GHANA BEYOND AID

A GHANA BEYOND AID

I got interested with one of the questions that was asked by Mr. Patrick Darkwa, a cost and management accounting lecturer of university of Cape coast, that “to what extent can Ghana be built beyond aid?" So, I started to work on it. However “Ghana Beyond Aid” got my attention again, when I realized that the sixty-one Independence Day celebration was themed with this topic used for this article. To share my opinion and knowledge on this topic, I say emphatically that Ghana can reach the level without aid if some of the things to be highlighted in this article will be attended to. For this I say because, we are not going to achieve the transformation in our economy, which is necessary for a Ghana Beyond Aid, by just talking about it. We have to do something about it!

This country has long been getting aid from other countries like China, USA to mention but a few and more formal organizations like UN, WHO etc. Our first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, years ago said Ghana will get to that point of begging for international aid. It was Nkrumah’s speech in Addis Ababa on 24th May 1963, titled, “THE PEOPLE OF AFRICA ARE CRYING FOR UNITY” he said “The resources are there. It is for us to marshal them in the active service of our people. Unless we do this by our concerted efforts, within the framework of our combined planning, we shall not progress at the tempo demanded by today’s events and the mood of our people. The symptoms of our troubles will grow, and the troubles themselves become chronic.” And thus, when the symptoms of our troubles grew and Ghana couldn’t stand on ‘Her’ own, ‘She’ started to seek for aid. A Ghana Beyond Aid is a prosperous and self-confident Ghana that is in charge of her economic destiny; a transformed Ghana that is prosperous enough to be beyond needing aid, and that engages competitively with the rest of the world through trade and investment.

To start with, getting to a Ghana Beyond Aid, we will have to pay attention to the endowments God has blessed us with. Efficient and effective use of our own resources, and creatively deploying them for rapid economic and social transformation, this will require hard work, enterprise and creativity. “Ours is a country that is well endowed with many natural resources such as gold, bauxite, iron ore, diamonds, oil, natural gas, timber, cocoa, water, fertile land etc. The truth, however, is that the state of our nation does not bear out that we have these natural endowments”, in the words of President Akuffo Addo at the sixty-one Independence Day. With this, it means there is more mother Ghana can do to turn things around if other countries with less resources have been able to achieve greatness in their economy, then the one with enough resources can do better.

Moving on, in achieving a Ghana Beyond Aid, industrialization should be one of our goals and objective. Let me commend the current government on their effort of creating one district one factory of which is recommendable in getting Ghana to the point beyond aid. In as much as we industrialized the country, if the factories are built and the human resources are not well equipped to manage them for development, then it will be waste. So, I believe that the educational sector needs to be restructured to ensure this goal achieved. Introducing a more scientific discovery programs in the technical and training schools and colleges will be very beneficial in making the industrialization a reality.

Moreover, it is important to remind ourselves that, around the time of our independence, we had peers such as Malaysia, South Korea and Singapore. Today, these countries, once our peers, have significantly transformed themselves into industrialized economies. Therefore, I believe like anybody in the country now also believes that with one spirit and confidence Ghana can be beyond aid if industrialization is well planned and factored in our policies ahead.

Again, the area of corruption and mismanagement need to be looked at carefully in moving Ghana Beyond Aid. There is corruption and mismanagement in the various sectors of the economy and the public sector is of no exception. Although, the current government in spite of all the other existing institutions handling the issues of corruption has introduced another office, the special prosecutor office is to be solely in charge of dealing with issues in relation to corruption, embezzlement of funds and mismanagement of financial resources. This is a good move by the government, but basically if workers are paid well and on time, the bureaucratic way of getting things done are made easy and simple to prevent frustrations, and proper checks and balances adhered to by all the arms of government I believe would go a long way to reduce corruption and mismanagement in those offices. These measures if achieved will help the country to yield it planned goals and to get to the point of having a self-respect and reliance on its own shoulders.

More so, finding alternative means of funding our infrastructure other than borrowing from the outside world of Ghana can help us reach the level where Ghana will be beyond aid. Due to the regular borrowing with high interest rate, our debt stock keeps increasing as the years go by. A more structured fund acquisition, utilization and management strategy can be adopted to reduce funding of government expenditure with borrowings. If the country continues to be indebtedness then every revenue generated will have to be channeled to payment of debt and not for investment purposes that will boost the economy of the country. The government can however, reduce it expenditure to reduce borrowing and generate more revenue from international trade by adding more value to our exports to create more market in the international front. In generating more revenue, the taxation aspect of the fiscal policy need to be properly regulated. Increasing import duties and reducing export duties to ensure a positive net export to increase national income (GDP).

Going forward in achieving a Ghana Beyond Aid, we should be looking at scientific discoveries, technology and innovation in all sectors of the economy. The private sector should be supported to grow in the economy. Other areas like our political structure and policies should not conflict with the economic policies for development if A Ghana Beyond Aid is achievable.

Let us believe and understand that it is far more than possible to achieve A Ghana Beyond Aid if a collective measure is put in place considering the above highlighted areas of the economy.

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