How Will You Rate Ghana: A Diaspora Perspective

Do you care to know how others see Ghana? What are the features that make Ghana an attractive place to live or to visit? Given the chance, how would you rate Ghana? Please join me in this worthwhile exercise to determine the state of Ghana using 10 attributes that are globally accepted as effective tools for measuring a country's developmental progress.To help determine which level to place Ghana, we will do a comparative analysis of other countries. Each attribute will be measured on a scale of 1 to 3.

One=Poor,being the least favourable: 2=Average,being an average score: 3=Good,being the best possible situation. At the end we will tally up for the results.A word of caution - even though this article at first glance hits us below the belt, its main purpose is to enable readers to take a critical look at themselves and country. Additionally, I will implore readers to expand on the argument by seeking out instances that will support or dispel my rating.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX (HDI) is considered to be an excellent tool for measuring development. It places countries in 3 categories; countries with Low, Medium or High HDI. It was first developed in 1990 by the Pakistani economist MahbubulHaq, and has been used since 1993 by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in its annual report.

A 2011 HDI released by the UNDP found that, of 187 countries that were evaluated, Ghana ranked at the 135th position. HDI measures social and economic factors such as poverty, income, literacy, education and life expectancy. Broken down into the various HDI components, statistics from a 2013 report on poverty by the World Bank Data records a national poverty rate of 24.2%, being the percentage of the Ghanaian population who are poor. By all indications, Ghana is ranked as a country with a low HDI, due to its high poverty level.

A World Vision report also shows that 30% of the population currently lives on less that $1 a day with 54% living on less than $2 a day.The median rate for literacy (youth and adults, both genders) in 2014 was 72%; however, previous statistics of 1995 to 2004 for youth literacy of 71%, with adults at 58% for the same period, shows an encouraging generational increase, even though one should hope for a future ideal in the 99 percentile range.

Life expectancy currently stands at 61 years, compared to a global range in the mid to high 80s for developed countries such as Canada, US, England, Japan,and averages of 40s and low 50s for developing countries such as Angola, Sierra Leone, Djibouti, Malawi and Mali. My personal scale: Based on the statistics I've outlined above, I will give Ghana a 1 indicatinga poor rating where HDI is concerned.INFANT MORTALITY RATE is explained in the World Factbookasthe number of infant deaths in a given year divided by the number of live births in the same year. It is expressed per 1,000 live births.

It indicates easy access to healthcare and wellbeing of society. Infants are defined as less than one year of age. 2014 figures from the World Factbook records high Infant Mortality rates for such war torn countries as Afghanistan 117, and Somalia100. Statistics show a low of 3 deaths for every 1000 infants for advanced countries such as Israel, S. Korea and Switzerland. Countries such as Cote D'Ivoire and Ghana, record infant mortality rates at 60 and 38 per 1,000 live births respectively.

However, Ghana could do better: I will proceed to rate Ghana on the side of caution, bearing in mind that many infant births and deaths in Ghana arenot recorded.My personal scale: Looking at the global trend, it seems Ghana is somewhere in the middle, I will give Ghana a 2 indicating an Average rating where Infant Mortality Rate is concerned.

FREEDOM HOUSE RANKING measures the level of media freedom in 197 countries. It takes into account the level of freedom and democracy a society enjoys. Each country is ranked on a score between 0 and 100 based on the legal, political and economic environment persisting. A 0 score depicts countries with the most media freedom and 100 depicts countries with the least freedom.In 2014, ten countries(Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan,Uzbekistan) were given the worst and lowest possible rating for both political rights and civil liberties, recording scores over the scale. Sweden, Norway, Netherlands had the best with 1 score each.

As Ghana continues to exercise its democratic maturity, I will implore readers to look up the numbers themselves, and use personal experiences to evaluate the Freedom House. For me however, a couple of reporter and journalist assaults and intimidations this year which left a sour taste in my mouth compel me to be cautious. My personal scale: I will give Ghana a 1 indicating a poor rating where Freedom House Ranking is concerned.INTERNET USERS- a record of a 2014 statistics of internet users ranked Ghana at 63 out of 198 countries. Internet usage is a measurement of how abreast with the times a country is in terms of communication and information technology.

