It seems the battle lines are now drawn. It has always been the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Party (NDC).
And now, we know it is between Mumuni Bawumia, a new entrant, leading the NPP, and John Mahama, who has ruled this country before, with disastrous results, once again leading the NDC. Going by the tribal connotation of our politics, they all come from the North of the country. Of course, this has nothing to do with the ability to rule.
Meanwhile, the political environment is tense. This is due to the incessant lies and fabrications by the NDC and their attempt to prove that their disastrous time in government was better than the ‘disastrous’ rule of the NPP.
Actually, the Ghanaian economy has never been better since independence if we take away the propaganda and chest beating of our politicians. The statistics say one thing, but the people know better. With nearly 90% of GDP used to service debts, and high inflation, higher taxes, and corruption driving our poverty, the people cannot be wrong.
Actually, with all the high-faulting rhetoric, there has not been any serious debate by those who seek power in 2024 on how they intend to create an economy that creates jobs, reduces poverty, and improves the quality of life of citizens to improve the economy.
Maybe, those who aspire to lead this country do not know. If they do know, they are not telling. Ironically, while not telling how they will create prosperity, they tell us how they will share the spoils of war, and promising voters and partisans abundantly.
Ghana has, since independence, all the potential to achieve prosperity and wealth creation and thereby solve the problem of widespread poverty and to establish prosperity.
The only issue still remains that we have not been able to wean this country away from the apron strings of those who colonised and set up the institutions that made us a feeding trough. We are so passionately attached to the colonial financial and business system, along with the dominant values of those institutions.
It seems our leaders have no answers of their own except those prescribed by the IMF and the World Bank. Meanwhile, our elites, business, politics, and academics are busy chasing short-term benefits and extracting value rather than creating, with emphasis on risk-free government contracts rather than innovation.
We pay those in government higher salaries without thinking about where the salary comes from and deal our way to hereditary fortune without thinking about citizens and their well-being.
Sadly we do not know who we are, where we are, and where we are going as a nation. Our story shows people have forgotten innovation.
This country lacks resilient manufacturing while the few make no profit. Ghana has all the natural resources like fertile lands, and abundant material resources like gold, oil, iron ore, and other mineral wealth that are needed to attain the status of a developed nation in the medium term. It is the unwillingness to invest in ourselves that still makes slaves in our motherland playing victims.
In spite of their rhetoric, our leaders have shown that all they want is the smothering safety of a weak, defeated citizenry who craves a nanny state, backed by the World Bank and the IMF, watching over them. Past socialist and fascist policies have failed to address the fundamental weaknesses of the Ghanaian economy. The dominance of the Public Sector in the Ghanaian economy – denotes a form of socialism – and the numerous business licensing regulations are a form of fascism.
Indeed, The Directive Principles of State Policy in the 1992 Constitution is a continuation of socialist centralism with controlled local administration and one-size-fits-all solutions. Rejecting the principles that have made us poor is crucial.
No doubt, the citizens look exhausted, and tired, and care about nothing, but how to survive the harsh economy, aggravated by the corruption of the leaders they vote for, to lead them. We pride ourselves on living in a ‘peaceful’ country, but it is the peace of the cemetery. This country cannot develop on this trajectory of impunity, corruption and cronyism, poverty, and under-development.
Indeed, the expansion of the welfare state, and finally, the goal of equality of outcomes…. what they call equity —- do not agree with the values of the citizens of this country, who are pro-capitalist and live as individuals in their communities (not collectively), are fair-minded and are just waiting for an opportunity to create their own wealth.
It does not really matter how much ‘hair cuts’ we could possibly do — even if we have the political will to do it – current reforms still would not lead us to the road to prosperity if macro-economic policies fail to contribute to price stability and keep spending steady with the minimum of fluctuation.
We cannot grow our way out of deficit financing. The time has come to move on — to invest more in the local private sector, to build and heal wounds several years’ partisan greed has caused.
The current economic growth rate of 1.9% is not enough to get the revenues to catch up with the spending and none for investments. Those in charge of the economy would insist that the 1.9 % growth figure is wrong and the real figure is a little over 3%; that would be a blatant lie. Because if, and when we get to 3%+ growth, the country’s fiscal problems would start to go away and the people might feel the impact.
We can really do better. Aspirant leaders should find the language to respond to our desires. Ghanaians need to reject leaders who follow, not lead; institutions of state that have lost their fitness for purpose, and a media that preys on our ignorance and distorts the issues for a pesewa. If our leaders sell us snake oil that does not mean citizens should necessarily buy it too. Citizen voters should ask questions like free people. Freedom is responsibility.
There is plenty to talk about, and aspiring presidents who say it is their time should give us a plan for a financially fit policy that would reduce the deficit and chop hundreds of millions of Cedis a year of waste from their budgets, reducing fraud and corruption.
Actually, with a modicum of spending restraint and a higher growth path, we can avoid the fiscal train wreck. We do not have to remind our politicians that if we can achieve a modest 3% growth in our economy, we will dine with the kings and queens of the world.
Going forward, we must re-evaluate the structure of the Ghanaian economy. After the failure of post-independence socialism, it will be foolhardy to continue to make the state the main driver of the economy. We do so at our own peril. The notion that politicians “create” jobs is a fantasy. This means that any aspiring president who is not talking about policies that will create institutions that will encourage the private sector to be more efficient — for example, not growing the Ghanaian private sector to grow at between 3% and 3.5%, as the only means to reduce poverty, is taking voters onto one long joy ride.
Our aspiring presidents should stop the abuse and rhetoric and tell us how they intend to create a democratic conversation about how they are going to build a better free market economy led by purposeful entrepreneurs and how they intend to seek allies at home and abroad to fundamentally challenge or reform the wider architecture of Ghanaian economy and society.
The power to tax can destroy or save. Lower taxes promote growth in various ways. It encourages people to work hard, save more, and take more risks. Tax increases on investment and work are counterproductive. Those taxes normally would reduce investment and growth and make a balanced budget even more unachievable.
We need to know whether taxes would be increased or reduced and how their administrations intend to restrain government spending and balance the budget.
What is their industrial and technological policy? Ghana has ever had an entrepreneurial culture and we would want to know how they intend to motivate the clusters of young people on the streets to make them more creative.
We need to know before we go to the polls. We do not want to buy a pig in a poke. Let the proper debate begin. Ghanaians are tired of the abuse and rhetoric. Calling somebody corrupt without telling voters how you intend to stop or reduce corruption is unimportant.
Ghanaians want prosperity far more than they want the rhetoric on corruption. After all, most Ghanaians would not be fooled when it comes to the corrupt nature of our politicians and how the majority use their political power for self-aggrandisement.
There is more virtue in a growth agenda. Ghana can achieve bursts of growth in this age of hyper-technological advances in areas like energy production, agriculture, artificial intelligence, and medicine. To grow our economy we need to grow out of the Robin Hood mentality of taking from the rich to give to the poor.
Families want their household budgets to grow and this will only happen with a strong resilient economy driven by strong local entrepreneurs.
The Writer Kwadwo Afari,is a former Press Secretary of the ruling New Patriotic Party
