Ghana is broke - ISODEC

Dr. Steve Manteaw, Executive Director of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), says the country currently faces huge financial challenges.

Dr. Manteaw, who made this known in an interview with BUSINESS GUIDE said, “We are broke and that is why every now and then we resort to borrowing on the internal market. I won’t be surprised if government announces another roadshow to raise more money in the coming months.

He said, “It is not abnormal for a government to face financial difficulties but the difference it will make is to make full disclosure of the challenges you face to your people and admit where you think you have failed as government.

That way, he said, government will be able to invoke public sympathy and support even when hard decisions are to be taken to get the country out of the situation.

Public Mistrust

“But if you resort to the peddling of half truths and use of language to deceive the public, then you can get into a situation whereby when the people get to find out that the government is not being honest with them then it erodes whatever trust that exists between the people and the government.

“We have got to a point where the people turn to mistrust anything that government puts out there in terms of the situation we face,” Dr. Manteaw said.

Senchi Dialogue

He lauded the Senchi Economic Forum the government held, stating “It was a step in the right direction to mobilize Ghanaians around the very hard decision that the government has to take.

“But we have not seen sustained effort to continue to engage the people even as we move along the implementation of the recommendations made at Senchi.

“Nobody even talks about Senchi anymore; nobody talks about the recommendation anymore and nobody mentions progress in terms of the implementation of the recommendations.

“And somehow that has created a disconnect between the people and the government,” Dr. Manteaw said.

He urged government to tell Ghanaians the truth about the real economic situation in order to get their backing instead of resorting to the peddling of lies.