Features
Going to the IMF
• President Nana Akufo-Addo
When Ghana decided to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it generated a range of heated debate among scholars in Ghana and other sections of the public. While some people supported the idea, others did not, claiming that Ghana can manage its own economic programmes without going to the IMF.
In the case of members of the Minority, they hailed the decision as good, pointing out that the economy has been mismanaged. Obviously, this was meant to seek equalisation since in 2015, their government, that is the NDC, had to go to the IMF for poor economic performance.
After series of debates as to whether the country should go to the IMF for support, the government of Ghana has taken the decision that at this time in the global economic situation, the country needs to go for some assistance.
Going to the IMF is not a crime because Ghana is a member of the Fund and can always go for assistance there. However, sound economic management and pursuing the interest of the country is what matters.
The assistance from the IMF has become necessary because, according to the government, the COVID-19 together with unfavourable global economic condition has made it difficult for the country to stand on its own, looking at the serious challenges affecting Ghana just like many other countries in the world.
Global economic events are not favourable to the whole world and that is why as many as 100 countries have gone for IMF support.
It has been explained that support from IMF will help the country to get balance of payment to enable it perform better in the days ahead.
The IMF is an international body that has been set up to achieve balance of payment support for member countries who decide to go to the international body for assistance. It is a body that plays a useful role in the economic development of countries.
The government of Ghana under President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has managed the economy well. A look at many of the ongoing projects in the country show that the economy will soon pickup to run shoulder-to-shoulder with other countries that are doing well as was seen in the pre-COVID-19 period. Every effort has been made to ensure that the economy performs better to improve upon the welfare of Ghanaians.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 which affected all parts of the world forced the government to spend heavily to save the lives of people. According to President Akufo-Addo, it would be better to protect the lives of people and prevent them from dying as a result of the effect of COVID-19. He pointed out that in the case of economies that are destroyed, it would be possible to revive them whereas in the case of human lives, they cannot be revived once lost.
In light of all these, we are of the view that the people of Ghana ought to be united behind the government, so that at the end of it all, a developmental agenda can be pursued for all Ghanaians irrespective of political affiliations.
We are very much aware that 100 countries have all applied to the IMF for one form of bailout or the other. In this connection, therefore, it is clear that the unfavourable global economic situation together with COVID-19 has adversely affected every country in the world.
In view of the unfavourable global economic situation, the IMF threw out invitation to countries that want assistance to come forward for various assistance.
From this perspective, it is appropriate for Ghana to take advantage and go to the IMF for assistance contrary to its previous position that it would not go for such assistance.
In fairness to government, it should be acknowledged that from 2017 up to the 1st quarter of 2020, the economy of Ghana was performing creditably well to the admiration of many other countries in the world.
Unfortunately, the sudden emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic ate substantially into the resources of the country and threw all projections out of gear. As if this was not enough, the high rise of crude oil worldwide, moving far above the $100 mark also added salt to injury and worsened the economic conditions of the country. As a member of the IMF therefore, Ghana has every right to seek assistance from this international body so that the economic situation can be made a bit bearable for the country.
What we should be concerned about is for government and the negotiation team to put forward the best cards for the country so that at the end of it all, the economic interest of the country would be maximised. We are urging the team negotiating with the IMF to prepare adequately and ensure that the best alternatives and options are what are given the country.
The economic situation all over the world in both developed and developing countries has become very unfavourable and harsh, making life extremely difficult for ordinary people. In this connection, we are urging all Ghanaians to remain calm behind government in the hope that what comes out from the negotiation with the IMF will be in the best interest of the country.
In conclusion therefore, the point must be noted that we need to put politics aside and in all fair mindedness agree that Ghana‘s economy has been managed well. In spite of the unfavourable economic global situation, the country recorded over 5% growth during the first quarter of 2022. Again, the World Bank has praised Ghana, saying that they are optimistic that the country will overcome its economic challenges.
All Ghanaians must therefore support the government in the hope that all is not lost and that very soon the economic indicators of the country would exhibit positive growth to overcome challenges like the inflation currently facing the country as a result of the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the effect of the COVID-19.
By Dr. Kofi Amponsah-Bediaku
Contact email/whatsApp address of author:
Pradmat201@gmail.com (0553318911)
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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