“The approval of Ken Ofori Atta as the Finance Minister will guarantee victory for the NDC in the 2024 General Elections” – Johnson Asiedu Nketia.
This is obviously to say that the ruling New Patriotic Party is performing very poorly in the management of the economy, by way of the conduct of Hon Ken Ofori Atta as minister of Finance and Economic Planning and during his performance at the vetting by the Parliamentary Appointments Committee.
If truly Ken was not the best choice for Ghana then it is very obvious that the National Democratic Congress out of selfishness and greed decided to let him sail through, with the hope that things will turn very rough in the country so that the NDC could win the 2024 General Elections hands down.
This shows that the largest opposition party does not think well of Ghana. It is only wishing that Ghana should break into pieces and come 2025, it will come back to power to repair, what?
For the sixty-four years of independence, pro-socialists have ruled this country collectively for forty-five years while the pro-capitalists are ruling collectively for only nineteen years. And it is worth noting that for twenty-eight straight years, 1972 to 2000, Ghana had been under pro-socialist governments. Now if this group can better handle the economy, what is there to show?
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) under Nkrumah was the only government which started ruling this nation with blue balance on account. £240 million ($672m) was our start-up capital in 1957, however by 1963 it had dwindled to £500,000.00 and Ghana had to borrow at an unacceptable cost to build the Akosombo dam. We had to offer Kaiser the lowest electricity rate ever in the worldto enable it operateVALCO. We were also made to halt any exploitation of our bauxite resources because Kaiser was not going to use our bauxite to feed the VALCO plant.
This is how our pro-socialists negotiate on behalf of the nation. Meanwhile almost every major sector of the economy was nationalised except the cocoa industry. While these were going on, high corruption and misuse of state funds and resources had Ghana going down on her knees with economic hardships that affected the general public. By 1965, Ghana was highly indebted. The national debt officially reached $515.2 million in 1963 and a year later it stood at $977.2 million. By the end of 1965 our national debt was 25.16% of GDP and stood at $3.8 billion.In February 1966 Ghana’s net reserve position was virtually negative.
The truth about how our economy run down during the CPP government is something most Nkrumaists will never talk about. However Nkrumah’s most trusted economist, Finance Minister Komla Agbeli Gbedemah came out in September 29, 1962 in a lengthy letter entitled “It Will Not Be Work And Happiness For All,”to condemn the way Nkrumah was managing the economy and he rubbished the much revered Seven Year Development Plan. K.A. Gbedemah had to do this while in exile and he was well vested in Nkrumah’s wrong handling of the economy.
Ghana’s opportunity to set off as a nation with strong economy was hindered by unnecessary expenditures which included flying the nation carrier virtually empty on some uneconomical routes just to promote the Ghana brand. State Farms became unproductive but were maintained to promote socialism. Nkrumah funded a lot of African nations struggling for independence, at the detriment of national growth and development.
The pro-socialists enjoyed twenty eight straight years of governance, from the NRC/SMCs, AFRC, PNP, PNDC and NDC 1 governments. The PNDC/NDC 1 took the lion share of nineteen straight years. Ft. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, not satisfied with his three months reign as head of state in 1979, came back in 1981 without any tangible reason to overthrow a pro Nkrumaist government. He happened to do worse things than what he accused the PNP Limann’s administration of.
Instead of growing the private sector Rawlings made sure he collapsed vibrant businesses and industries owned by indigenous Ghanaians. He called for national boycott of products and services from top businessmen and industrialists in the persons of Dr Safo-Adu, Kwabena Darko and Appiah-Minkah. Others like Boakye of Boakye Mattress fame and Siaw who set up the first private brewery, Tata brewery, had their businesses confiscated to the state.
Foreign investors were given better terms like ten years of tax exemption. Ghanaian timber contractors paid more in taxes than the ex-patriates who had an almost next-to free deals.
