Is it really the case that they can't find programmers?

A well-known excuse given by some elements in government and corporate Ghana for outsourcing software projects is that they could not find people in Ghana who could do the job. Could this possibly be true?

I have heard this excuse given for other professions, in particular, medicine, where wealthy people, in their bid to explain why they prefer to go abroad for treatment, claim that they cannot find suitable doctors to cure their ailments at home. These excuses are often met with rebuttals from the doctors who argue that they are capable of treating the ailments; so there must be other reasons why some choose to go abroad. Indeed, it is not hard to fathom the reasons why a wealthy or famous person may prefer not to make their health a matter of public discussion, but should that warrant an outright lie that threatens to insult the intelligence of a whole school of professionals?

I think programming is suffering the same fate in the hands of incompetent administrators who make the final call on the important decisions in the high places of our companies and government agencies. First of all, do they know who a programmer is or what he does? If so, do they know where programmers are trained? Thirdly, do they want to give the job to a Ghanaian programmer?

I posit that, often, the answer to the first two questions is affirmative while that to the last one is negative. I can understand the benefits an administrator could gain by outsourcing: kickbacks, favour from donors, the avoidance of the threat of an empowered local techie, etc. Otherwise, if one knew what programmers do and where they are trained, would one have an excuse for not knowing where to find them?