This economy is not working

It is quite nauseating to be lectured constantly on how the administration of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills has transformed this society, when evidence is there for all to see that Ghanaians are going through some of the most austere periods since independence on March 6, 1957.

When Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Fifi Kwetey called his media briefing, and reported on the state economy under the mal-administration of the former university lecturer, as if this nation has been turned into an economic paradise over night, The Chronicle was not invited. But the lecture given by the Deputy Minister, who is exploiting the lapse in the system to seek education abroad at the expense of the state, while holding on to his portfolio, has not been lost on this paper.

At a time when the state is doling out the little in the kitty to the likes of Alfred Agbesi Woyome, Waterville, CP and others for no job done, this is not the time to rub people's noses in the mud. This economy is not working. Those who have moved from penury existence to become the noveau rich of society, in the course of which they are snatching properties at up-market locations throughout the country, should not continue to remind us of the pain of living under this moribund regime.

In a country where one's daily wage cannot buy oranges for the family, the major legacy of this administration is helplessness on the part of most citizens at the centre of the earth.

If this economy is doing well, it must be aiding the bank accounts of those who shouted on socialist platforms while in opposition, and are now grabbing storey buildings at prime locations in tens of millions of dollars, in an administration that has just passed its third anniversary.

When board members do business with the companies whose boardrooms harbour them at strategic meetings of the leadership of the company, the average Ghanaian cannot be a beneficiary.

That is why this talk of Ghanaians doing well in this administration should be toned down.  The large mass of Ghanaians is at the wrong end of the economic miracle, under which most structures taking shape are mere castles in the air.

In all spheres of national life, the cost of living is going through the roof. There cannot be many countries on the earth, where prices of goods and services rise two, three, or sometimes, four-fold, when inflation remains in single digit.

The Chronicle has no confidence in inflation figures which indices are based on zero-rated items when a particular shop is not opened at the time field workers arrive, or when particular items are not available for the exercise. We call for a thorough re-examination of the mode of calculating inflation in this country.

We do not believe inflation, as is being put out there, reflects the reality on the ground. Just last year, a bag of cement, for instance, was selling at GH¢8. Now, a customer needs to fork out between GH¢160-GH¢180 for the same bag of cement.  With transportation cost and cost of clearing goods at our ports rising steeply, inflation, certainly, cannot be in single digits.

We are of the opinion that getting one of the main indices for assessing the economy wrong means that the basis for working out our economic indicators is flawed.

The average Ghanaian is suffering. Let the authorities show concern for the plight of the people and stop this roof-top advertisement of building a 'Better Ghana' that obviously, is reflecting only in the bank accounts of those exploiting the weakness in the system to amass wealth.