Seth Terkper’s Meeting In London Was Disappointing And Embarrassing

On Wednesday the 12 ^th of August Ghana’s Finance Minister Dr Seth Terkper met British industrialists, academics and potential investors –a public relations exercise to drum up support for Ghana’s struggling economy at Chatham house in Central London. This meeting which lasted for one hour was a huge disappointment and an embarrassment!

Mr Terkper one of Ghana’s highest paid Ministers started by painting a glowing picture of how things were going on in Ghana, a country with so much promise but now going through one of the worse economic crises in Africa with the worst performing currency .He told incredible stories about thousands of jobs being created in every region and went as far as stating that the power crisis known in local parlance as ‘Dumsor’ was being managed.

Mr Terkper struggled to answer questions on why the government was struggling to pay public sector workers, why doctors were on strike, the depreciating cedi, high youth unemployment, low productivity in the workplace and why the government was described as the most corrupt by the party’s founder.

Mr Terkper, who throughout the meeting was sweating profusely, looked lost, frustrated and miserable. He struggled to explain how the government would solve the unending and worsening power crisis in Ghana which has paralysed industries and led to thousands of jobs being lost in the country. He called for investment in the power sector and told the audience that the government was on track to end the power crisis by September. When he was asked why the cedi was nose diving after making some gains, the question was avoided to the amusement of the whole gathering .

When his attention was drawn by a journalist present that the Ghanaian government had made 8 promises in the last 3 years to end the crisis he remained defiant to the point of being exasperated with the comment. ‘I am not the sector minister’ he said, to the amazement of the audience!

This abysmal performance and the lack of confidence displayed by Mr Terkper only confirmed the worst fears of many present which included academics, investors, business men and women of Ghanaian descent who were expecting a message of hope but left the meeting feeling more depressed about Ghana’s prospects.

It is most unfortunate and sad that our ministers and government officials continue to spend thousands of British pound sterling flying business class to London thinking they can engage in propaganda and games on the British and Ghanaian intelligentsia in the UK.

NPP UK COMMUNICATIONS