THE CURRENT WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS WHAT WE MUST KNOW According to research, the current global financial crisis is the worst the world has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The United States of America for instance is facing economic disaster on a scale of staggering proportions.The US has had a negative trade balance of over 10 trillion dollars in the last two decades with the lost of 12 million jobs. In a globalized world of closely interdependent economies, crisis in countries such as America, affects almost every part of the world. I trust my cherished readers would be interested in knowing the root cause of this global financial downturn, and Im going to tell you about it in a moment. The US sold sub-prime mortgages to large numbers of consumers with inadequate incomes. These mortgages were bundled into securitized paper investments and sold by Wall Street to major financial institutions across the globe. When the mortgages became non-performing, the securitized assets became a liability affecting the entire worldwide financial system including Ghana. The Herald Tribune Newspaper has this to say in relation to the above observation, In an interconnected world, American homeowner woes can be felt from Beijing to Rio de Janeiro And according to Consolacion S. Miravite, a writer and a Certified Public Accountant, while it is important to be aware of how the US economy is faring, financial debacles in China are observed keenly by global markets, since its downfall could wreak havoc in all the worlds economies. Beside this global economic downturn, Ghana had its own problem of not being able to attract enough donor support for its budget because of its newly acquired status as a Lower Middle Income State, and rising wage bill. Up to 2008, 60% of Ghanas budget was sponsored by foreign donors; and the country had to manage a psaltery wage bill of GHC3 billion. As I write this article, this countrys annual wage bill is hovering around a whopping GHC9 billion due to the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure. No other president could have done better than what President Mahama is doing under this trying circumstances, and my heart bleeds whenever I hear people trying to create the impression that he is incompetent. It is not fair. Yes, it is true that President Mahamas government has had some minuses with issues such as SADA, GYEEDA, etc, but the President has demonstrated a lot of committed towards the resolution of these problems. Im yet to hear of a perfect government in the world. Yes, I agree that things are hard, and I am one of the hardest hit. I earn most of my income through the selling of my books which have been recommended by the Ghana Education Service to the Senior High Schools; but for about a year now I have not received any significant income from my books due to governments directive to heads of SHSs not to purchase books for students so that their bills could be reduced to give some relief to their parents and guardians. Itll be cynical for me to complain about this directive since the policy is in the interest of the majority. Cant we sarcrifice a little bit to make our country better? A friend of mine told me in the face that I am a hypocrite for defending government. I asked him why he was saying that, and he told me he knew the hardship I was going through and didnt expect me to defend government. In a way he is right, Kikikikiki, my family and I have been homeless for the past two weeks because we were ejected from our home by a court order; but that does not make me a hypocrite, especially when I know the realities of the prevailing circumstances. Must some people in their inordinate quest for power attempt to support acts of sabotage to make the country ungovernable? Must people arbitrarily increase prices of goods and services with the aim of making government unpopular? If we really think we love Ghana and want it to progress, then we should never ever think of replicating Arab Spring here because all the countries which experienced these Arab Spring are worse off today, and would have wished things had remained as it used to be. I think we are treading on a dangerous political path as a country, assuming those people assume power through acts of sabotage and unconstructive criticisms, and their political opponents also follow a similar tactics, what will be the fate of our country? This trend must be vehemently discouraged! If in spite of all these challenges confronting Ghana, President Mahama has invested so much in the supply of potable water that by 2015 Ghana will have a water coverage of 85%, which will be the second highest in Africa, then he needs to be commended. If in spite of all these challenges, a total of 2,064 basic school have been under construction, and enrollment at the basic level alone has increased by 829,625 in the last four years, then it is unfortunate to say he has disappointed. If in spite of all these challenges, President Mahama has invested heavily in the health sector comprising of on going 600-bed University of Ghana Teaching Hospital, 420-bed Ridge Hospital Expansion Project, 500-bed Millitary Hospital Project in Kumasi, the second phase of the Tamale Teaching Hospital after the completion of the 400-bed first phase of the project, the Police Hospital, the Ashanti Regional Hospital at Sewua-Kumasi, the Upper West Regional Hospital, expansion of nineteen out of twenty-one health centers, construction of new district hospitals, just to mention a few, then the President must be applauded instead of being vilified and demonized. If in spite of all these challenges, President Mahama has increased the energy generating capacity of Ghana from 2,311MW to 2,845MW, and working hard to increase the total generating capacity to about 5,000MW to solve once and for all, our perennial energy crisis by 2016, then he needs to be praised. If in spite of all these challenges, President Mahama could invest appreciably in our road network; comprising the completion of the Gang of Four roads, on going GIFFARD ROAD to improve mobility between 37 Roundabout and the La Beach Road, the AWOSHIE-POKUASE ROAD which also includes the construction of 14 schools, a modern market complex and a modern Lorry Park all along the road, Burma Camp Road Phase 1 which will link the GIFFARD Road to the Spintex Road around the Flower pot junction, Burna Camp Road phase 2 to link Burma Camp and Teshie link around LEKMA Hospital, Spintex Road Bypass to help ease congestion on the Spintex Road and Tetteh Quashie interchange, Boundary Road/Gulf House Link between America house junction and Madina Social Welfare, several major roads across the country, the ultra modern Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, etc., then I beg to differ that he has failed or disappointed; with all these, I believe he is a quintessential president, and I am confident that he will navigate through all the challenges confronting this nation and move this country to a higher pedestal by the close of his four-year term. The challenges we are facing as a country are only temporary. In this years State of the Nation Address. President Mahama revealed that in 2013 alone, we spent US$1.5 billion to import rice, sugar, wheat, tomato products, frozen fish, poultry and vegetable cooking oils. As government continues to work assiduously to reverse this trend with the ultimate aim of becoming a net exporter, I think what we can do to help make Ghana better is to support the Presidents initiative rallying us to buy, use and sell Made in Ghana Goods. By Anthony Obeng Afrane
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 16:47:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015