A Story That Offers Hope

Many in Ghana know Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah by now.  A top political figure in Ghana, and per his track record, an international civil servant as well. He handled at least four ministerial portfolios and worked for the Bretton Woods Institutions.

In a recent interview on television, Dr. Spio-Garbrah said, it took about eight years for the World Bank to reply to his application for a job there. He eventually entered the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank in Washington DC when he was 35 years of age.

Per the story he told, it seems he’s got an enormous waiting spirit but it must be noted however that the job finally attended to him when he least expected it. Whilst at the World Bank, he took the bold step of bringing up for attention, the issues facing the African staff of the bank which eventually led to their prominent roles in the bank from the late 1980s.

His job placement interview was also not without drama. After several rounds, he remained in the race with one woman for consideration for the vacancy. Dr. Spio-Garbrah said he was aplomb about his chances which came up against the powerful claims for gender balance in systems. Here again, the rules were broken as the World Bank took the narrow path which was to employ both of them. This increased the cap on the department they were to serve, unusual for the strict system in place.

The seasoned technocrat and politician also dropped the information on how Ashanti Goldfields Corporation was penciled for sale but he intervened to save the national interest organization from divestiture. This was done in the two-month spell at the helm of the Ministry of Mines and Energy in the year 2000, sent there by President Rawlings to bring clarity to a hazy situation. According to him, national interests overrode anything and there was no question about that.

In 1997, Dr. Spio-Garbrah succeeded a political colossus in the person of Harry Sawyerr as Education Minister. It was at the time education sector faced many agitations which boiled down to finance. Building on the solid records of his predecessor, Dr. Spio-Garbrah devised a strategy at reversing that order with the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund, GETFUND.  It has evolved to become a powerful tool for public finance. He said the initiative he took could have been a derivative or misread to be recalibration or rebranding of the old Ghana Education Trust but this was a unique response to a dynamic situation.

Top-notch public relationist Dr. Spio-Garbrah is easily able to draw capital from fundraising. One such episode was his quick approach to mobilizing to get a permanent office for the London-based Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation when he was appointed the Chief Executive of the institution.

Another exhilarating story he told was time as Ghana’s Ambassador to the United States in the Bill Clinton era. He said the appointment required that his green card be waived but he accepted the honour of serving his country. To all these, the host of the interview said, ”Dr . Ekwow Spio-Garbrah you must have sacrificed a lot of dollars in the interest of Ghana?”  They both laughed it off.