• Economic problems not limited to Ghana

 Since the emergence of the economic problems encountered in Ghana and other parts of the world, many are those who have tried and attempted to put blame on other people for the economic turmoil.

Here in Ghana, the blame has been put on the Akufo-Addo administration even though in the view of objective minds, the blame is unfair. Others have singled out the Finance Minister, Hon. Ken Ofori-Atta and even accusing him of behaving recklessly even though we know and agree that he’s one of the best Ministers of Finance in the world today.

The economic problems of Ghana cannot be limited to only this country. The eco­nomic challenges extend to other parts of the world and that is why we need to be very careful before putting blame unjustifiably on any­one.

If we are to blame any­one, then irrespective of political affiliation, we need to be bold enough to call on past leaders who mismanaged the economy when they were in the helm of affairs. The economic problems being encountered today could have been avoided if the right steps had been taken in the past.

What is happening today is the result of certain wrong policies and decisions made in the past.

We should not easily for­get about the loss of revenue that should have accrued to the country if the right things had been done. Investments in guinea fowls which we were told flew to Burkina Faso has become a laughing stock and goes to show that some of our past leaders ought to bow their heads in shame for failing to live up to expectation as far as sound economic policies are con­cerned.

This can be dovetailed into corruption which has been embraced in various parts of the country. Corrupt practices are shameful but this is what others have used to enrich themselves to the neglect of the nation. This situation is very unfortunate.

Corruption is practised not only by Ghanaians but foreigners as well. Many Gha­naians have proved to be so corrupt that they will do ev­erything necessary to ensure that revenue due the country is denied it. These Ghana­ians collaborate with their fellow nationals to destroy the economy and to deny the country what should come to it by way of revenue.

The collaboration in cor­rupt practices is sometimes carried out with foreigners and when this happens, it is as if Ghanaians do not care about what happens to their country even if foreigners are simply coming in to destroy it in any way they like. People need to learn to love their country rather than conniving with others to destroy the country’s dignity.

One of the things that readily comes to mind is the GH¢52 million paid to a man called Woyome for no work done to the state. Such “woy­omisation” of the Ghanaian economy is part of the rea­sons we find ourselves in the present economic mess.

Another issue similar to this is ISOFOTON. This is a foreign company that also enjoyed the payment of millions of dollars for no work done to the country. All these could not have been possible without the connivance of some Ghanaians whose selfish interest they placed above that of the nation. These are shameful acts and occurrenc­es that have contributed to the economic woes of this country.

Furthermore, a banking crisis was looming over the country because arrange­ments were put in place to relax the setting up of banks, a situation which led to lack of confidence in the bank­ing sector. This forced the Akufo-Addo administration to look for some millions of Cedis to clean the banking sector.

With regard to the bank­ing sector, some educated Ghanaians who were not patriotic connived with one another to take some mone­tary assistance from the Bank of Ghana to strengthen their so-called banking institutions. The support received in mon­etary terms was converted into dollars and taken abroad for their personal and selfish investments. All these have contributed to the econom­ic difficulties the country is facing today.

Many of the economic problems we are facing today have been created by Ghana­ians themselves yet they turn round to put the blame on the Finance Minister Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta and also the entire Government of Ghana today.

There is no doubt that external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its disastrous effects have contributed to the country’s problems. It has been argued in certain quarters that the pandemic was deliberately created by certain people in certain parts of the world. However, whatever it is, we cannot put the blame on any specific group of people in the world.

It is equally important to note that the economic difficulties that Ghana and the rest of the world are facing are partly the result of the Russian-Ukraine war. As a result of the war, the food chain connecting various parts of the world has been disturbed in a way and the result has been inflationary trends in various parts of the world including Ghana.

Again, if things are to be made better for all Gha­naians, then among other things, Ghanaians must put up a positive attitude to­wards work. This is what will make it possible for pro­ductivity to go high in order to be able to increase the welfare of all citizens in the country.

It is, therefore, wrong for anybody or group of per­sons to put the blame of the present economic turmoil on any persons. Let us look inward within ourselves to see where things have gone wrong and how these things can be made better for each one of us.

If this is the case, then al­most everyone in this country is blameable for the current economic difficulties we are going through, especially the vociferous critics in Ghana today.

Let us learn to accept the blame ourselves and refrain from blaming others unduly.

*Contact gmail address/ whatsApp number of author:

pradmat201@gmail. com/0553318911

BY DR. KOFI AMPONSAH-BEDIAKO