Accra, Ghana//-The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a leading platform of academics, social change activists and Ghanaian patriots advocating for progressive social transformation and people-centred development in Ghana says there would not be any honeymoon for the country’s next leader.
This is because the country according to the Centre is saddled with numerous challenges from all sectors of the Ghanaian economy.
Speaking at the CSJ’s Leadership Dialogue Series in Accra, a member of the Finance Pillar of CSJ, Haruna Alhassan, explained that the next leader or new government who would on 7th January 2025, could not even sleep if the next leader is committed to addressing the mountainous challenges.
“Our country is in a very difficult situation that cannot be fixed overnight by any government”, he added.
Ghana which is currently on a $3 billion IMF bailout programme is going to the polls in December 2024 to elect a new president and members of the legislature to steer the affairs of the country for a four-year tenure subject to another four-year renewal.
The current President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo would leave office after being in power for eight years. So, he is not qualified constitutionally to stand again. His party the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is going into the election with the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia as its flagbearer.
The largest opposition party the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is represented in the presidential race by former president John Dramani Mahama.
Several surveys both at home and abroad have tipped Mr Mahama to win the December 2024 elections and form his government in January 2025.
Challenges
Diagnosing the performance of the country’s economy, Mr Alhassan said: “The new government will inherit a high Cost of living; Elevated Unemployment level; Low Accountability; High debt level; Low fiscal space; and a Sluggish Economy”.
He was quick to add that Ghana’s road ahead is too rough, bumpy, and slippery, advising Ghanaians that the country needs a “strong and versatile vehicle with experienced driver required” to drive the country out of the quagmires and misery.
The economist noted that inflation trends in Anglophone West Africa from December 2022 to April 2024 indicated that Ghana is the only country in that zone to have recorded the highest inflation rates.
Mr Alhassan admitted that external factors certainly played a role but “our challenges are more out of domestic policy failures”.
Policy choices
He could not mince words when he blamed Ghana’s woes on bad policy choices, formation, and implementation.
For instance, the government has so far wasted a whopping amount of GHS339 million on the National Cathedral Building Project. But there is nothing there to be proud of apart from a big hole which opponents of the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia government have described as “the world’s most expensive hole”.
Initially, the Akufo-Addo-Bawumia administration had 125 ministers to the displeasure of many citizens. However, the number was reduced to 110 ministers for the second time.
The government’s fight against illegal mining popularly known in Ghana as galamsey could not yield any results because the act is still going on in some gold mining communities, especially in the Ashanti, Western, Eastern and Savannah regions of the country.
Mr Alhassan also mentioned that the financial sector “cleanup” exercise embarked on by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) led to the closedown of more than seven banks, and thousands of micro-credit institutions, among others.
Other policies such as the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP); High tax exemption regime; Planting For Food and Jobs; Free Senior High School; One Village One Dam; One District; One Factory; and E-levy, among others, did not fly.
What Can Be Done: The Hard Choices
According to him, difficult decisions must be made to bring the country back on track to sustainable economic growth for the benefit of the citizens, investors, and the rest.
Mr Alhassan who spoke on the topic: ‘Ghana’s Economy from 2025: The Hard Choices’ recommended that a tiered minimum capitalisation of banks should be implemented to finance the country’s sluggish economy.
To reduce lending rates which are currently averaging between 31% to 35%, the next leader should refocus Ghana Reference Rates from Treasury bill rates to the banking industry average costs of funds.
Additionally, he urged the next leader and his government to restrict foreign exchange cover to only essential commodities, whilst channelling foreign direct investments to only vital sectors of the economy to minimize pressure from profit repatriation by foreign investors.
To address the current foreign exchange crisis, Mr Alhasssan called on the next government to prioritise domestic production and consumption of made-in-Ghana products and services.
So, commercial agriculture and manufacturing, he said must be given the needed attention to feed the country’s industries to enable them to produce for domestic and foreign markets.
Bimodal agriculture that integrates the family outgrower system and commercial agriculture value chain, must not be left by the next government.
