Ghana's economic challenges are unending
The International Monetary Fund can pay Ghana billions of dollars, but the nation will stay the same if NPP politicians, such as Nana Akufo Addo and Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, continue to defy responsibility and do the right thing. The current situation in Ghana is not related to COVID or the Russia-Ukraine conflict; instead, it is the result of financial theft and poor leadership.
Without discussing the pervasive corruption that resulted in the theft of COVID funds and more than $900 million in World Bank assistance, the NPP government cannot blame COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war for the collapse of Ghana's economy and currency. Additionally, the NPP government cannot attribute the failure of the E-Levy to the collapse of the nation.
What naive language from Gabby Otchere-Darko that the NPP must approach the IMF because the minority and the NDC delayed the implementation of the E-Levy. If the NPP administration is serious and Gabby Otchere-Darko is smart, they will understand right away that the reasons for the NPP government's failure have nothing to do with the factors they are attributing.
The NPP government refused to admit its incompetence, much as the axiom states that a bad and lazy farmer will either argue with his tools or blame them for his poor produce. The economy, the weak currency, and the rise in corruption, crime, and unemployment are just a few of the true reasons behind the fall of the Akufo Addo-led government that will be discussed in this article.
Any Ghanaian, whether educated or illiterate, who believes that Ghana's submission to the International Monetary Fund will revive the economy and bring the depressed worthless Cedi rate to parity with the dollar is either a fool or is suffering from a mental condition that requires medical attention from a psychologist. Because ineffective leadership, not a lack of resources, is the current issue Ghana is facing.
“No amount of money the International Monetary Fund can give to Ghana will work its magic and make the land flow with milk and honey unless that country has an intelligent, effective leader who is prepared to bring out all the stolen or embezzled money that has crippled the economy and our currency. How sane is a Ghanaian who wouldn't press the government to give an explanation for the $903 million in financial aid and the $430 million in COVID aid that the World Bank provided to Ghana?”
The World Bank has granted a total of $903 million to Ghana to promote public finance reforms, according to Pierre Frank Laporte, the director for the nation in Ghana. "This is a big amount of money any development institution has approved for a country for a period of one year, he added." Therefore, why do you have to rely on the IMF if you're an intelligent Ghanaian who is aware that the World Bank gave Ghana this amount of assistance and that nothing positive came out of it?
Going to the IMF for help in assessing and evaluating Ghana's current situation is another way for the NPP government to continue the embezzlement, which has been a top priority for them since Akufo Addo became Ghana's president. Enough money has been wasted due to massive corruption and incompetence. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not a tribal bigot who would back any administration that is destroying our country.
I don't know how long Ghanaians will wait to realize that their country is dying and that nothing can be done to save it—not even billions from the International Monetary Fund—because tribalism and nepotism destroy nations instead of building them. There is no country in the world where the president is a relative of the Finance Minister because Ghanaians accepted that, this is the result.
The collapse of Ghana's economy, which has caused the majority of Ghanaians to endure sufferings never before experienced, was not caused by the coronavirus or the Russia-Ukraine war. Ghana's state of affairs began to deteriorate as soon as some financial institutions there went down.
No genuine investor or businessman would want to go through such a painful experience, therefore the collapsing banking institutions had an impact on local firms and the economy as well as on foreign investment. Depositors from Ghana lost a lot of money with no chance of recovering it. Similar to how Menzgold had crumbled finances and businesses.
“Intelligent Ghanaians will concur with this writer that the investment rate decreased precipitously after the banks failed, and as a result, Ghana began to experience financial difficulties that affected both the foreign exchange bureaus and the Bank of Ghana for several months and even years. I don't need a PhD or a degree in economics to understand the issues that led to the collapse of my nation.”
Even though Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia professes to be an economist, the NPP government did the worst thing it could when it instructed the Bank of Ghana to print high currency with values of 100 and 200. Who in the economic world would ever take such a risk for a better market?
I have never met a leader as demanding and haughty as Nana Akufo Addo. This man will never listen to anyone, despite the fact that he has no idea how to govern society or create jobs. The NPP government is resolute and has never tried to improve the country for itself or the common people, much like a donkey that has been thrashed repeatedly to move.
“Even though many African nations lack the same abundance of natural resources as Ghana, their economies are not as hopeless as Ghana's because they have made investments appealing by upholding an efficient administrative structure that gives importers and exporters flexible duties on goods and services to support their economies. Due to widespread corruption and hefty import taxes, the Ghanaian government has made it difficult for investors to do business in Ghana.”
A Ghanaian living abroad who wants to start a business in Ghana can buy a car for 4,000 euros, and in Ghana, they may have to pay up to 3,500 euros in customs duties. Who among the officials of a nation would act in such a way? The government will frequently auction off a vehicle if the owner is unable to pay to have it removed, and the same NPP officials will often buy it in Ghana for less than 200 Euros. What sort of evil is this?
“There are foreign embassies in Ghana, and each one of them is aware of what is going on there. Therefore, if one of their citizens wants to open a business in Ghana, they must first inquire with their home countries. After learning that such events occur in our harbors and ports, who is so naive as to disregard these reports and travel to Ghana to make an investment? Because of this, Ghana has disintegrated as a nation, and the NPP government's egregious corruption has accelerated this decline.”
I can see why many educated Ghanaians and diplomats from other countries are opposed to Ghana receiving financial assistance from the IMF. In actuality, Ghana doesn't need the IMF since corrupt politicians have blocked the ports and harbors that could bring the country billions every year. What authority does the IMF have to change Ghana, then?
Ghanaians will soon witness additional investments, which will ease the unemployment crisis, if the careless and inept NPP government takes the problems at the Ghana Harbor and Port Authority seriously. Even though I don't need to plead for something that will benefit the entire country, this is approximately the fourth article I've written asking the government to fix this issue.
