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Ghana's Troubled Economy

Wed, 11 Jun 2014 Source: Myles, Robert

Ghana’s troubled economy is due to too many universities being built by pastors (the clergy) and the rich without

the provision of jobs for the graduates they churn out every year. It is high time these same entities started setting

up business to provide jobs for the unemployed graduates on the market as in other develop economies.

Come to think of

1. Roads

2. Hospitals

3. Water

4. Schools

5. Transport system

6. Tourism

7. Private sector

8. Political affiliation

9. Energy and Power Sector.

10. Manufacture.

Take for example if one travels from Accra to Kumasi, there is not a single private or government company on the way

that employs say 50 to 1000 people. If you have ever lived in London or even visited London before, just from the

Heathrow Airport to downtown Victoria Station, there are hundreds of both private and government companies

that employ more than over 1 million people. Why this is not happening in Ghana that we try to copy everything European?.

Is it because Ghanaians are selfish and greedy or simply because we don’t have the means, brains or financial aspect to create thejobs?

In my opinion, until Ghanaians learn to enforce the creation of a pragmatic state policy for national

development, politicians would always come, brag and take us for granted.

Building a nation is a process which requires that both the past and present governments unite to implement a

national development policy for systematic economic growth, but not only the ruling government, as

government alone cannot solve our numerous problems.

It should be a continuous thing and I believe the presidency should formulate a policy for infrastructure, agriculture, industries

and rural development through a national development plan. All these policies would then be coordinated into a single

national policy to drive the nation to its deserved destination

The Government should not engage itself in active business ownership and management but should rather sell most

government owned companies to private entrepreneurs. These private companies would then be taxed to generate

national revenue for the government just the way it is done in the western hemisphere, for the nation’s socio-economic development.

The government has no business doing business; rather government should be responsible for inviting private business

s participation especially in the energy sector for a reliable and efficient energy supply as well the road, hospital and

water sectors as practiced in the developed countries such as Germany, France, UK, Holland, Canada Austria, Australia, Japan and the USA.

Government alone cannot build all roads in the country, so she has to get trusted road

Contractors and individual road contractors to build roads and charge toll for it. Our roads are one of the worst in the

region. After Nkrumah’s motorway, no President has ever come to build roads that we can point out to his name in the country.

1. There must be individuals and other organizations who are ready to build well equip hospitals and charge

reasonably price to it, not only that we depend on government to build them for us.

2. Water system can also be done by different organizations as done in Europe and Americas.

3. a Our school system is the poorest in the country. The government schools are there but the

teachers instead of concentration on good teaching, they go to private schools that pays for these greedy teachers

to teach their children at their spare time, charge huge money and leave the government schools to rot. These

same teachers when these children write their exams pass those children who could pay money to them.

3. Our transportation system is so bad that after Nkrumah’s State Transport Corporation no other President

can be proud to mentioned that he did this and that to improve the very poor old system.

4. We have so many places that if it is develop and well guided could bring a lot of resources to the country but no one cares.

Places such as these below.

a. Waterfalls

b. Monkey forest

c. Paga crocodile

d. Sea and beach

e. resorts, Cape Coast and Prasu

f. Zoos

h. Akosombo Dam

6. The private sector in our beloved country is dead, no manufacturing, we depend on European waste to survive. We don’t produce anything but tax heavily whatever is brought from Europe

and the money goes to the wrong account.

7. Politically, Ghanaians are politically wasted in the sense that once the person is not in the ruling party he or she does not contribute any development idea to the country, even the so called

Members of Parliament. They are only good at criticizing especially when they find themselves in opposition. What a primitive mentality to develop a country.

8. Our Energy and Power Sector is very bad. 22 million Ghanaians depend on government for energy and power supply. In the Western countries, rich individuals and organizations have such

systems in place.

9. Manufacturing in our system is equal to zero; we don’t produce anything apart from toilet paper. Value is not added to our raw materials which are then sold at prices dictated to us by the

very western countries. We import everything that humans need to survive in Ghana. We actually fancy European food more than our local food and clothes.

10. Let us all come together as Ghanaians, leave our political affiliation aside and build a better Ghana for us and for our CHILDREN for a better tomorrow.

Good day

Robert Myles.

Columnist: Myles, Robert