The Ghana Academy of Arts And Sciences will host Mr. Yaw Nsarkoh, former Executive Vice President of Unilever Global Markets, in its Occasional Lecture 2025.

Yaw Nsarkoh is expected to speak on why 30 years into Ghana’s Fourth Republic, deep inequalities and exclusion reveal that the country’s democratic system, described as a “Santa Claus Democracy”, has structurally failed to deliver genuine benefits to the majority, especially rural peasants.

He argues in the following lecture synopsis that real transformation requires moving beyond neoliberal capitalism toward a truly participatory democracy, where the state acts on the will of the people to ensure shared prosperity and dignity.

See the attached flyer for further details.

Synopsis of the Lecture

Thirty years into the fourth republic, many questions are being asked about whether it has delivered the expected improvements and dividends in the livelihoods of the masses. These questions are relevant not only to Ghana and Ghanaians, but also they apply to much of Africa. From the late '80s to the mid-'90s, Africa experienced urgent demands from what seemed to be people movements. Did the people become the main beneficiaries of the ensuing "democracy"?

By examining outcomes in society, the facts of massive economic polarisation and general inequality will be established. That is well known and should not be too much of a surprise. That Africa, and Ghana specifically, have become two nations - separate and unequal - is now well rehearsed.

What this lecture will seek to establish is that this contradiction is not simply a result of the wrong selection of leaders by the electorate. The argument, and supporting evidence, will be provided to show that the structural design of our democracy, the Santa Claus Democracy, can only yield these outcomes of inequity we have experienced.

Participation in the process is too expensive for the majority of our population, particularly the majority who are peasants. We remain a pre-capitalist reality in the main, and yet a minority urban petty bourgeoisie, have captured the state and its pretensions at democratic conduct, excluding the majority.

It does not speak the language of power, usually the handed-down legacy of colonialism. With the collapse of local government in most meaningful ways, even access to power and decision-making is denied the majority peasants. All they have left is ritual or token participation. Once in every four or five years, politicians from the centre show up with gifts and bribes, like modern Santa Clauses, to buy votes and voters.

The consequent conditions of misery cannot endure forever. What changes are needed to get real democratic participation? What are the consequences if these changes do not happen soon enough? What should be the role of intellectuals in all of this? The lecture will discuss this, posing needed questions and making suggestions on the way forward.

The lecturer is unapologetic in his views that neoliberal capitalism leads to a dead-end and has never delivered for any people. Studying the historical sociology of countries that have made it to prosperity, like China and Singapore, the systems of thought on development that may work better will be suggested. The state acting on the instructions of the people themselves, in the context of truly participative democracy, must feature prominently in driving development. The central task of democracy can then truly be the delivery of shared prosperity and shared dignity, without which we cannot claim to be a free people.

About Yaw Nsarkoh

Yaw Nsarkoh is a Ghanaian now resident in London and Accra. After a three-decade career in Unilever, which saw him work in many parts of the world, he now operates as an independent consultant. Yaw has deep perspectives on development, particularly as it should apply to Africa. He is a passionate advocate of all development interventions - including democracy, management and marketing - needing to be driven by purpose. That purpose, to him, must always be to improve livelihoods.

He loves to both read and write, and is a well-known public speaker on such themes. Yaw is a keen voice for intercultural and multilateral approaches, in a world largely moving in the other direction.

He is married with two adult sons.