Inside Out, an autobiography and memoir, distinctively authored to draw the reader back in time into the life of Dr. Sam Mensah and his key role for 10 years at the Ministry of Finance and Ghana’s financial sector has been launched.
Speaking at the launch of the book, Dr. Mensah noted his decision to write the book was meant to jump start a culture of writing memoirs such that life lessons could be captured and passed on to the younger generations.
“I realized in my early days with the ministry of finance that most of the employees, even senior people were very reluctant to talk about what was going on at the ministry. So, when I discovered that, I decided that I will try and jump start a culture of writing memoirs such that we can really capture the lessons other people have learnt,” Dr. Mensah said.
“I think it will be fascinating to get memoirs from former minister, chief directors; sharing with us their experiences that they had. There were many motives for writing the book but the overriding one was to break the culture of silence and to encourage others in similar situation to write their memoirs and share their experiences,” he noted.
From chapter one to three, the book tells of the humble beginnings of the author at Agona Swedru through to his school days in Adisadel College, from where he entered university and studied political science to the post-graduate level, not leaving out his keen love for music, spending half of his life in the night clubs of Accra as an active musician.
The book tells of a dramatic turn in career path, with a decision to become a financial economist for which he decided to do an MBA and Ph.D in Finance.
The author of ‘Inside Out’ wrote with the expectation that in some small way, the lessons from a 10-year involvement with the Ministry of Finance, will enhance the efficiency of government. It highlights the inner workings of the ministry through the various departments.
The book further underscores the economic condition of the country under the two major political parties, National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), examining the ideology of both parties, as gravitating towards a comfortable center, away from the left and right entrenched positions.
“I had a lot of the stakeholders in mind; one of them was students of finance and economics…. to make it sufficiently technical but not technical so that they relate it to what they are studying in school, and their knowledge of finance and economics. It was meant to be a tutorial for students.”
He added: “I wanted to layout the financial history of Ghana, starting from the time I entered the system until today; the stages that we went through; what were the challenges and the people involved in this. Key stakeholders the book is directed to is for students, lecturers, academics, technocrats, politicians.”
