A Consultant at Blackbridge Consulting Group, Maame Awinador Kanyirige, has said Ghana’s multiparty democracy has over the year’s not supported economic development.
She stated that the trend where one party wins political power and subsequently truncates all the projects of the previous administration is counterproductive.
Maame Awinador Kanyirige told Abena Tabi on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, June 12 while contributing to a discussion on whose duty it is to fix Ghana that “We had gotten independence but we didn’t have money, we had natural resources but the developed world had money and so there were all these loans that were being given and then the banks came up with how to pay the money. We need to understand that our system was structured in a certain way.
“Our system was built on loans and debts. Anything that is built on that is problematic, you cannot sustain it because you are not producing anything. Anything that is based on collecting loans or being in debt, is going to catch up on you eventually.
“Unfortunately, our multiparty system also hasn’t supported economic development. For example, if you look at places like [India] they have a five-year development plan, kit doesn’t matter who comes into power if it is not completed you cannot change it. So the political system also comes to play and having to solve this problem and then COVID happened. COVID exposed a fragile system that was getting away with loans and everything.
“It came to expose these that were already there and now, people are seeing it, it’s been decades so if you are going to fix something that has been happening for years it is going to take a lot of hard work.”
Maame Awinador Kanyirige further said in order to address the problems that the country is saddled with, Ghanaians must be willing and ready to make personal sacrifices.
For instance, she said, the inordinate taste for foreign against as against locally produced materials must change.
This, according to her, will help grow indigenous companies and make them viable to compete against their foreign counterparts.
She said that citizens of the countries that developed their economies to the admiration of the entire world made deliberate personal sacrifices to patronize what their won companies produce.
“We are not where America is even if we wanted to be. So, now that we are not there and we are starting from where we are to where we want to be, requires sacrifices so our children will tell a different story.
“Any generation that is not willing to make sacrifices cannot get it right. So to fix Ghana is going to take a lot of work. Personal discipline from us to plant some trees that we may never even sit under it rather, planting for the next generation. That is where our mindset should be understanding this movement.
“When you look at China, you will think China just happened. Even within the communist system where they were trying to build the economy one of the things they included was to develop one region at a time. They didn’t have all these foreign companies coming in so the competition was not as keen as it is now.
“In Ghana here, a lot of companies are making money and your local companies are not doing well so what are the sacrifices to make? I am going to have to understand that people buy Chinese things because the Chinese buy them. If so, we need to support our local businesses and we need to change our appetite for foreign goods,” she said.
Speaking at a Media General public forum on whose duty it is to fix the country, on Thursday, June 10 she noted that addressing the myriads of challenges facing the country will not take one day to do.
“To fix Ghana is not a one-day movement, it is a general movement,” she said.
He further called on the government to invest in the youth of the country.
“We are not investing in the real gold that we have,” she said.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of The John A. Kufuor Foundation, Professor Baffour Agyeman-Duah said although the call on the President and government to fix the problems facing the country is appropriate, it is too myopic.
He stated that the social contract the government signed with the people of the country is a two-sided contract, which means the government and the governed all have roles to play.
He said “Indeed, many Ghanaians will say it is the president’s job to fix the country. After all, you elected him and entrusted the state with all the assets and liabilities to his care. We gave the president and his appointees all the comfort they need so they can fix our problems towards attaining a future of peace and prosperity.
“Once such a reaction to the president is appropriate, it is too myopic. It is one-sided in the context of a social contract between the government and the governed or the citizens in democratic governance. As we have in our country this takes two sides to tango.
“The social contract requires that active citizens demand transparency and accountability from the government and this is exactly what President Nana Akufo-Addo said on his inauguration that the governed should be citizens and not spectators.
“Nonetheless, the president is elected to lead and leadership has must meet the requirements and responsibility.”
He further noted that the problems that are currently facing Ghana existed before President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo became the Head of State.
“I wish to emphasize that the situation we face today wasn’t created today. It is not the creation of President Akufo-Addo and his government. It began long ago and has encompassed all the leaderships and governments of this country.
“This uninspiring situation will continue until radical measures are taken to address the fundamental challenge of our dependent economy.
“Adding to and complicating the challenges of the economy is the Ghanaian attitude or behaviour that increasingly appear to be devoid of any treasured values.”
The #FixTheCountry campaign started on social media by some youth who are demanding good governance from the Akufo-Addo-led government.
Notable personalities added their voices to the campaign, expressing concerns about how the country is being governed currently.
Some raised concerns the cost of living in Ghana is becoming too high as a result of mismanagement of the economy.
These concerns were, however, responded to by Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia on Facebook.
“We are four months into our four-year mandate. The job of the government is to fix problems. This is what we have been doing since 2017.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down the global economy and caused increases in prices of commodities such as oil, cement and iron rods as well as the overall cost of shipping.
“Nevertheless, it is very important to place the performance of our government over the last four years after inheriting an economy with ‘no meat on the bone’ on record. Ours is a government that listens and cares. The facts and data speak for themselves. Trust President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.”