Waiting For Godot’s CBD Loan

The wind of development blowing across the country is extremely fusty. The reality that most of the major infrastructural developmental drives hinge on a three billion Chinese dollar loan is really absurd just like Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play (Waiting for Godot) that touches on two characters waiting for someone (Godot) whose advent seems to tarry. You see, what this government is failing to decipher is the complicated policies and virtues of these Chinese.

If a man who believes and practises the philosophy, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,’ promises to give a loan of this mammoth amount, then, the government should have thought through the whole deal carefully. The Chinese are not Father Christmas to dole out such an amount of money without stringent strings attached and the deliberate wait-and-see posture.

At any rate, all the major international credit rating agencies have downgraded Ghana negatively all because of the poor and porous economic management of the economy by President Mahama and his sage economic technocrats. (See Credit rating agencies losing hope in Ghana- www. theafricareport.com)

In this regard, has the government done an inward and outward assessment to arrive at why the Chinese have slacked in releasing the rest of the loan according the contractual dates for the disbursement? It will be laughable and hollow for government communicators to tie the delay in the disbursement of the loan to the 2012 election petition when, in reality, every investor wants guarantees for the proper application of money they invest.

The government should not tickle itself into trickery by believing that the continuous payment of the commitment fees over the years up to now is enough to compel the Chinese release the rest of the loan. Perhaps the crass corruption and the wanton misapplication of public purse account for the delay. If I have wrongly surmised, then, the Chinese should tell us why we are where we are now, period!

Already, the government of Ghana per media reports has paid one hundred million dollars of commitment fees and other charges as against the six hundred million dollars so far released by the Chinese (See US$3bn CBD Loan: Ghana duped!-www.ghanaweb.com). And as a citizen of this country, I wonder what the government can say to assuage my fears and the apparent doubt lingering in the minds of some good people of Ghana as to whether the Chinese are genuinely committed to this deal.

Now, my dilemma in the whole of this crave and dependence on this Chinese loan is, in the light of further delays, are the gas project, the eastern and western corridor roads, and other major projects so much trumpeted by the government going to grind to a halt? In other words, is the government telling the good people of Ghana that without the Chinese loan the government cannot fund and execute major infrastructural projects?

The country has reached a tipping point where Dr Nkrumah’s declaration, ‘the black man is capable of managing his own affairs’ is just an empty rhetoric. The country is being managed by our intellectuals through the benevolence of donor partners and creditors whose failure to release funds on time spells doom for the progress of the country and its people. And the Chinese have graciously exposed our over dependence on loans and paltry handouts.

What this country needs is not loans and grants per se, the country thirsts for the efficient management of its scarce resources. Ghana has all that it takes to transform itself economically but lacks selfless and intellectually capable managers to transform the economy into a buoyant one.

For this reason, the rate of corruption perpetrated in the country must be reduced if not eradicated. The phenomenon where politicians create, loot and share public funds must be dealt with ruthlessly devoid of any political colouration or favouritism. The steps taken by government to sanitise the filth associated with ISOFOTON, SUBAH, GYEEDA, WOYOME, SADA, WATERVILLE and those unmentioned underhand rots must be swift in a bid to restore confidence in the economy.

There is no shortcut and intellectual sloppiness in the 21st century relative to sound economic development. And the Chinese can attest to these facts because their economic revival and eventual buoyancy were not of a sudden flight. It was a gamut of factors such as an effective fiscal discipline coupled with a robust industrialisation surge. What boast can be made of Ghana’s perishing industries? Almost every item and goods are imported and there seems to be no effective trade restrictions. How then do we grow infant industries just as the Chinese have done?

What is happening now with respect to the CBD loan is a clarion call for government to put its house in order. It is a lesson that should drive the managers of our economy not to tie their hopes, the country’s future and major pillars of our economic policies to loans. That indeed is a lazy and slippery path towards economic recovery.

The way out as I have earlier stated is fiscal discipline. The government cannot mismanage the economy, dash monies to individuals and companies under questionable circumstances, fail to operate an accurate accountable and transparent government and expect the Chinese who believe in fiscal integrity to honour their part of the bargain.

I wish the government well in its quest to wait on the Chinese who seems to stagger unduly the loan disbursement. However, it will be reasonable for government to pinch itself to order otherwise the rest of the loan may turn out to be ‘Waiting for Godot.’ What seems plausible is for the Mahama led administration to look inward by prudently managing the little that we have, pruning the over sized government machinery he heads. There is also the need to expand and maximise the frontiers of revenue generation in the country. Until the government becomes a major financial partner in driving the economy forward, Ghana will never be spared the embarrassing fate of chronic beggars.

SOURCE: OKOFO DARTEY SAMUEL

E-MAIL: sodesq2000@yahoo.com