Bread, Circuses And Ghana’s Cost-Of-Living Crisis

More than 1,900 years ago, the Roman poet, Juvenal, coined a phrase that has survived the rise and fall of empires, revolutions and political systems: panem et circenses – “bread and circuses.”

Juvenal was lamenting a Roman society in which citizens who had once taken an active interest in political power appeared increasingly satisfied with material provisions and public entertainment.

His concern was deeper than food and games.
It was about what happens to a society when spectacle becomes more compelling than substance and immediate gratification begins to replace serious civic engagement.

That ancient metaphor offers a provocative lens through which to examine Ghana today.

There is no denying that the government has achieved significant progress on some major macroeconomic indicators.

Inflation has fallen dramatically, with headline inflation at 5.0 percent in August 2026. The IMF has acknowledged substantial gains in macroeconomic stabilisation and debt sustainability, while the Bank of Ghana has continued to tighten liquidity conditions.

But there is another Ghana beyond the headline inflation figure.

What does 5 percent inflation mean to the mother who still has to find money for food, transport, school expenses and utility bills?

What does falling inflation mean to the taxi driver who has to put GH¢17-plus petrol per litre into his tank?

What does macroeconomic stability mean to the commercial vehicle operator buying diesel at around GH¢19 per litre?

And what does it mean to the ordinary commuter who has now had to absorb an 8 per cent increase in public transport fares?

The fare increase took effect on September 26 following consultations between the transport unions and the Ministry of Transport. The unions had initially pushed for a substantially higher adjustment because of rising operating costs.

Indeed, the latest inflation data show that housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels remain the single largest contributor to headline inflation, accounting for 29.5 per cent. Transport contributed another 13.2 percent, while services inflation stood at 8.6 percent.

These are not projections. They are the prices and costs confronting Ghanaians now. And this is where Juvenal's bread and circuses becomes particularly relevant.

Because while the economic managers can legitimately point to falling inflation, the ordinary Ghanaian is still asking a much more basic question:

“Can I afford my life?”
The inflation rate measures the rate at which prices are changing. It does not magically return the prices of food, transport, rent, utilities and other necessities to the levels Ghanaians enjoyed several years ago.

The World Bank itself has acknowledged that rising electricity tariffs, strains in the cocoa sector and large infrastructure financing needs continue to weigh on household welfare despite the improvement in Ghana's macroeconomic indicators.

So, while the numbers on the macroeconomic dashboard may look considerably better, the kitchen-table economy remains a different story.

And what is occupying the national conversation?

Increasingly, it is social-media insults, political abuse, TikTok personalities, online confrontations and police arrests.

The Police have investigated and arrested individuals over alleged false news, incitement, threats and offensive online conduct. The controversy surrounding TikToker “Ghana Jollof”, for instance, has generated enormous public discussion, including the arrest of senior nurse, Salomey Awiti Bafoh.

Nobody should argue that criminal conduct should be ignored simply because it happens on social media.

But there is a bigger question:
Why does a country struggling with unemployment, high living costs, energy-sector liabilities, cocoa financing problems, narcotic drug issues and youth unemployment so readily surrender its public conversation to insults and online personalities?

Why are we spending so much national energy debating who insulted whom?

Why political arguments are increasingly reduced to who said what on Facebook, TikTok or X?

Why does an offensive social-media post sometimes generate more national outrage than the plight of the unemployed young Ghanaian?

And why can the country spend days debating an insult while structural problems quietly continue?

These are the questions that should worry us.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE JOBS?
Unemployment remains one of the country's biggest concerns.

An IEA survey reported that 46 percent of respondents identified unemployment as the most pressing problem facing Ghana, while 91 percent expressed at least some anxiety about the cost of living. Illegal mining was identified by 30 per cent as the second major concern. So why isn't the national conversation dominated by jobs?

Why aren't we having a sustained debate about how Ghana will create productive employment for its young population?

Why should a young graduate spend hours following political insults on social media when what he or she desperately needs is a job?

That is the modern circus.
WHAT ABOUT GALAMSEY?
Illegal mining continues to threaten Ghana's water bodies, forests and agricultural land.

The public has heard repeated commitments to fighting galamsey. But the environmental consequences remain a national concern.

Why does a TikTok controversy sometimes command more attention than polluted water bodies?

Why are we arguing about personalities while the country's natural resources continue to come under pressure? And what happens when the polluted river eventually reaches the tap?

WHAT ABOUT COCOA?
Ghana's cocoa sector is confronting serious financial and structural difficulties. The IMF has documented the severe deterioration in COCOBOD's cash flow following the sharp fall in international cocoa prices, with unsold stocks and liquidity pressures adding to the problem.

There have also been concerns about financing for cocoa purchases. So why isn't cocoa receiving the same intensity of public debate as social-media quarrels?

What happens to the cocoa farmer if buyers cannot secure adequate financing? What happens to Ghana's foreign-exchange earnings if the cocoa sector weakens? These are questions with consequences far beyond one viral video.

WHAT ABOUT NARCOTIC DRUGS?
Then there is Ghana's growing battle against narcotic drugs. The fight against drug trafficking and abuse is too serious to be reduced to political point-scoring.

Narcotics destroy lives, damage families, fuel crime and undermine the prospects of young people. NACOC therefore has an important responsibility to enforce the law, disrupt trafficking networks and protect the public.

But even here, the question is one of national attention and priorities.

Recent political exchanges over NACOC have generated considerable public attention, with the Majority in Parliament highlighting a sharp increase in arrests under the Mahama administration and presenting the figures as evidence of intensified enforcement.

The question, however, should go beyond the number of arrests.

