I want to start off this article by making some disclaimers in order that I am guided in my submission.
1. I am not a technocrat
2. I have never pretended to be a technocrat
3. I am not pretending to be a technocrat and
4. I will not pretend to be one because I am not.
Therefore, what I seek to do in this article is simply to apply common sense which is available to all men and women.
The fundamental problems of the Ghanaian economy is that, Ghanaian natural resources are not exploited for the benefit of the Ghanaian people.
This is as a result of the obnoxious Foreign Exchange Retention Agreements that we sign with the mining companies.
How could we have had a country that signs a retention agreement that reserves less than five(5) percent for her citizens?
Any country that does that is on the verge of collapse.
I think the Ghanaian natural resources are being exploited wrongly.
The way forward is to allow Ghanaians to keep or perhaps reserve the chunk part of whatever is taken from Ghanaian soils.
A little history to buttress my point has to do with the regime of our Former President, General Kutu Acheampong.
A lot of people used to badger with or perhaps beleaguer General Acheampong and what they used to say was that he was not properly educated because he was a product of Swedru Business School.
With all that was said, General Acheampong’s regime has been the best after Our First President, Osagyefour Doctor Kwame Nkrumah.
Acheampong’s regime saw one of the best Foreign Exchange Retention Agreements when he decreed that Ghanaians should keep about 55 percent of resources that were taken from Ghanaian soils.
That agreement was very remarkable and went a long way to boosting the economy of Ghana at the time.
I think the contemporary leaders should take a cue and inspiration from General Kutu Acheampong.
Another problem that I have identified as a layman is the fact that public and private contracts are not awarded to Ghanaian contractors.
I am very young, but from where I sit, I know about Ghanaian Contracting firms that we had sometimes ago.
We used to have;
1. Gbewa Civil Engineering Company
2. Swedru Contractors
3. State Contracting Company and among others.
They undertook most of the big projects we have in Ghana and they are still being used up until today.
Where are all those companies?
We have killed them because of our attitudes.
I remember when we were going for our last EuroBond, the justification was that, we needed that money to pay our local contractors and put all their names down.
When we had the money, surprisingly, we didn’t hear the name of any local contractor.
Rather, there were Israeli contractors, German contractors, Chinese contractors, Indian contractors and among others on the list.
The effect was that, the money that we borrowed went back to the companies of the Colonial Metropolis.
If we had paid our local contractors, I think the money would still remain in Ghana for employment, business and other ventures to help the growth of the Ghanaian Economy.
Sometimes some of these things happen as a result of some misguided political elements in our political arena.
Ibrahim Mahama is a world recognized Contractor, but when he got a small contract to execute a national assignment, his innocent brother, John Dramani Mahama was vilified, vituperated, chastized and delibrately contrived and orchestrated a fabricated story to subject the president to international opprobrium.
This attitude was fueled by the opposition and it was very unfortunate.
Another fundamental problem has to do with the fact that as a country, we don’t add value to our raw materials like cocoa.
Instead, we export them at their raw state for the ‘predators’ who sit in giant and board rooms of multi-national companies in the Colonial Metropolis to exploit them into finished goods and import them back for us to buy at exorbitant prices. How can we as a country survive this paradigm?
I think we should fund our local industries to take up the mantle to add value to our raw matetials to help boost our economy.
For example I challenge you to go to CRIG in Akyem Tafo in the Eastern Region and see for yourself the wonderful things they are doing with our cocoa beans.
They are producing for instance;
1. brandy
2. gins
3. soap(Alata samina, Azuma blows, Perfume soaps)
4. cocoa cream
5. perfumes
6. pomade
7. parazone
8. herbicides and insecticides and among others.
If our governments are to give them the needed support and funding, I promise you that we will not be where we are today.
Thanks to our current president, John Dramani Mahama who has found expression and inspiration from Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah to revive most of our industries and establish more.
John Mahama, we say a big AYEKOO, but like Oliver Twist, we are asking for more. There are a lot more to talk about, but for the purpose of this article I leave it here.
In the final analysis, if we are able to take all these into consideration and address these fundamental challenges, trust me, we will make a headway and our national economy will be something to write home about.
This is my submission as a layman, thank you!!!
©OSUMANU ABUBAKAR.
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