An Internet User is defined as “an individual who can access the internet, via computer or mobile device, within the home where the individual lives.” In 1993, only 14,161,570 or about .03% of the world population of 5.5 billion were connected to the internet. Fast forwarded to 2014, there are now about 2,925,249,355 connected, representing about 40% of the world population of 7.2 billion. In 2014, 19.56% of Ghanaians were considered as internet users.

United States of Americarecorded 86.75% of citizens with access to the internet, China 46.03%, India 19.19%, United Kingdom 89.90%, Nigeria 37.59%, Canada 92.89%, Togo 4.57%,Ivory Coast 2.72%. I believe there is still hope for Ghana where internet technology is concerned. My personal scale: I will give Ghana a 1 indicating a poor rating where Internet Users is concerned.

GDP on PPPis the Gross Domestic Product of countries as projected by their Purchasing Power Parity. GDP is the value of the country's production, used to measure the value of all goods and services produced within the country within one year, with PPP measuring the purchasing power of the country's currency, and the strength of the economy. The World Bank records that in 2013, the total value of goods and services produced by Ghana was 47.93 billion. While some advanced countries produced about 10 to 100 times Ghana's GDP, countries such as Burkina Faso produced 11.58 billion during the same period.

In Ghana, there has always been rumours of financial figures having been cooked up to allow the country to live above its means. Rather unfortunate, because knowing the true financial state helps to find the correct panacea when necessary. At the end of the day band-aid solutions of highly charged economic jargons to cover lies will not sooth the hunger pangs that is felt by the child that tags along its mother .

The Ghana cedis a volatile currency because the country does not produce much value added goods, and its economy is largely raw material based. To alleviate this situation, raw material processing should be encouraged, eg. tomato paste production, fruit canning and juices, cosmetics and toiletries industry, etc. The Diaspora could also help pump up the economy's foreign exchange reserves through foreign exchange savings in Ghana Banks, but they have to be assured that their monies will be safe from the usual extortion cleverly done under the guise of new banking initiatives. My personal scale: I will give Ghana a 1 indicating a poor rating where GDP on PPP is concerned.

TRUST–Trust is hard to measure, one can also say equivocally that it is a commodity that is hard to come by in Ghana. Lack of trust destroys image and public morale. Ghanaians stopped trusting each other due to high levels of corruption by people in public office. Corruption is endemic and has become embedded in the national psyche. Even among the general populace, people have accepted that there are facts twisting and manipulations going on. This starts from individual homes throughout parliament all the way to the president's desk.

It will take a very strong, caring, selfless, down- to earth, determined and disciplined President to stop this social canker and for Ghanaians to trust one another again. My trust rating for Ghana is over the top of the scale. Insha Allah! this should change one day soon. I hesitate to give any rating on this attribute, for the simple fact that honesty in Ghana has gone to the dogs.

On my personal scale, I will give Ghana a 0 indicating absolutely no Trust whatsoever .I apologize for the candidness, but the truth must be told because of what is at stake: the future of Ghana and Ghanaians. I believe that in order to eradicate this antisocial behavior, special anti-corruption offices employing very trustworthy individuals with non partisan associations be set up to investigate, expose and punish corrupt people and institutions, irrespective of social status or connections.

OIL CONSUMPTION – measured as bbl/day = barrels per day. Oil consumption is applied as a penalty, it is better to have a lower consumption. Oil is also seen as a driving force of war and cause of instability in countries. A record from the World Factbook reports that Ghana's oil consumption per capita (bbl/day per 1000 people) for 2012 was a small 2bbl/day compared to Togo 3, India 3, Nigeria 2, Ethiopia 1, Netherlands 60, Australia 44, Singapour 202, Saudi Arabia 100. It is clear that there are other factors driving oil consumption. My personal scale: I will give Ghana a 2 indicating an average rating where Oil Consumption is concerned, since I have not found any impediments or difficulties in this regard. VISITING TOURISTS –tourism is not all about exotic animals and artifacts.

