Ghana's economic woes

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss has stepped down after barely two months in office. Her resignation comes shortly after she relieved Finance Minister, Kwasi Kwarteng from his post. Both were preceded by Boris Johnson's resignation as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The poor outlook of the economy begs the question: Why is Ken Ofori-Atta still in office as finance minister? With the worsening performance of the Cedi against other major foreign currencies like the Dollar and the poor outlook of the Ghanaian economy, many concerned Ghanaians have called for the removal of the finance minister from office. Unfortunately, such calls have fallen on the deaf ears of the President who also, has done very little to allay the fears of Ghanaians concerning the trajectory of the economy. Some people have called on the president to “do the right thing” by stepping down. According to them, the president together with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has failed to stay true to the numerous promises they made to Ghanaians in their bid to win reelection. The NPP promised Ghanaians to raise the standard of living and also reduce the high cost of living. Other promises include combating the growing food inflation and unemployment through their Planting for Food and Jobs policy. Both issues still persist to this day and are even worse than before. However, the calls for the President’s resignation will come to naught. The unemployment rate is at an all-time high, the government claims inflation is at 37%, the Cedi is experiencing a steep fall against the dollar and other major foreign currencies, Accra is still not the cleanest city in Africa, the education system is the mess, and acts of indiscipline and corruption has become the order of the day. Everything is a hot mess and yet still no one in government has taken responsibility for the difficult times we find ourselves in as a country. Instead, the government has attributed the economic woes to external factors such as the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 Pandemic. President Nana Akufo Addo continues to believe in the “effectiveness” of his Finance Minister. Speaking on the economy, the President said of Ken Ofori-Atta, “I came to office in 2017 when we were under an IMF program. This same Ken Ofori-Atta managed the economy for the first 3 to 4 years. We were then one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. We had an average growth rate of 7% a year. For someone who has been able to do all these, how do I turn my back on him? For me, his performance has been excellent. That is why I have great difficulty in understanding what is going on.” Clearly, our so-called leaders at the helm of affairs have lost touch with reality. They continue to take advantage of the goodwill of the people to cling to power and suck us dry. As labour unions threaten to embark on strike, the government seems unfazed, knowing very well they can continue to count on their strong support base for votes in the coming 2024 elections. We the people have failed to hold governments accountable for their failures. Rather, we have ended up creating a monster for a government that deliberately refuses to care for us the people, and gaslights the entire country into believing that they are the best thing to ever happened to Ghana in history since our emancipation from the British colonial government.