Fellow Ghanaians, I am going to continue our discussion on Ghana?s development. I call it a discussion because I am not trying to sell any ideas. I just want to point out what we have not done right. The more we know it, the better off we will be. Many scholars have proposed in the past what they think can solve Ghana?s diverse problems, and to date not many of have made any significant impact, as we can all attest to.
The World Bank and the IMF with all their ?Omnipotence? have introduced several policies to eradicate the mass suffering in Ghana such as the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP ) during the (P)NDC era and the very recent Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, which, we are yet to feel the impact of it?s success. Whiles some of these policies worked on a very small scale in reducing poverty, others were just baseless policies that only came to compound to the problems. Our leaders are sometimes so vulnerable and are under so much pressure that they accept whatever is handed down to them without really digging into what the effects of such policies may be on our people in the end. We forget that these policies are meant to benefit the big countries as well, they are not only meant to make us rich. Some of us have learned the hard way in the past, by taking credit cards without reading the fineprints, we are so desperate to temporarily get out of our difficult situations that the last thing we want to do is waste time on those tiny fineprints but that is what put us into deeper holes in the end.
Ghana ?s external debt was estimated around $7.510 billion in 1999, and it has been growing at an annual rate 7 percent, if not more.You can imagine how deep we are in the hole by now. Remember all these loans were given to us as a ?reward? for our governments? undertaking the various IMF and World Bank programs, and guess who stands to gain from all this whiles our people still suffer, the rich countries. Whiles their programs are failing us, we end up owing them for the money they borrowed us to implement their programs and even though their programs may be failing, we still have to payback the money we borrowed plus interest. This has been one of the main reasons why Ghana owes so much. The effects of all this has been a major reason for the government?s inability to provide adequate basic social services in the country because the money has to be spent on debt servicing. I hope everyone had the chance to read ?Lament of a Nation? a feature article by Kimberly Louis. It was a very intelligent and impartial article from a non Ghanaian. Her analysis of the various policies introduced by the IMF and the World Bank is what every African leader needs to know because ?all that glitters is not gold.?
The Ghanaian abroad perspective!
Like I said earlier my first article was meant to create a dialogue to see what the problem is, why Ghana ?s development have been so stagnant. Well I am happy to tell you that the people have spoken. I received an overwhelming response from a cross section of Ghanaians abroad, and I believe their sentiments are reflective of many Ghanaians elsewhere. What was unique about their responses were that they all shared the willingness to contribute in every meaningful way towards the development of Ghana, but with some few obvious conditions; the eradication or reduction in corruption, more sound and aggressive policies from the government, educating the general public about the importance of national pride and instilling a sense of ownership, discipline, and belongingness in the Ghanaian mindset. One respondent passionately asked, ?What happened to all the discipline we were thought in secondary school; such as being on time to class, being on time to assembly and making sure you performed your assigned duties efficiently?? What a good question. We throw away all those qualities imme diately after we graduate from school and yet claim we are some of the most disciplined people.
Is it too late?
Definitely not, but drastic and aggressive changes need to be made as soon as practicable, beginning with, in my view a change in government policy. It will be fair to predict that not much is going to change for the remaining three and half years of NPP?s rule. The various campaigns to promote foreign investment have been futile. I believe part of the reasons Ghana has failed to generate much foreign investment is because investors feel their resources cannot be secured not only because of the instability in Africa , but because there is no element of trust in the system or the culture. There is no trust between the people and its government, neither are there much trust between Ghanaians abroad and those back home. In the end, investors conclude that they cannot do business with people who have no trust in each other. As much as it hurts to say, our problems are deeply rooted, it is about time we face them head on. It is no secret that Ghana Airways crumpled because of the mistrust, bribery and blatant mismanagement.So has many other state and private agencies. We have all been witnesses to the gross lack of knowledge and nonchalance in many government offices, the lack of any kind of customer service, and the acute corruption and bribery that welcomes us at Kotoka. You basically have to pay to be treated nicely in Ghana . Our potential investors take all this into account. The government has to deal with corruption drastically. People need to be fired outright if they engage in corrupt practices, from the highest office, down to lowest. That may be the only time people will really understand the seriousness of it. We need to set up toll free lines, where people can report corruption. If corruption can be reported and actually dealt with, the perpetrators will think twice. Like I have said before, the mere mention of zero-tolerance is not enough. Moreover, hundreds of marches in the name of ?WAHALA? by the very people who have engaged in corrupt practices in the past are not going to change a thing.
Until some significant surprises come out of the completion of the HIPC initiative and the debt cancellation, Ghana may still be marking time by the end of 2008 because no political party is going to be able to change our situation if we keep repeating the very things that have stymied our growth since 1957.
Policy Change
The government needs to shift gears a little bit. The NPP government can leave a better legacy if it is seen as a government that was able to at least help put food on the table of many Ghanaian homes other than anything else it tried to do. After 48 years of trying to industrialize, I think we?ve realized that it is no near in sight. Our efforts to industrialize has put too much strain on our people for too long, so instead of continuing on this path, let us put some of our emphasis on what we are sure we can achieve by going back to our agrarian roots, the government has tried in this regard, but much more needs to be done, since over 50 percent of our population rely on this anyway. This time, we have to use more effective and modernized agricultural practices. The era of subsistence farming should be something of the past because it is has proved not to be sufficient. If a group of white farmers can be so successful in commercial farming right under our noses in Zimbabwe, then a country like Ghana should be able to surpass them if we redouble our efforts. In fact they are so confident about the prospects of farming in Africa, that after they were forced out of Zimbabwe, they have resettled in parts of Nigeria to start all over again. What are they doing that we can't? A World Bank report in 2003, suggested that Ghana still has an unexploited potential in non-traditional exports (NTE?s) like tropical fruits and vegetables. With the advent of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) introduced by the United States, which is meant to enhance trade, Ghana can take advantage, by exporting its surplus food to the U.S. and other world markets more easily and without all the expense and bottlenecks like before. Our focus should not only be on producing cash crops but first and foremost, producing food crops abundantly to feed our people, and then we can produce and export cash crops and our surplus food to those who need them. In this case, should the price of cocoa and other crops fall; we will not feel the impact so much because our people are still being fed at the very least. It will be in our best interest to turn the bulk of our resources on agriculture and educate our farmers on sound farming practices before it is too late.
Fellow Ghanaians if we want all the good things the western world has, we have to start thinking and doing things like they do, but, without loosing our glamorous traditions and national dignity. ?A word to the wise is enough.?
Copyright © 1994 - 2024 GhanaWeb. All rights reserved.
