Having lived and worked in the third-world country of Jamaica, West Indies, for approximately eight years. I was well acquainted with allegations of fraud and corruption in government. In the 1970s while I was stationed in that country during the era of The Manley Regime. Countless millions of Jamaican dollars (unbacked by gold or foreign exchange). Were printed to finance the Crash Program inaugurated by Jamaica’s socialist prime minister the late Mr. Michael Manley. It seemed to many well-learned people, at the time, including the opposition Jamaica Labour Party. That this whole exercise was not only unaffordable, and unsustainable but would also lead to financial ruination for the country. Large numbers of Crash Program workers were employed to do a variety of things. But those workers located in the corporate area argued about politics, leaned on their brooms most of the time, and occasionally attempted to sweep the streets. The chickens finally came home to roost when Jamaica’s government had to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund for a financial bailout in 1977. The loan was obtained but the terms for granting the loan were a bitter pill for the Jamaican electorate to swallow. They involved a sharp reduction in government expenditure and a 40% devaluation of the Jamaican dollar.
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Dorothy Dobson, a mother of four, is a “crashie,” worker in Jamaica’s “crash,” or Special Employment Program, which is similar to the Works Progress Administration of the Great Depression era in the United States. Mrs. Dobson thinks that progress in Jamaica is finally offering benefits to her. About 50,000 people hold various crash‐program jobs. For a few years Mrs. Dobson worked with ‘others in sweeping the streets of Kingston, to the scorn of some residents of the capital who called the sweepers “shovel leaners.” (THE NEW YORK TIMES: Jamaicans Are Divided Over Nation’s Leftward Course, By C. Gerald Fraser, July 26, 1977).
Although rich in a variety of natural resources such as cocoa, gold, diamonds, oil, natural gas, aluminum, iron ore, and gypsum, Ghana is nevertheless a third-world country. With a population of approximately 33 million people and a gross national product of $US76 billion in 2022. The rate of unemployment is very high in Ghana and was 13.9% during the second quarter of 2022. A few employed people in Accra make as much as US$150,970.00 per annum. On the other hand, large numbers of the populace earn absolutely nothing, and personally, I know taxi drivers in Berekum who earn as little as 250.00 GHS (US$19.23) monthly. With this kind of income disparity and the preponderance of poverty, it’s not unusual for people to frequently request a handout. Fortunately, The Brong Ahafo Region, where I reside, is a largely agricultural community. Consequently, there is an abundance of food. A trip to the market will reveal a wide variety of edibles such as yam, plantains, bananas, avocado pears, melons, pineapples, mangoes, ginger, tomatoes, carrots, beetroot, cabbage et cetera. All the grocery stores are well stocked. Recently, however, imported food items have become extremely expensive due to the devaluation of the Ghana Cedi.
Ghana is experiencing a deep economic crisis, with rampant inflation that has reached almost 55% and its currency has fallen by almost half compared to the US dollar. The government’s finances are also at their lowest point in years. President Nana Akufo-Addo, who has faced several protests in the West African country because of the situation, admitted that Ghana is in crisis and blamed what he called “malevolent forces…that have come together at the same time” referring to the COVID-19 Pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ghana’s government has blamed the aforementioned calamities as some of the drivers of the economic crisis, but analysts think that the overspending by the government has contributed to the current economic woes. The government’s critics attribute Ghana’s present financial turmoil to blatant Government corruption. Examples are as follows:
1. The NPP has the largest size of government in the history of Ghana! Find out how many ministers they’ve appointed from 2017. At one point, they had over 125 ministers!
2. This government has over 1,000 presidential staffers paid as article 71 officeholders at the jubilee House!
3. They’ve also appointed soo many special assistants to ministers with emoluments close to that of deputy ministers at the various MDA’s.
Take also into consideration:
4. The number of spokespersons at various MDA’s paid above the pay of Directors!
5. The number of CEOs at various State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and their pay packages! Many of these SOEs now employ 3 or 4 deputy CEOs with fat conditions of service!
6. The impact of the Over 50 new agencies with zero output, eg. CODA, NADA, MBDA, free SHS secretariat, 1D1F secretariat, Petroleum Hub Development Authority, Ghana cares Secretariat, etc.
7. The unconscionable decision to send over 100 Databank staff to the Finance Ministry as special assistants and paid as customs commissioners on GRA’s payroll!
(BUSINESS GHANA: Ato Forson Outlines Seven Reasons For Ghana’s Economic Woes, CNR Citi Newsroom, 16th January 2023).
Renowned John Hopkins University economist Professor Steve Hanke has again criticized the Akufo Addo administration’s resort to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance amid a challenging economic time. In a post shared on Twitter, professor Steve Hanke asserted that the current IMF program that the country hopes to benefit from will fail like previous ones. According to him President Akufo Addo’s passing of the ‘begging bowl to The IMF’ will not yield any results adding that the country’s inflation stood at 50% year on year contrary to the data from The Ghana Statistical service which puts it at near 30%. (GHANA WEB: Akufo Addo Has Passed The Begging Bowl To The IMF, Thursday 14 July 2022).
(TO BE CONTINUED)
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