CALL FOR ACTION TO RESCUE GHANA CURRENCY FROM IMPERIALIST ASSAULT

It is counter-intuitive, unwise and against national interest of Ghana for some Ghanaians to collaborate with foreign capitalist interest to deride and castigate the administration of President Mills for the artificial downturn in the financial sector of the national economy of Ghana, especially at a period when economic growth of the country is on the high side. (Ref.: “Fall of the Cedi, blame government and Bank of Ghana for embracing dollarization; Ghanaweb.com, Business News of Tuesday May 8, 2012 and “Oil Boom is Vote Curse for Mills as Cedi Slumps,” Ghanaweb.com, General News of Friday, June 8, 2012). Contradictorily, the current period coincides with serious financial challenges at the core of the world economy).

Let there be no doubt that the financial sector of Ghana is an essential part of the weak link in the circuit of the international financial exchange rate regime of the capitalist economy. Therefore, when the capitalist economy had trouble at the core, economies at its periphery feel the blunt from its ripple effect. Ghana does not have the developed conditions to attract the magnitude of arrangements for monetary bailout going on in Europe and North America.

In addition, it appears that critics and commentators who blame the president of Ghana for the downturn in Ghana's financial sector feign ignorance about the role of exploitative private sector operatives in the economy. The private sector in Ghana is dependent largely on manipulating resources of the state from within for survival and profit realization. It is operatives of the private sector that fuel appetite of Ghanaians for consumption of imported commodities. In that process, it is elements in the private sector that seek to change their abundant national currency holdings aggressively into foreign currencies by any means and then turn round to blame the administration for the fall in the value of the cedi.

Operatives in Ghana's private sector primarily engage in the business of buying and selling without adding to the productive capacity of the economy. Consequently, rural areas of Ghana, home to 60% of the population, have been left underdeveloped occupied by struggling peasant farmers.

Concentration of private sector participation in the economy at urban centers of Ghana increase the price of land in these areas artificially while causing shortage of housing availability.

Rather than admonishing President Attah Mills for the ills of Ghana's financial sector, reasonable active Ghanaians should be discussing how the country could overcome the symptoms of backward capitalism that characterizes the economy. Capable Ghanaians should get together and attempt to answer the question why the value of Ghana's cedi is falling against some foreign currencies at a period when some authorities tout economic growth of the country.

Revenue from recent oil drilling is the only source of rescue mission available currently for Ghana. Yet, in spite of the mirage of oil revenue, the economy of Ghana is still in backward capitalist mode fueled by appetite for imported commodities inability to produce locally unemployment and general conditions of poverty. It is clear that the state of Ghana does not have the upper hand in in controlling management of the financial regimen of oil drilling operation. With foreign businesses controlling the management of revenue from oil drilling, the president of Ghana and his administration do not stand a chance of maneuvering within the dominant world economy to leverage revenue from oil drilling without the backing of significant social forces. Therefore, as Ghanaians watch the gradual sinking of the economic ship of the state of Ghana; it would be in the interest of the country if all active citizens rallied behind the president of the republic to avoid the catastrophe of Chad or Equatorial Guinea.

Capable Ghanaians must work together to investigate the reasons responsible for the artificial fall of the value of Ghana's currency against the United States dollar. That effort must include seeking the means to overturn the so-called slump of Ghana's currency in spite of oil drilling.

It is not in the national interest of Ghana for citizens to sit behind political partisanship and deride the president as if he alone is responsible for directly for the downturn in the value of the national currency. It has taken more than 4 years for Ghana's economy to arrive at where it is today. Certainly, it will take more than another 4 years to right the anomalies of the national economic conditions.

While discussing the current direction and trajectory of Ghana's economy, it is equally a propos to re-assess the wholesale dependency of the country on the current dominance of the regime of development partners. Instead, Ghana must endeavor to take charge of the national economy by depending on Ghanaians and local resources. It would benefit Ghanaians for the nation to tap into the positive outcomes of investments made in education since independence in 1957. For instance, it is relevant to ask how many foreign agencies have been involved in the making and implementation of financial and economic policies for Ghana in recent time.

When Ghanaians castigate their president for economic conditions of their country, agents of world imperialism sit back and have fun.

A CALL TO THE CPP TO ACT
Fifty-five years after political independence of Ghana, it is time for the Convention People's Party to start the second phase of the revolution of 1949 to 1957. The second phase of the social revolution must focus on economic emancipation. In this regard, the CPP COALITION-USA calls on the CPP leadership in Ghana to convene a PEOPLES' ECONOMIC CONFERENCE of Ghanaians to dialogue on how to rescue the economy from imperialist attack. Such a conference will signify the second phase of the 1949 social revolution.

The economy of Ghana is sinking and nobody but we the active people of Ghana must act to save it.

Yaw Asare Adu-Otu
CPP Coalition-USA
June 12, 2012