Bawumia, Ghana hasn’t become the Dubai of West Africa, it is now armed robbers' paradise

In October, last year, the Vice-President of Ghana, Mahamudu Bawumia, assured Ghanaians that the country will become Dubai very soon, the fact that the foreign automobile companies see the country as a perfect market to manufacture vehicles.

I strongly believe that I am not the only person alive today to see that Ghana is not close to Dubai and will not be within the next five decades because massive corruption and the lack of utilizing the country’s rich resources to create employment have resulted in a rampant armed robbery in Ghana.

The fact that Ghana has been one of the peaceful countries in West Africa and also corrupt has invited many foreigners and citizens from the neighboring countries to invade the country and commit all sorts of crimes, ranging from illegal mining to armed robbery with impunity.

Ghana is an English-speaking country, therefore, when a Nigerian armed robber escapes the instant justice of burning thieves alive with old car tires and petrol, the only country they choose to operate in is Ghana because ‘God-fearing Ghanaians’ don’t burn armed robbers alive.

There is nothing going better in Ghana, as armed robbers keep terrorizing Ghanaians and targeting those in the Diaspora coming into the country.

Reports reaching this writer reveal that armed robbers targeting foreigners and Ghanaians in the Diaspora coming to Ghana will kill you for your money and all your belongings if you try to rebel.

Another report claims that the investigation of many of the robbery incidents doesn’t yield any satisfactory results, yet the police will always demand money from the victims before commencing to investigate.

This is the kind of Dubai Bawumia dreams of in Ghana. Vice-President, there are no armed robbers in Dubai and certainly, I haven't heard about them in any European country.

I have challenged Bawumia a number of times about his claim to be an economist and I am still repeating it because the setting up of foreign companies in African countries doesn't instantly boost the economy of those countries.

The intention of foreign companies setting up businesses in Ghana is to expand their markets and make a profit for their countries but not because they love Ghana to death, so they would do everything that is necessary for Ghana to be a great country.

In Europe and America, no one can just enter into their countries to begin illegal mining and lumbering, yet in Ghana, foreign nationals do that with impunity because the corrupt government is behind them to destroy our ecosystem, environment and pollute our rivers and drinking water. Are we not fools?

Bawumia, frankly speaking, there is no foreign country that will set up a business in Ghana, with the intention to make the country rich. Even the international trade policies have created a system that takes raw materials from Africa to work elsewhere, making it lose the margin of greater gain, in the oil sector as in the agricultural sector.

In 2015, the African continent received a total of $ 161.6 billion such as loans, remittances from migrants, and aid. What Africa has lost, however, amounts to about 203 billion, either directly in the case of multinationals that exploit its resources but then send profits to tax havens and indirectly, in the form of costs imposed by others, such as for adaptation to climate change.

If you are an economist, then you should know more than me that from a financial point of view, it would take a determined effort to stop the tax evasion of multinationals making profits in African countries, including Ghana.

As a matter of fact, the only way you can make Ghana become like Dubai within the next 100 years is to flush out all illegal immigrants and armed robbers from Ghana.

There are several environments in Ghana very dirty, therefore, let the country be clean and cover up all the opened-choked stinking gutters. That will reduce the breeding place of mosquitoes.

The government must digitally record every adult and baby born in the country. Let the NPP government swallow its foolish pride to take over all the uncompleted projects, including schools and hospitals left by the NDC government.

In the government sectors, including the Ghana Harbour and Ports Authority, let all payments be done digitally without money passing into the hands of any individual.

This is the system many developed countries are using today to reduce corruption. You once said Ghana will do this and it was carried away by the wind because that would have prevented the politicians from looting the government's coffers.

After making progress in the above-mentioned developments, the serious Ghanaians living in the Diaspora will come home to invest to improve the economy of Ghana.