In politics, success is too often measured by concrete and steel. Leaders boast of roads paved, bridges opened, and towers that scrape the skyline. These things are visible, impressive, and politically convenient. But history is not kind to such measures. The true test of transformational leadership is simpler, harder, and far more enduring: do our people live longer, healthier, and more dignified lives because of our leadership?
The Population Pyramid as the Nation’s Mirror
Demographers tell us that the population pyramid is the most honest mirror of a nation’s progress. It records whether children survive beyond infancy, whether mothers endure childbirth, whether youth escape preventable diseases or needless accidents, and whether the elderly live long enough to pass on wisdom. (As students, we’ve often seen Ghana’s population pyramids over the years, and they always seem to look the same.).
When life expectancy rises and premature death declines, leadership has done its work. When the pyramid narrows at the base and expands toward old age, we know the state has chosen life.
Consider South Korea: in 1960, its average life expectancy was just 53 years, barely lower than Ghana’s today. By 2020, through deliberate policies in education, health, nutrition, and environmental safety, that figure had climbed to 83. Or Japan: in 1947, the average Japanese could expect to live 50 years; today, life expectancy exceeds 84. These are not miracles. They are the result of leadership that measured progress not by monuments but by lifespans.
Africa, too, has made progress. In 1960, the average life expectancy across sub-Saharan Africa was 40 years. Today, it is around 62 (see the Years of Life Expectancy of Ghana in Figure 1). Yet urgent action on environmental degradation, food security, water safety, and public health is necessary to prevent that fragile progress from stalling or even reversing.
Figure 1: Years of Life Expectancy in Ghana. Adopted from Microtrends.com. Ranges from 40 years in 1950 to 65 in 2025
The Silent Threat We Ignore
Here in Ghana, our water bodies grow more poisoned each day, polluted by mining chemicals and untreated waste. Our forests shrink, our rivers run with filth, our air grows heavy, and our roads are mortuaries (too many deaths by accident). If the present trend continues without a radical plan for repair, God forbid, we may see our mortality rate slide back to the fragility of pre-colonial times, when life itself was a gamble.
What then will be the use of glittering infrastructure, private estates, or full bank accounts if our people cannot live long enough to enjoy them or if our children inherit only poisoned land and shortened lives?
Beyond Vanity Projects
I do not dismiss infrastructure. Roads, ports, and hospitals matter. But they are not the measure; they are the means. The end is this: the average Ghanaian should live longer and better because of our leadership. It is about our common humanity: being one another’s keeper. It is about being a true steward of God’s creation (nature and life) for the next generation.
This is why policies that directly touch human life deserve special recognition. Ghana’s Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy has not only provided opportunities for hundreds of thousands of young people, but it also serves as an investment in their longevity. Education correlates strongly with better health outcomes and longer lifespans.
Similarly, Zipline’s medical drone delivery service, operating across our regions, has already saved countless lives by ensuring that blood, vaccines, and medicines reach remote communities within minutes. This is transformational leadership: where innovation meets human need, and the result is life preserved.
A New Compass for Leaders
For all who lead and for all who aspire to lead, one metric should guide every vision, manifesto, and budget line:
1. Will this intervention increase the length of life?
2. Will this prevent the needless death of a child?
3. Will it protect a mother in childbirth?
4. Will it shield families from hunger, protect youth from reckless road accidents, and safeguard vulnerable elders from neglect?
If the answer is no, then it is vanity. If the answer is yes, then it is leadership worthy of history.
A Nation That Chooses Life
Nations are not remembered for the size of their budgets or the height of their towers. They are remembered for the lives they saved, the years they gave their citizens, and the dignity they preserved.
Fifty years from now, Ghana’s children should look back and see that we chose life. Our population pyramid grew stronger not by accident, but through the power of our vision. Our leaders measured success not in miles of asphalt but in years of human breath.
That, in my humble opinion, is the true measure of transformational leadership.
