Ho HIV Saga-Poor Economic Managment By Bawumia Led Economic Team The Cause

On the 2nd of June 2023, a sad story emerged ons social media, which was a screenshot of a Snapchat conversation, where an anonymous lady complained about how her 'sugar daddy' knowingly transmitted HIV to herself and her two friends.

The current hardship in the country has made life so difficult for our youths. These three ladies from Ho entered into a Business called "Hookup", a modern-day prostitution, just to survive in this current hardship. They met a rich old man (whom they referred to as their sugar daddy), who promised to give each of them GH5,000 if they agreed to sleep with him without protection. The ladies, who also needed the money to survive and support their "soft life", did not think about the consequences and accepted the proposal.

The ladies later found out they had been infected with the deadly HIV from their sugar daddy, and when approached, he asked why they didn't question the huge amount he was paying.

This is where the Economic hardship has brought us by the Bawumia led economic management. As we speak over 400 students in Ho are suspected to be infected by HIV because of students' engagement in "hookup" to survive.

Someone would ask, why should we blame the government for one's recklessness and immoral act?

For me, this is not recklessness. Recently, the abnormal increment of goods and services in this Country has brought some level of hardship that has never been heard or seen in the history of the country. How are the citizens to survive? Landlords, in some areas, have increased their rents from GH1000 to GH3,500 within a year, school fees have equally increased, Data that was so cheap some years back has become too expensive because of the taxes Bawumia's led Economics management team has place on the telcos.

It had even caused the removal of Data zone bundle that was made by MTN for Easy Access to the internet by the youths who could not afford higher sums of Data. And with all these increments, salaries have remained the same, and our leaders have increased theirs and filled their pockets. How is this fair? How then do you blame the youths who try to find ways to fend for themselves? A lot of them are leaving this country to find greener pastures. But what about those who cannot afford to leave the country? What do they do?

The unemployment rate which was 5.11 % in 2016 has increased to 13.9%, after all the promises giving by Bawumia in his campaign to become the Economic management team leader. Electricity and water tariffs rose to 29% and 8% for first quarter of 2023.

The Annual Household and Expenditure Survey (AHIES), under the Harmonising and Improving Statistics in West Africa Project, funded by the World Bank, revealed that unemployment rate rose from 13.4 per cent to13.9 per cent (1.8 million people) in the second quarter of the year. The least said about the increment of transport fares the better.

To add salt to injury, the only hope for a Ghanaian youth today is sport betting. Even with that, the Bawumia Economic management team has placed a 10% tax on every winning bet by this suffering youths.

The youths of this Country must rise and speak against the incompetency of the Bawumia's led Economic management team, that is putting the life of young ones in Danger just because they simply want to survive. It's simply impossible to survive in this country as a lay person in this country of ours. How are some people not seeing how the lives of Ghanaians have declined since the NPP took power?

Something must be done immediately. The youth need to take action now if we truly want to have a good quality standard of living in Ghana. A word to a wise is enough.

HARRISON KOJO ABBAH
Communication team member(NDC)