In recent times the debate in this country
is whether prevailing economic factors signal we are in crisis or not. I find
it hard to believe why some will choose to debate this. For me, this goes
beyond the half-empty or half-full rhetoric.
Since 2011, we have not had a stable power
supply whereas within the same period, power costs have shot up astronomically.
Yet we are told that our situation is better than others in the sub-region
hence we should not complain.
This year alone, we have seen fuel prices
jump to as much 20 percent on the average. Then again we are told we are
better-off hence should keep mute. We should just grin and bear over it like
nothing has happened. Of course, we are peace loving people.
Even when foreigners, mainly of oriental
origins, in connivance with some natives, subject our natural vegetation to
gross abuse in the name of mining, all we can do was to summon our gallant men in
uniform to the Independence Square to show off. Of course that was also
understandable. Pathetic!
The local currency has not fared any
better. It has reached record lows and arguably the worst performing currency
in Africa and in the world. What kind of currency depreciates 20 percent in the
first quarter alone, huh?
Everything thing looks so auto piloted and making
you wonder if we have a leader in this country. The Central Bank measures to
tame the cedi are arguably the shoddiest they could come up with; fighting fire
with fire.
Now there’s more shortage of the greenback.
And my basic economics tells me that scarcity of a commodity leads to a price
hike. Some say this is oversimplification, but I call it common sense approach.
The cedi depreciation singlehandedly has
had a telling effect on this economy more than anything else mainly due to our
reliance on imports. Nevertheless the BoG’s approach to the issue can best be
described us wishy washy. Sad it is!
The current precarious situation of our
economy points to a fact that we are heading for an apocalypse. Rising
unemployment alone is enough to push us over the top. This may sound as an
exaggeration but where this country is headed may need a supernatural
intervention.
Steps in the Senchi Consensus. Boy our
leaders like too much talking but little or no action at all. Personally I see
the National Economic Forum as a knee jerk reaction which would not serve any useful
purpose. It was hurriedly arranged with some of the participants lacking locus
to make any meaningful contribution to a simple economic discourse.
That the consensus won’t come up with any
new solution was not new to the organisers and participants before they
assembled at the luxurious Royal Senchi Resort, near Akosombo. We have never
run out of ideas to tackle our issues rather a deficit of willpower.
Didn’t government know when it was doling
out monies to party cronies in the guise of judgement debts, GYEEDA, Subah,
SADA etc it will all backfire someday? Granted these payments were not to party
cronies then this says a lot about this government’s competence.
There’s no value for money and almost
anything goes. It is becoming scary that people behind these shady deals have
not been punished for their culpability. The process has always been: create,
loot, and share.
Usually, committees set up to investigate
the acts of malfeasance end up drinking tea and taking fat allowances. Their
reports are always confined to the shelves. Ghanaians like me, as usual, will
blow hot and cold during radio phone-ins and on other media platforms. When we
get tired, we stop and we go back to life as it were before.
Take for instance the case of Mayor of the
Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), Captain Anthony Richard Cudjoe
(Rtd), who swindled his own assembly. After being given a travelling allowance
to attend a conference in Columbia, he could not make it after being denied
transit Visa by US Embassy.
According to reports, rather than return
the colossal GH₵30,000 allowance
given him to the Assembly, he decided to bide his time at his Tema residence
only to return home after the said conference purporting to have made the trip.
The Assembly uncovered the truth and guess
what it did. They set up a committee to look into the issue. The committee
terms of reference among others was to find out who gave the money to the
Mayor, whether that person committed an illegality blah blah blah. What
nonsense!
And we are here talking about the essence
of a National Economic Forum? If we expand our energies on such useless
ventures, sorry to say, without us dealing with such dubious personalities
parading themselves as political leaders, we aren’t going anywhere.
The committee set up to investigate the
STMA boss would not amount to anything, just a simple cover up. What happened
to the Judgement Debt Committee, the SADAs, the GYEEDAs, the Maputos (committee
to probe malfeasance during the 2011 African Commonwealth Games), etc?
What cause do we have to believe this would
be any better? Tweaaa. For every
penny stolen from our national kitty, it translates to bad roads, lack of
teaching materials for schools, sick people dying because hospitals have no
standby generators, lack of potable water among others.
Where did we go wrong as a country? It
obvious this government is not fulfilling it side of the social contract it
signed with Ghanaians. What they do best is tax, tax and tax more. Even that
they are not creative about it. Taxing the same people over and over again.
We have to be serious as a people. Action
but not “talk talk” as demonstrated at Senchi is what will get us to the
promise land. We have the personnel needed to execute the job at hand. Let’s
put them to action and not behind roundtables.
Someday Ghanaians may just decide they have
had enough!
Let me cease fire.
I’m out.
First published on 24 May, 2014
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