go on strike if their salaries are not paid in the coming months while politicians keep wasting all the taxpayers’ money.

One question which is not being asked by the media panelists is this: "Why is politics dominating our lives as a people?" The answer, at least in part, is that Politics in Africa is the highest paid industry. With corruption taking place unchecked and unpunished, the best place to be is the political arena. It is here that access to the money is greatest, stealing is easiest and the quantity of the bounty is greatest!

We need to rethink the meaning of political leadership. It will be very useful if political leadership is designed and implemented as service to the people rather than an avenue for a few people to amass wealth. Africa yearns for Servant Leadership epitomized by the biblical Christ. We have allowed crooks and thieves to masquerade as “leaders” while we stand by as they plunder our land and impoverish the lives of millions.

We have to to demand that corruption gets severely punished. Until then, political offices will remain too "lucrative" to invite the reforms necessary to get the right people at the helm of affairs. It is time our professors elicited practical solutions to Africa’s political crises, rather than seek to join the bandwagon of the politicians as a means to enrich themselves and worsen Africa's economic challenges.

By Honourable Saka

The writer is a Pan-African analyst, anti-corruption campaigner and the founder of the Project Pan-Africa (PPA), an organization established to unlock the minds of the African people to reclaim their destinies. E-mail: [email protected].


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