When other nationals leave the comfort of their homes to visit, they expect safety, a peace of mind, civilization, and simply a place to relax after a hard year's work. A good tourist destination is therefore one which boasts of amusement parks, good sanitation, good entertainment, effective policing and the law, good human rights practices, efficient transportation system and modern health facilities. Based on what can be witnessed in most cities and towns in Ghana, it would be safe to say Ghana is not well prepared to move its tourism agenda forward.

There are extremely dirty surroundings compounded by the fact that even in affluent areas where one should expect clean and beautiful landscapes, families pack themselves neatly behind closed gates concealing immaculately well manicured, trimmed homes, yet civilization stops once you step outside those gates to a mass of filth and chaos – this tells you something is off in the society. Another classic example of this chaos is the lack of places of convenience to ease oneself while out for the day.On my personal scale, I will give Ghana a 0 where Visiting Tourists are concerned due to the fact that tourism has not yet started in Ghana in my view. One cannot base tourism on animal sanctuaries alone. There is the need for government to set up the pace.

NUMBER OF MCDONALDS: Generally one should not strictly be looking for the actual restaurant per se. It is the idea of what this giant food service industry stands for. Key words will be cleanliness, fast foods, convenience, foods innovation, food hygiene and safety, and being in tuned with the global trends. In Ghana, can you think of the various eateries that compare in principle and fits Macdonald's brand concept?

You might want to look at fast foods restaurants or “chop bars”. Others might suggest the usual roadside “wakye seller”, “rice & stew seller”, “gari& beans seller”, etc. Even though these various food service outlets can be classified as that of convenience, they are very difficult to regulate in terms of safety and cleanliness. The whole idea of such eateries falling into the concept of fast foods or McDonalds is subject to interpretation: It's like comparing apples to oranges. My rating however, is not based on any research data, it's backed by observation and my own interpretation.

I will give Ghana a 1 indicating poor where Number of McDonalds is concerned.PERCENTAGE OF GDP PER AGRICULTURE:The table below show the percentage distribution of the labour force by 3 occupations: Agriculture, Industry and Services. Agriculture includes farming, fishing, and forestry. Industry includes mining, manufacturing, energy production, and construction. Services cover government activities, health services, communications, transportation, finance, and all other economic activities that do not produce material goods.

Country Name Agriculture Industry Services

Ghana (2005) 56% 15% 29%

United Kingdom(2006) 1.4% 18.2% 80.4%

Italy (2005) 4.2% 30.7% 65.1%

Japan (2010) 3.9% 26.2% 69.8%

South Africa (2007) 9% 26% 65%

Gabon (2000) 60% 15% 25%

Please study the above table critically. Unfortunately, for a short article such as this, we can only list a few countries, but when you look at Ghana's workforce statistics as compared to other countries, filtered to 3 occupations in 6 countries, the figures speak volumes. It becomes obvious that more advanced and progressive societies have a lower percentage of the labour force involved in agriculture with a higher percentage of people involved in services.

This is possible because in advanced countries, agriculture is less manual. Farmers use heavy duty tractors and mechanized systems and therefore are able to maintain very large farms, enough to feed a whole population. They also believe in specialization. The concept of specialization is very important to advanced countries, because not every country can produce everything.

The idea that Ghana can expect to surpass India or China in rice production and rice exports anytime soon is a mirage, climatic and vegetation factors might mitigate against such a move. Ghana can only expect to produce enough rice to supplement its rice imports, in order to reduce the import budget. At best, Ghana should focus on improving on such agricultural products as cocoa, poultry and livestock, cashew, Shea butter, groundnuts, mangoes, cassava, yams, plantains, etc.

My personal scale: I will give Ghana a 1 indicating a poor rating where % of GDP per Agriculture is concerned. It is important at this time for Ghana to find the best ways to tilt the threshold levels of the various labour forces appropriately and in their favour. This article serves as a fact finding missive, as such any attempt to associate my comments and suggestions to any social, ethnic or political group in Ghana will be very unfortunate. The verdict is out: The result gave us a mean average of 1, indicating that overall, Ghana has a poor rating where its developmental progress is concerned. Let us all pull together to develop Ghana.

BelliniaAsiedu-Young

Richmond Hill, Ontario Canada