ACHIEVE GHANA BEYOND LOANS FIRST,THEN WE CAN TALK ABOUT GHANA BEYOND AID-ASEPA TELLS AKUFO ADDO
In 2001 When former President Kuffuor took Ghana to HiPC,it was economically one of the best decisions at the time,am not sure of its political prudence though but at the time no one wanted to lend to the government of Ghana because of its high debt threshold and huge possibility of default.
Aids such as HiPC grants was what brought Ghana back to economic stability and prominence in the sub region.
By 2008,barely 7years after we went to HiPC Ghana said it was a middle income country, Isn't this magical!
This magic can only happen in Ghana and under the NPP government!
Once we told the Westerners that we have grown teeth,there was a huge cut on all the free milk they were supplying to us.
About 80% of donor support programs in Ghana vanished and foreign support for our annual budget was slashed by almost 90%.
And this was because of the political propaganda of the then NPP government who wanted to score cheap political points before the 2008 elections.
So by the time the new government took over in 2009,there was a huge budget funding gap amidst the implementation of a single spine salary structure that also put a huge pressure on the wage bill and by far government's finances.
After the NDC government managed to stabilize the economy a bit and undertook a huge infrastructural drive to compensate for the many years of infrastructure gap left by the Kuffuor administration, the NPP is back in power again and this time chanting "Ghana beyond Aid"
The irony is that,this same government today as I write has over 25 loan agreements sitting in Parliament awaiting approval.
It has already subscribed to 19 loan agreements since 2017.
That is not just all,it is also considering raising a $50billion centenary loan from China aside the $2billion synohydro loan deal.
What else can I say,this government has lost grips of the steering wheel,
Now most donor agencies in Ghana are all migrating up north to neighbouring Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger...
Well at least they haven't NO to aid just yet.
These agencies were filling a certain gap in the country and giving government some fiscal space to pay attention to other critical areas, now most of them are gone, some are preparing to leave and Ghanaians have started feeling the impact.
Civil societies in Ghana are now beginning to appreciate the role these donor agencies and aid groups were playing because everywhere you go today hardships are very much abound.
All because our government prefers loans with tight conditionalities that threatens the economic freedom of this country to aids which the terms are slightly palpated to suit our conditions as a country.
As for Dr.Bawumiah I don't even understand him anymore, how do you expect your currency to be stable when donor funds and supports that also brings in some dollars to shelve up your exchange rate is dwindling because of your Ghana beyond aid mantra.
Even the Almighty United States is not beyond aid,how can poor Ghana be?
I don't know what else to say,maybe Owusu Bempah's 7 demons are really real,only they were imported by a different set of people....
Ghana is indeed working again!!!.
Signed.
Mensah Thompson
(Executive Secretary-ASEPA)
Source: ghanansemonline.ml
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