A Poor People Living In A Rich Land-Ghana

by Samuel Donkor

Once upon a time, the nation Ghana, formerly Gold Coast, was the envy of other African countries, a darling colony and a pride nation of the British, before and immediately after independence. A nation of loving, hospitable, compassionate, sociable and easy to approach people.

A nation noted for her moral values, disciplined society,spirituality, hospitality and virtuosness; a people of intelligence, wisdom, hard working, communually- spirited, patriotism and noted to have the best civil service, high educational standard, best health service system, a diciplined Armed Forces and Police Service and a better infrastructure in black Africa, is today a demoralised and fragmented lawless poor nation.

Ghana is a country with an area of 238,537sqkm with a current population of twenty four million (24,000,000). The nation is by God's grace, endowed with many natural resources, both on the land and underneath the land. There is gold in the Ashanti and Northern regions, extensive fishing in the Volta Region and along the coastal areas, cocoa and other minerals in the Western region with vast oil deposits, which has just started production this year, 2011.

She is also endowed with large arable land, forests and natural gas reserves.

The years of British administration of the then Gold Coast, during the 20th century were an era of significant progress in social, economic and educational development. Communications and railroads were greatly improved. New crops, including cocoa trees were also introduced and gained wide spread acceptance and cocoa production became a major part of Ghana's economy .The colony's earnings increased further from the export of timber and gold. Today Ghana produces a variety of agricultural products, like Pineaple, Mangoes, Banana, Cashew Nuts, Copra, Coffee etc, which means the vast arable land is good for any agricultural crop of the tropical climate.

Today Ghana's exports are twofold; the Traditional and Non Traditional exports as follows; Traditional exports: Cocoa, Rubber, Timber, Copra, Coffee, Shea Butter, Palm Oil

Non- Traditional exports: Mangoes, Pineaples, Banana, Cashew Nuts etc Then Minerals: Gold, Diamonds, Bauxite, Manganese,Iron Ore, Clinker, Oil and Gas

Like many African countries, Ghana has been cursed with natural resources paradox: resource wealth has not translated into wealth for the average Ghanaian, since the the first republic was overthrown.

Any big discoveries and export earnings are frequently accompanied by power struggles, as we see in Sierra Leon, DR. Congo etc. Top officials, and politicians , seeking to increase their popularity and line their own pockets, effectively mortgage their country's future for instantaneous gain. Thus any large resource discoveries, major export commodities and other projects are hastily auctioned off to multi-national companies for immediate consideration. Successive governments have not been able to harness the vast natural resources for any concrete development.

The effect is that,these coporations control much of Ghana's natural wealth for the life span of it's extractions. These companies continue to control these resources for many years, while Ghanaians see very very little improvement in their living. So it is with all African countries.

Before an economy crisis in the late 1970s, Ghana experienced the highest GNP on the continent. Ghana also experienced the trauma of military take-overs long before others suffered similar fates. But Ghana rebounded back after launching one of the first and more stringent economic recovery programs in the region nearly a decade, since 1996, and could not achieve any accelerated development progress.

The truth of the matter is that, since the ousted of the first republic, both the military regimes and civilian administrations have not been able to manage the socio-economic sector properly, despite the vast range of natural resources at their disposal, while the average Ghanaian is geting poorer and poorer. The military regimes that spent twenty-three years in power,since the first republic, set the country's development progress back many years by neglecting investment in agriculture and infrastructure and discontinuing positive projects started by the first republic. Ghana has since then not experienced any accelerated development growth up to date.

Another factor, that account for Ghana's set back in development progress is morality. Since the ousted of the first republic, Ghanaians have gradually become more demoralised and apathetic to nationalism, and patriotism, which was hitherto, very high and the ideology of the first republic. Today Ghanaians; politicians, public servants,the youth have all become greedy, dishonest,corrupt and indisciplineed, one way or the other, scrambling for material gains by hook or crook. The system is so corrupt that, state institutions are unable to to achieve positive results of government programs and policies. There is disorder everywhere. State institutions for many years now have become goldmines for public servants, who have also become public lords instead. They have failed Ghanaians where the should have helped. Very unpatriotic.

Presently, investment policy in agriculture is very, very, little, which does not ecourage both local and foreign investors. The Agric sector, which has vast economic activities to create more employment has been neglected for quite long for the sake of quick money businesses and projects. And for many years now, over all national productivity has fallen to the lowest level, that staple food crops have to be imported from Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

Ghana, a country supposed to be self- sufficient is today dependent totally on imports and foreign donations. Almost everybody is in the trading (buying&selling) business. Unemployment rate is so high that indiscipline and lawlessness, dishonesty and corrupton is the order of the day.

Political leaders have not been sincere to tackle common problems and prefer talking too much and paying lipservice to solutions.They lack foresight in tackling issues, but enjoy peddling false propaganda and lies to wining their opponents to the neglect of real issues. Politicians and their technocrats have failed the nation, Ghana. They never tell th truth and play down on the people's intelligence. It seems the country is presentlyin disorder, with the system fested with greed, corruption,lawlessness,dishonesty and indiscipline among the rank and file of society. Nothing seems to work right, while the people are desperate and geting poorer without any hope of socio-economic recovery of the nation.

Inspite of all the endowed natural resources, Ghanaians remain poorer and have to beg for food, money and many other needs that could be produced localy here in Ghana.The nation has fallen into a state of immorality, with high rate of sodomy, robbery, cheating,dishonesty,spiritism and other negative means of geting qrick. The crime rate is high with new criminal activities never seen in Ghana before.

It is time our politicians rise up now to the task to tackle the serious moral issues at hand with pragmatic and non-partisant approach without cheap propaganda and political expediency, but as a serious national crisis to retore the Ghanaian dream as the star of Africa.

After all, we are endowed with everything to make us great and strong,that we don't need to beg.

What Ghana needs today is how to harness her endowed natural and human resources to accelerate socio-economic development to uplift her people, who have suffered so long in the midst of riches.

by Samuel Donkor, mob: 0242 809352 e-mail: samdonkies2yahoo.com