Our economy has been run like a Ponzi Scheme for decades - Kwaku Kwarteng opines

Spokesperson on the Economy Committee in Parliament, Kwaku Kwarteng, has attributed the country’s cyclical economic challenges to decades of economic mismanagement and poor political practices by past and present governments.

He likened the management of the country’s economy to that of a Ponzi Scheme.

In an opinion piece sighted by GhanaWeb Business, the Obuasi West lawmaker highlighted the array of economic challenges faced by citizens, which he believes have spanned decades and characterised effective governance.

“The economic problems Ghana is facing today, at both the national level and in households, are the cumulative effects of many decades, spanning different governments, of bad politics and economic mismanagement that have characterised the governance of our country.

“Since independence, we have survived by constantly overspending our means and borrowing to finance the overspending. Many of these expenditures are just bad prioritizations,” he wrote

“We always offer higher interest to lenders, borrow more, use a part to repay previous debts, and the rest to pay for the current year’s overspending. So, we have been running our country’s economy like a Ponzi scheme. The economy is struggling today because lenders are now refusing to lend to us. It is just like a Ponzi scheme going into crisis once people stop depositing their money with them,” the lawmaker added.

Kwaku Kwarteng, who is also prominent member of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), called on his party to introduce visionary policies aimed at addressing the current economic conditions, particularly if the party wants to break the eight-year cycle in the upcoming December polls.

He urged the NPP to acknowledge past and present failures of the political class and to do away with the notion that all politicians are corrupt.

“To break the eight, therefore, we must first break that norm by doing the following: Acknowledge the past and present failures of the political class to provide the kind of quality leadership required to avert the mess in which we find our country today.

“Adopt deep and far-reaching reforms to address the decades of bad politics and economic mismanagement. We must convince voters that we shall be ruthless in our determination to fix this country, that we shall stay the course no matter the challenges, and that there shall be no sacred cows!” he opined.

See his full write-up below:



MA/ADG