The economy of Ghana has been in crises since 2014 and with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) coming into power, many Ghanaians had hopes for economic transformation. The NPP government led by President Nana Addo Danquah Akuffo Addo since 2017 has mismanaged the economy without the hope for future prospects.

Prior to the elections in 2016, the government made uncountable promises of turning the country into a production hub instead of taxation-driven one. There were countless promises of programmes that could transform the country in 100 days.

These ranges from short-term to medium term policies that had the tendencies to create more jobs for the youth and to establish more factories to produce more for local consumption.

The One – District – One -Factory was set to industrialize Ghana and bring development to communities. Another One-Village-One-Dam policy was touted to help farmers in the Northern parts of Ghana to irrigate their farms and crops to allow for all year-round production of food.

I hope you have not forgotten the One-Constituency-$1 million which was to set drive for addressing basic infrastructures of atomized communities? 

 An interesting Agricultural policy intention in 2016 which was implemented in 2017 called the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) with focus on small holder farmers, received about GH2.3billon ($256 million) claimed to have been spent on the programme in 4 years.

 The much embraced and popular of the policies is the Free Senior High School (FSHS) in the education sector. This intervention was to put monies in the pockets of parents. Uncounted billions of Cedis have been ploughed into this policy.

The government also promised the youth 100,000 jobs for the graduate unemployed, with about GH1.3 billion spent on the programme without measurable outcomes. The programme ended in 2021 and the graduates are still unemployed.

Close to 30 promises were made by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to transform the economy. The transformation agenda of the government for economic growth has led to economic and a welfare state crisis.

All the promises made have now emerged as a mechanism for power. After grabbing power, the government and its cronies have crowded out businesses of private men and crushed voluntary economic activities that drove for development. Citizens have been made beggars and subjects, with outright lies asking for more time to transform the economy.

In reality, the government cannot point out one problem it has solved or challenges it came and met and interventions put in place have restored sanity, instead, created more problems to be added to the already existing ones.

All the interventions of the state have created more problems more than ever before. The government’s interventions/policies have led to high cost of living with hyperinflation hovering around 31%, the Cedi depreciation to the dollar (GH1: $9.55), high unemployment, 73% debt to GDP, high fuel prices, human rights abuse and endless corruption. Today the government is seeking IMF's bailout and that could further increase the cost of living. 

To reverse the economic crises, taxes must be reduced for businesses to have smooth transitions from micro through to medium and large firms. This would create more jobs and improve standards of living. The current hyperinflation is about high taxes introduced as post-COVID recovery program. These taxes including E-levy and “Borla” tax must be abolished. They are nuisance taxes.

Instead of introducing more taxes, the government must cut wasteful expenditures. The government is an active participant when it comes to corruption. This is making the fight on corruption endless and expensive eroding incomes of private men. Ending corruption would save taxpayers about $2 billion annually.

Peter Bismark

Executive Director

ILAPI

Tema.

pHOTO CREDIT: Africa Report