Wrong economic planning and implementations weakened the indigenous Ghanaian businessman and industrialist. We were almost self-sufficient in poultry in the 70’s but the pro-socialist Rawlings administration placed high tariffs on the local poultry industry and turned abroad and started importing broiler products which eventually weakened our once vibrant poultry industry.
Soon this nation became more of SME retail businesses while big timeretailers were ex-patriates. The Ghanaian owned A-Life chain retail was guided into bankruptcy by state officials to make way for foreign own retail shops like Koala, Max-Mart, and others to thrive while others like Rose Pillars have gone down under. Our economy was very dependent on foreign assistance. A government which started off by demonising the West, ended up kowtowing to the West and was ready to accept any terms from the West.
The socialist economy seems to aim at reducing Ghanaians to low scheme levels while at the same time promoting the foreigners to hit the skies and make fortunes at the expense of Ghanaians and our economy and repatriate hard currencies to the home countries abroad and with that our currency got weaker and weaker.
At the end of the twenty-eight years of pro-socialist governance Ghana became very poor and had to apply for the Highly Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) Initiative. The Rawlings administration applied to be considered for the HIPC Initiative and adhered to observing laid down programmes demanded by IMF and IBRD. Such programmes like PAMSCAD were ways at which the international financial institutions would access that once we join the initiative, we would be able to alleviate the poverty of Ghanaians.
In 2000, having satisfied the IMF and IBRD, Ghana agreed and signed the I-PRSP (Interim-Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers) and in this agreement the final PRSP was to be signed in April 2001 after which Ghana would access the HIPC Initiative.
In 2001, a New Patriotic Party government led by H.E. J.A. Kufuor led Ghana to access the HIPC Initiative. As at 2000, Ghana was dead broke that a top NDC guru, Hon Spio Garbrah wanted to know where the new government would get money to pay salaries.
Under the Kufuor administration our economy became vibrant. By the end of his eight years in office, Ghana had weaned herself off the IMF and IBRD. Strong economic and financial measure made Ghanaian to laugh and rejoice.
Come the new NDC government and economic downturn made Ghana to crawl on her knees back to the IMF and IBRD which made sure they gave us tough conditionality which included a freeze on employment. Now how an economy can thrive with high unemployment can best be explained by the pro-socialists.
In 2017 a new NPP administration took over a very weak and shaky economy. During the previous NDC government, members went out for money and while some were gifted to some party gurus like Woyome while most others gained their share through over costed projects. Remember that the cost of constructing the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange alone under the NDC government cost a little more than cost of constructing four interchanges under the Nana Addo’s NPP administration.
Of course the NDC as a party in opposition is not happy about how the economy of the country is been managed. Many fabricated stories were spread into the public to make the NPP government unpopular. These were basically on corruption and mismanagement of the economy.
The opportunity came for the NDC to expose the NPP on these charges when it got to the turn of the nominee for the post of finance minister to appear before the Appointment Committee of Parliament for vetting.
Hon Ken Ofori Atta was the finance minister from 2017 to 2021 and he was bombarded with all the incriminating allegations during his vetting. He convincingly explained and positively responded to every question to the admiration of all Ghanaians especially the NDC MPs who had no option than to give him the nod.
With the NDC’s last hope of bastardising the President fizzling into thin air, General Secretary Johnson Asiedu Nketia of that party has come out to say his party made Ken sail through because his weakness in economic and finance management will make the NDC win 2024 hands down.
The pro-socialists have never been able to manage our economy very well, other than that Ghana will be higher up than she is now. Forty-five years in government with twenty-eight straight years in power and Ghana has got this story to tell. It is only the pro-capitalist that can mend the economy and set Ghana on the right course among nations.
This will be exhibited after Ken Ofori Atta spends a full eight years in office.
Hon Daniel Dugan
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect The Chronicle’s stance.
The post The Economy: Pro-Capitalists and Pro-Socialists appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
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