How much narcotics are actually reaching Ghana's streets?

How many young people are being drawn into drug abuse?

How effective are rehabilitation and prevention programmes?

How much cocaine, cannabis, tramadol and other controlled substances are entering the country?

Who are financing the trafficking networks?
Where are the proceeds going?
And, perhaps most importantly, why are young Ghanaians increasingly vulnerable to the drug trade in the first place?

These questions deserve sustained national attention. An arrest statistic may demonstrate enforcement activity, but it does not by itself tell the public whether the drug problem is shrinking. That is the distinction between activity and outcome.

A country could record thousands of arrests and still have a serious narcotics problem if trafficking networks remain profitable, demand remains high and young people continue to enter the drug market.

So, while the public debates who has been arrested and which political side deserves credit, the bigger questions remain:

Are Ghana's borders sufficiently protected?

Are drug kingpins and financiers being successfully identified and prosecuted?

Are assets acquired from narcotics proceeds being traced and recovered?

Are schools and communities receiving adequate prevention and education?

And are young people being given enough economic opportunities to make the drug trade less attractive?

These are much harder questions than announcing another arrest.

And that is precisely where Juvenal's ancient metaphor becomes relevant.

The modern “circus” does not have to mean entertainment in the traditional sense.

It can also mean the endless political spectacle surrounding an issue while the underlying problem remains insufficiently examined.

Narcotics enforcement should, therefore, be judged not merely by how many people are arrested, but by whether Ghana is actually becoming less attractive to traffickers, safer for young people and better equipped to prevent drug abuse.

The country needs the arrests. But it needs something more. It needs results.

WHAT ABOUT ENERGY?
The energy sector remains another elephant in the room.

The IMF estimates that Ghana's energy-sector shortfall could still reach about US$1.1 billion in 2026, with distribution losses, expensive generation contracts and legacy debts continuing to pose challenges.

So while the public argues over insults, who is asking:

Who will pay for the energy-sector liabilities?

How much will electricity cost?
How much will businesses pay to operate?
And ultimately, how much of these costs will find their way into the prices consumers pay?

WHAT ABOUT THE DEBT?
Ghana's debt situation also remains worthy of sustained scrutiny.

The country has made progress under its debt-restructuring and IMF-supported programme, but that does not mean the debt problem has disappeared.

Indeed, recent reporting put public debt at GH¢733.9 billion by July 2026, an increase of GH¢13.1 billion from May.

So why shouldn't Ghanaians be asking where every borrowed cedi goes?

Why shouldn't citizens demand accountability for public expenditure?

Why should personality clashes dominate the national conversation when debt sustainability affects generations yet unborn?

THE MODERN CIRCUS
This is not an argument against social media. It is not an argument against the Police enforcing the law. It is not an argument against entertainment. And it certainly isn't an argument against the government's efforts to stabilise the economy.

It is an argument about attention. Because a government does not necessarily have to deliberately create a distraction for distraction to occur.

The distraction can happen organically. A politician makes an inflammatory statement. Someone responds.

A TikToker insults somebody. The Police react. Political parties issue statements. Television and radio stations debate the controversy.

Social-media users take sides. Politicians join the argument. And suddenly, the entire country is discussing an insult.

Meanwhile, fuel has crossed GH¢17. Diesel is around GH¢19. Transport fares have gone up by 8 percent. The cost of living remains a concern. Young people need jobs. Cocoa financing remains problematic. The energy sector carries huge liabilities. Hospitals face capacity and supply challenges. Ghana's dependence on imported pharmaceuticals remains high.

Illegal mining continues to threaten the environment. And the debt question has not disappeared.

That is the circus Juvenal would probably recognise.

Not necessarily because somebody deliberately organised it. But because the spectacle becomes so captivating that the serious issues are pushed into the background.

BREAD AND CIRCUS – OR GOVERNANCE?

The Government deserves credit where its economic stabilisation measures are producing results.

Falling inflation is important. A stronger currency is important. Improved reserves are important. Debt sustainability is important. But macroeconomic stability cannot become the end of the conversation.

The ultimate test of economic management is not merely whether inflation falls from 23 per cent to 5 percent.

It is whether ordinary citizens eventually feel the improvement in their pockets, kitchens, businesses, workplaces and homes.

If the inflation rate is falling but transport costs are rising, fuel is becoming more expensive and households still struggle to afford basic necessities, government must be prepared to explain why.

And citizens must be prepared to ask. Not merely:

“Who insulted whom?”
But:
“Who is creating the jobs?”
Not:
“Who has been arrested on social media?”

But:
“Why are essential medicines still vulnerable to supply problems?”

Not:
“Which politician won the latest online argument?”

But:
“What is being done about Ghana's energy-sector liabilities?”

Not:
“Who went viral today?”
But:
“What is happening to cocoa?”
Not:
“Which party has the louder social-media army?”

But:
“Where is the value for the taxpayer's money?”

That is the civic conversation Ghana needs.
Juvenal's panem et circenses was ultimately a warning about citizens losing sight of their political responsibilities.

Ghana does not need fewer jokes, fewer football matches, fewer festivals or less social media.

Ghana needs more scrutiny.
More questions. More attention to budgets. More attention to jobs. More attention to health. More attention to energy. More attention to agriculture. More attention to the cost of living. More attention to public debt. More attention to the environment. More attention to education. And more attention to what the government does when the cameras are no longer focused on the latest political quarrel.

Because the greatest danger is not that Ghanaians will have bread and circuses.

The danger is that we may become so absorbed by the circus that we stop asking whether the bread is enough.

By Ernest Kofi Adu