Ghana Beyond Aid.... -Part 1

Mr President,

As an ardent supporter of the Pan-African dream and believer of Nkrumaism, I wholely support efforts to wean Africa of foreign aid dependence. We must however separate mere rhetoric and populist slogarism from genuine determination to achieve the economic independence we preach annually on various international platforms. Ghana must first identify priorities, define, and implement them- not be reactionary to the politics of the west. Ghana has been recipient of foreign assistance since independence and prepare our budgets factoring the aid dynamics into them. Instead of preaching populist slogans, we our governments need to take opportunity of benefits we accrue from our dealings with our development partners to scale up policies that spur democracy, creating the enabling environment to build prosperity in the country through concrete priorities such as job creation etc. We need to implement policies that stimulate the economy- such as sound fiscal and monetary policies, good governance, transparency and strengthened judicial system, an improved investment climate and reduce corruption. Other crucial issue we must look at are- long term investment in the private sector, the infrastructure and manufacturing industries, and agriculture as well as creating the necessary employment opportunities.

Mr President, I don't think this polarised political environment is conducive for the dream you espousing. I don't think a President who wants to wean Ghana from foreign aid dependence will watch the Komenda Sugar factory collapse for political convenience, will sack workers perceived as supporters of the NDC, will abandon important projects initiated under the previous administration, will waste state resources on unprofitable projects....We are where we are because of this primitive attitude of the Ghanaian politician. Boosting incentives to improve the quality of education is one cardinal factors we cannot gloss over of we really want to achieve the target because it will be key to producing a skilled workforce. Our target with regard to education shouldn't be just educating people how to write and speak the Queen's language. The challenges facing this great nation cannot be solved using manifestoes of political parties or mere political statements by our Presidents. It will take us over 20 years to achieve anything meaningful but we must start the revolution now. The problem is the over- polarised environment. Why are we not discussing the 40 year development plan recently presented to you? Why not discussing Nkrumah's development plan and Busia's rural development plan. All the issues and suggestions raised in these documents are still relevant today.. The ability to bury our partisan interest and focus more on the nation's interest is the challenge.

Mr President, the scary truth is that we have got to the scary point of our political life and the earlier we address this crucial issue, the better. The countries you quoted in your independence anniversary speech got to their present level because of the steady political system they operated over the years and how the establishment indoctrinated the masses to understand and support the policies they introduced. I heard you describe Mandela as the greatest African ever and know you conferred that on the great African because of your ideological position and position on Nkrumah. The truth is, our development started stagnating after the 1966 coup. Nkrumah did his best for this country. He built a solid socioeconomic foundation for the country with the establishment of more factories, schools, roads etc. The Harbour he built still serves as one of our major sources of revenue generation. Where are the factories? The Tema industrial hub and the number of Ghanaians who moved to the place for jobs is another issue. The Bolga Meat factory etc. Solution to our woes is not one district one factory or one village one dam. These are populist policies going to drain the system if implemented. How do we raise enough revenue to support policy implementation when you deliberately scrap strategic taxes for political convenience. We intermittently experience revenue loss from cocoa duty and the ideal decision to take should be an upward revision of some of our taxes to compensate for the revenue loss. I don't think we should always wait for the world bank and the IMF teach us how to handle these issues. The question is- can our politicians courageously implement some of these redemptive measures in this polarised political environment? So we move to the mental chemistry of the Ghanaian and how we can shape his thinking to separate his partisan inclination from implementation of prudent economic policies and decisions. You killed your own dream with that partisan statement you made in your independence anniversary speech when you misleadingly quoted a portion of the Auditor General's report. You need the spirit and support of all Ghanaians if you really want your dream achieved.

Mr President, the other important issue we must look at is the constitution we operating. The constitution needs serious amendment to meet the true aspirations of the people. How do we achieve what you espousing with this weak and dangerous document. After every election (change in government) our politicians and their supporters behave like coup makers because of the kind constitution we operating. The ruling party is protected fully by provisions in the constitution and relegate to the dustbin the other political parties. We have accepted the cliché "majority will have their way" as a divine convention. Many of the developed democracies are seeing real development because of the comfortable space their constitutions create for opposition parties. Some are ruled by coalition governments, others have solid parliaments and others have created space for CSOs etc to participate in the day to day political activities in their countries. It gives these groups the true independence they need to execute their policies.

Mr President, we must also look at our commitment to the ECOWAS charter and the inherent trade dynamics. With our resolve to join the ECO monetary policy in 2020 vis-à-vis available trade opportunities in the subregion, we cannot smoothly pursue the agenda. In moving away from a reliance on foreign aid, government should seek to improve regional integration initiatives, which are key to sustaining development and encourage longterm prosperity. Looking at the trade dynamics in the subregion, intra- regional trade will be key component to accelerating economic growth , as it will increase industry competition, improve productivity, and develop our local industries and infrastructure. We must extend the lenses to Africa's Continental Free Trade Area. The current level of trade between African States is only 12 percent compared to 60 percent for Europe, 40 percent for North America and 30 percent for the Association of South East Asian Nations, according to the WTO. The target now is with the coming into operation of CFTA, Africa is capable of establishing the world's largest single market and efficiently boost trade between African states by 50 percent. These are the dynamics Mr President must focus on.

Mr President, local industries and businesses are collapsing under your watch because of policies introduced by your administration, banks are collapsing and state agencies are underperforming because of delay in disbursement of their statutory funds. These are the issues you must focus on. We do not have policy document covering the idea you espousing leaving us in the usual state of presumptions and assumptions.

I hope Mr President now undertsnds why many Ghanaians including the current Chief Justice are calling for a national dialogue on the Free SHS. We need to know how the policy is going to be funded the next ten to fifteen years, know the possible challenges and how to combat them when they raise their ugly heads. Policies you introduced are state policies and must be treated as such. We cannot wean the country from foreign aid support if we do not find answers to these critical issues. We must look at our revenue base as well as our consumption and expenditure to know steps to take going forward.