Former Board Chairman of the Ghana Airports Company Limited and General Manager of Metro TV, Paul Adom-Otchere, has argued that incompetence, rather than corruption, is the more pressing issue holding back Africa’s development.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse Show, Adom-Otchere challenged what he described as an entrenched but misguided public perception.

“We have been told all the time that the bigger problem is corruption. I beg to differ,” he said. “If you engage with the literature well, you will find out that incompetence is a bigger problem.”

He explained that incompetence is easier to identify and measure compared to corruption, which is often difficult to prove without political bias or legal findings. According to him, Africa’s persistent underdevelopment is driven more by poor management, weak institutional capacity, and ill-informed decision-making than by theft alone.

Reflecting on Ghana’s economic history, Adom-Otchere recalled how the country struggled with poverty and debt, noting key moments such as Ghana’s classification as a Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) in the early 2000s.

“Ghana was said to be a poor country in 1995. In 1998, Ghana was a poor country, and in 2001, Ghana was a HIPC country,” he recounted.

To illustrate his point, the controversial TV host cited a bank established in Ghana in 2006, which, despite operating in what was labelled a “poor country,” has since become massively profitable.

“In the poor country of Ghana, the bank has been profitable,” he observed. “So what really is the problem?”

Adom-Otchere also questioned how corruption is defined and identified in the public sphere, arguing that political narratives often shape perceptions rather than hard evidence.

“People have been told that your problem has nothing to do with competence, so we don’t even look there,” he said. “Our problem is corruption. But how do we know somebody stole money? We were told by the politician that somebody stole money.”