Abena Dapaah and Ghana's economy

“Y3te sika so nanso 3k)m de y3n" to wit Our land is awash with riches and yet we are hungry. A statement once made by candidate Nana Akufo-Addo now president of our Republic of Ghana.

We awake one fateful day to read that Cecilia Dapaah, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources and onetime Member of Parliament of Bantama Constituency, together with her husband had been ‘cleaned’ off a significant amount in dollar bills, euros and Ghana-Cedis. Interestingly those who ‘cleaned’ the coffers of the minister and her husband would be two ladies who served as aides to the
couple responsible for, among other things, organizing and maintaining the home.

Like their boss who was tasked with overseeing Ghana’s water economy, the purification of our river bodies and the overall cleanliness of our dear country, Madame Dapaah’s aides executed their responsibilities to the best of
their abilities allegedly draining the home of varying amounts in hard currencies, only stopping when their cup became full and the patriarch of the home walked in unannounced.

Unlike the popular narrative on the origins of the ‘stolen properties’ that has since taken root within the general populace, I seek not to question the source but rather focus on the effects and statement having such huge amounts in both foreign and local currencies at home say about the Ghanaian economy and its financial sector.

Firstly, the choice of their home to any bank is a reality check to any idea that the economy was on its way to recovery in the near to mid future. As a minister she would have inside information and would be able to make decisions accordingly. Ghana’s economic woes is basically not recovering anytime soon.

Anyone who thought otherwise must come to reality with what we face as a nation. Current jobs are not guaranteed nor is remuneration and securing oneself now cannot be an afterthought.

Secondly, it’s an indictment on Ghana’s entire financial sector from the Bank of Ghana, Banks, Savings and Loans and others. For such huge sums to be kept at home basically tells us that the entire financial system is unreliable, From the proprietors of these institutions, through the directors, managers to employees.

In short, trust in our financial system is at an all-time low. The failure of various indigenous banks who repeated the same bad banking practices after an initial bailout from the first Mahama administration echoes as an example. Even the government’s own Consolidated Bank could not pass the reliability test.

Dapaah and husband seemed to have made the rather (un)wise decision to ‘hide’ their BOOTY in at home rather than leave it at the mercy of unscrupulous bank managers and employees. After all, at their home they were guaranteed not to be financing the lifestyle of a bank manager or bank owner who view bank deposits as their personal property rather than seeing themselves as financial custodians tasked with making financially sound decisions with depositors’ monies.

Additionally, they would avoid the same fate that befell an older Ghanaian lady who once got the beating of her life from a police security guard young enough to be her son for daring to retrieve her deposits.

Not to be outdone, we also learn that the home of a young lawyer parading the corridors of the Jubilee House as a presidential aide was also ‘cleaned’ of some dollars bills and Ghana-Cedis by robbers. The members of the current government appear to have made the conscious decision that the robbers outside the banks and financial institutions are less dangerous than those within them and would rather take their chances ‘a la Maison.’

Thirdly, in keeping all that cash in foreign currency, Dapaah and her husband ensured that the value of their currency was either retained, increased in value, or only slightly decreased in value depending on how much IMF monies the managers of Ghana’s economy can secure.

Cecilia Dapaah and her husband basically did what most members of the current government would/are doing knowing that the Ghana-Cedi is now considered Trash, with no value, not even as recyclable toilet paper.

In the unfolding saga between the former Sanitation Minister, her husband, and their former employees, the assessment that Ghana sits atop great wealth cannot be an exaggeration. Of course, the monies at least in the calendar years 2022 and 2023 are (un)comfortably resting in bedrooms and polytanks.

God bless our homeland Ghana.