There is a missing link in our development process. That lacuna has resulted in politicians toying with the wellbeing of Ghanaians to the extent that an otherwise progressive policy such as the Free Senior High School (FSHS) must be frustrated by John Mahama and his NDC.
Extreme politicisation of issues would destroy the process of nation building. The ugly noises in the political space should be a wake-up call on the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to come out with the National Development Plan to avoid the parochial agenda of the political parties, especially the NDC.
If this limitation is cured, any political party that comes to power would be clear about the policy direction of the country, and not limited to party manifestos. And that way the decision to seek International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout would not be a weapon to fight for electoral gains.
Whether it was wrong for President Akufo-Addo to seek IMF bailout or not, the dividends from the engagement should provide the answers.
The politicisation of the economy is not in anybody’s interest. Let us collectively work to stabilise the economy and our currency because the duopoly does not hold the magic wand to stabilise the economy.
Ghanaians, reject the tag of short memories imposed on you by John Mahama. Let us cast our minds back to what John Evans Atta Mills said about petrol prices in 2008 while campaigning to lead the country. He said if elected to be President, he would reduce petrol prices drastically. He ended up increasing the prices drastically, leaving the electorate crestfallen.
And Ghanaians have not forgotten about Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia’s mantra, “If the fundamentals are weak, the exchange rate would expose you.” Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia is right in pointing out a major weakness in our economy, but as usual because of politics, NDC elements would sit on the fence for the ruling NPP to fail, to give them advantage to regain power.
The NDC forgets in its usual propaganda that if we do not collectively fix the fundamentals, the nemesis of a third world dependent economy would catch up with them in the unlikely event that they regain power. Whatever the challenges and the negative perception associated with the IMF bailout, the diligent approach to the austerity measures is yielding positive results.
Some members of the public, especially bondholders fought the government on all fronts, including picketing at the Ministry of Finance for the payment of their coupon rates. Those were very trying times when accomplished jurist, former Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo joined the picketers, maybe to gain recognition from the NDC, and organised labour threatened the government not to touch their provident funds as part of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP).
At the time, the government, led by the then Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta persevered and today the dividends are beginning to show. When last year, the Finance Minister told Parliament the economy has turned the corner, the Minority made fun of him. Now what is the picture?
Our own Ghana Statistical Service says the economy grew more than four percent in the first quarter of 2024. Here too, the NDC said the NPP government was manipulating the Ghana Statistical Service to cook figures to show that the economy is on a rebound. Presto, Fitch, one of the world’s reputable rating agencies announced last week that Ghana’s growth target has been revised upwards to over four percent. What a turnaround that is sending shockwaves into the camp of John Mahama and the NDC.
Indeed, the NDC has told the people of Ghana that President Akufo-Addo is the cause of the difficulties. They have all forgotten about the challenges of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, and the efforts of the NPP government to save lives with its ramifications. As usual, the NDC are ruthless with their lies about the economy. And like someone said, “give me fish to shame my enemies”, the IMF bailout has started showing positive results to shame John Mahama, the NDC and their economic analysts such as Professors Bokpin and Gatsi.
Here comes the news of the year that even the bitterest critics of President Akufo-Addo would not say “well done, we salute you”. The icing on the cake or is it on TZ, banku, kenkey, fufu or akple, is the announcement by Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Finance Minister that, “Eurobond holders forgive $4.7billion, $4.4billion also in cash flow relief”.
He told journalists that, “Ghana has reached an agreement with Eurobond holders to restructure commercial debts of $13.1billion. The agreement, which will see Eurobond holders take a haircut of 37 percent, or $4.7billion in addition to delayed payments, represents the third and final step in the country’s external debt restructuring negotiations.”
We think that like Archimedes who many years ago jumped out of the bath and ran onto the streets to tell the king shouting loudly, “Eureka! Eureka!”, our Finance Minister Amin Adam can do same and tell Ghanaians, “we have found the solutions to our economic challenges.”
We can only join him and the rest of Ghanaians to leverage on this success to reach the Promised Land. We have toiled and bore the brunt of reduced livelihoods, so in the words of Artist John Burland, “Let’s Celebrate Now.”