Ghana's economy grew by some 6.7%
from the first quarter in 2014 albeit the obvious fiscal challenges. The
government is doing a lot in terms of development amidst the rather tight
fiscal space owing largely to many years of running budget deficits with over
60% of budgetary support coming from donor funds.
Times have changed for all. There
were years we enjoyed huge subsidies on oil, electricity and water only for the
gaping holes left in the wake of the implementation of these policies to reach
even deeper into our national coffers. The appetite for free things has even
been worsened by political patronage and election winning gimmicks such that
the plethora of promises offered in exchange for votes hinges on who promises
more freebies than the other in the name of political ideologies.
We must come to the bitter
realisation as a nation that funds we used to receive in the past and that we
have spent on subsidies on various goods and services were the culmination of
taxes charged others in the donor countries that was given to us to ‘chop’ for
free while we did nothing really than greasing the wheels of corruption,
ineptitude and wanton loot of state assets and funds over the last decade or
so. The situation has even been made dire by very weak anti corruption
institutions and a lackadaisical judicial system that does not even motivate
the average citizen to report crime as and when they occur.
What we have set in motion for
many years is a cynical cycle of misappropriation and a happy-go-lucky
administrative system that could not even be changed by many years of military
interventions in the geo-politics of this country.
Today, we have found ourselves in
a bitter-sweet situation where our growth (which could have been better anyway)
brings us to the brink of a Middle Income Nation. At this point, we have been
made to appreciate the efforts made by donors to shore up our economy to which they
have duly retired in terms of providing huge volumes of financial aid, grants
and loans to the country. In short, the donors say they are not giving us that
kind of money anymore and as a Lower Middle Income Nation, we have been
born-again into freedom so we must and immediately take steps to manage our own
economic affairs. Whatever we collect from the citizens as taxes and other earnings
that make up the national income must be effectively managed so we can pay our
workers, service our loans, pay pensions, build infrastructure and invest in
the needed sectors to expand our economy.
As if that was not bad news enough,
global financial crisis has eroded gains from our exports so badly such that on
daily basis, we are faced with diminishing foreign exchange earnings. This
situation is bad news for government because it further widens the fiscal space
that has plundered our development agenda over the past 5 years.
We brought another problem upon
ourselves by implementing with speed, the Single Spine Pay Policy for public
sector workers that we are told eats up almost 60% of our revenues each month
and we do not seem to be doing well in terms of mobilizing more revenue,
closing the leakages in our expenditure cycle and clamping down on corruption
at all levels to that we can receive much more revenue for development planning
in Ghana.
Had we improved upon revenue
generation, we would have closed the percentage gap in terms of remuneration to
the public sector if we are not doing anything about the Single Spine Pay
Policy in terms of a review. Again, an option that is yet to be exploited by
government is to conduct an audit of all public sector employers so that those
whose presence, services and remuneration is a surplus to the state can be
voluntarily deployed and compensated accordingly such that we have only the
staff that is needed and wanted within the public sector. This will at least
ensure that those on the public wage bill are those the state needs to function
and nothing more.
Furthermore, actions taken by
government in terms of clamping down on corruption must be seen by the citizens
to be pragmatic and result-oriented. The citizens must be confident in the
leadership of the nation that those who steal and loot state money must be
punished and their assets confiscated and sold off to recover the loot. More
fierce measures should be promoted by our law makers to discourage corruption.
The Public Accounts Committee reports gives us a picture of how much money we
lose as a nation each year from the actions and inactions, deliberate as they
are, from persons employed by the state to act on her behalf.
As it stands now, the President
and his government are in a very tight situation. They had to cut down their
salaries by 10% for the proceeds to be used for some programmes they promised
in their electioneering campaign. Inasmuch as that move is a commendable one by
the Executive, we as citizens should be much interested in what we can also do
to salvage the situation.
The Senchi Consensus provides
some paradigm shift for our economy which must be hastened in terms of
implementation.
I am not for the Automatic Tariff
Adjustment Formula of the Public Utility Regulations Authority in times as
this. The little upward adjustment (which is mostly the case) every fortnight
throws everything out of balance. The threats, real or perceived, of fuel price
increases and utility tariff increases does not just add to the cost of
production even at the rural level but it distorts every effort by government
to bring the micro economic environment under some stability and that is a
problem for a country like ours.
Boards of State Owned Enterprises
are instituted to offer policy direction for these enterprises. I am sure any
responsible policy maker or advocate or think thank will do period reviews of
their policies and how they affect the economy and try as much as possible to
develop other workable alternatives if one strategy does not seem to work. The
boards of the various state owned enterprises must not simply be interested in
riding big vehicles and enjoying huge allowances but they must live up to the
challenge of sitting on their backs and developing those alternatives that can
work for usa s a nation else their failure to drive the right policies will reflect
all over the country as they are in charge of some critical sectors of the
economy.
All in all, these short term challenges
we are going through as a nation rather provides a window of opportunity for
His Excellency the President and his team to show the way and make the drastic changes
they need in terms of policy alternatives to bring things into alignment in the
short term while the long term measures are allowed to work.
The President and his team can
also not achieve this end if the understanding and support for those policies
is not derived from the citizenry who is affected or benefits from the failure
or success of same.
I cannot conclude this write up
without commenting on the recent fuel shortage to which some wish to make huge
political capital out of. Of course it would be very infantile for any
political watcher to think that parties that do not support the President will
go to bed fasting and praying for him to survive his tenure. That will remain a
dream BUT to allow such shortage to hit the system smacks of maladministration
and bad judgement from the various players and actors in the petroleum industry
and we should never as a nation come to this point again. It is totally
needless to announce petroleum price increase or even give hints of same 7
clear days to implementation date. This only creates the panic and speculations
that we witnessed over the last 3 days and the market responds accordingly.
I am very confident the President
has a big opportunity in the midst of the crisis to emerge with some plan to
carry the nation along with him and that should be engaging the minds of his
staffers and advisers by the stroke of the clock each minute. Ghana has gone
through worse times in the past but we survived with commitment and demonstration
of positive action that yielded great results.
That same spirit must be
rekindled from our communities to the Flagstaff House to face these challenges
squarely and deal with them head on.
God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.
Elolo Amegashie
No comments:
Post a Comment