The depreciation of the Cedi: Some street reflections (Final Part)
Our crave for anything foreign in every sphere of our lives is the biggest driver of our currency woes and the earlier we dealt with it, the better it will be for all of us.
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I have heard of the campaign for Ghanaians to patronise Ghana-made products and I am an ardent advocate for that, irrespective of the quality and price because Rome was not built in a day!
However, I have just two questions: First, how committed are the made-in-Ghana apostles and champions? I do not seem to feel the leadership leading by their own example to get the followers into the beat.
The other day I read that a high-profile politician had travelled outside Ghana on vacation and for me, that was a shock as I thought our leadership should demonstrate what we preach by living it. Did this person really know these actions contribute to depreciating the cedi?
And how many of these do we have in a year and how much does it affect our cedi? The Ghanaian hospitality sites are also made-in-Ghana products and our leaders must learn to patronise them as a means of preserving our currency.
Foreign taste
Many Ghanaians, especially our leadership, who fail to set up the right structures are quick to seek medical support outside Ghana, even if it is just a headache that can be diagnosed and treated locally, and they spend thousands of dollars; increasing the demand for the dollar and thus its exchange rate!!
The saga of the furniture for parliament, acquired from China, makes the case of our leaders even worse. That they take our tax revenue to buy the hard-earned dollars, depreciating the cedi and creating employment for others in their countries and still claim to be made-in-Ghana champions.
The second question is: Do Ghanaians really have a choice in the pool of products and services that are authentically Ghanaian? Buy made-in-Ghana is a great concept but how many Ghanaian products are available for patriotic Ghanaians to choose from? In the absence of made-in-Ghana products, can the Ghanaian be blamed for buying imported ones? A big no!!!.
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The only way we can exorcise ourselves as a country from the import-craving syndrome is to get back to the basics where we were in the 1960s. Import substitution is the key. Those were the days when Ghana produced tyres for our cars, matches, corned beef and sugar; and our glass factory was one of the best in Africa! Now where are they?
In fact the other day, I was told that our Ghanaian traders now prefer tomatoes grown in Burkina Faso because they have engineered a breed that is tropical friendly and of better quality than ours in Ghana. Aaba!!
Can we ask successive leaders after Nkrumah to render accounts of these firms? And why we continue to shout on the rooftops about buying made-in-Ghana items? By the way, the situation is not a completely lost battle; we can still contribute enormously to support our economy, even with the limited choice we have to make some significant impact. Check the British example in the 1930s.
Buy British campaign
In the early 1930s the conservative dominated British government launched the “Buy British Campaign” to support the ailing economy and to boost its trade balance shortly after winning elections.
The campaign led by the Empire Marketing Board was supported by over 400 different institutions across the empire to garner support for the government agenda. Amongst the collaborators were business groups and associations of British origin like the Federation of British Industries, National Union of Manufacturers, National Chamber of Trade and Incorporated Association of Retail Distributors, as well as civic society organisations including the British Legion, Rotary and Women’s Institutes etc.
The British press was not left out of making the campaign an empire-wide agenda and adopting a must-support strategy.
The Aberdeen press and journal is credited with carrying a complaint by a clubman who had been served foreign shark fins. To quote it, “we, of course, have no sympathy for foreign sharks.”
If these misguided fish choose to leave the freedom of British waters for the slavery of alien seas, then their fins should not go down British gullets. British sharks for British teeth, every time!!.
Media support
How many of our media partners have devoted their space and time to making sure the made-in-Ghana agenda is top in the minds of Ghanaians, and at how many of our public functions, organised and sponsored with our tax revenue are local rice served as the only dishes, to save our cedi? And how many Ghanaians will reject foreign dishes as a protest and to support our local food and save our cedi?
Another media commentary worth citing is the Home and Politics noted in 1928: ‘What would be said of a woman who went down the street, marketing-bag on arm and who passed her son’s grocery shop to make her purchases in the establishment of a stranger?’. Charity obviously begins from home and we must first seek our own.
The Mail newspaper puts it in a much simpler way. The paper argued that the British housewife should exercise her consuming power in a patriotic fashion. “Every woman should spend as much as she can afford, always remembering, however, that every pound expended on foreign scents, cosmetics and clothes is contributing to a trade balance that is already weighted against her country.
The support gained by the Empire Marketing Board was overwhelming and apolitical. It was all about Britain and their economic prospects!!!
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I am proud to see our women put on the local cloth, sewn as “Kaba” and other styles, but how many are rejecting the numerous foreign cosmetics in favour of our excellently Ghanaian-made shea butter creams and cosmetics? How many are growing their natural hair as dreadlocks, instead of wearing strange, artificial hair that depletes our dollar earnings?
How many Ghanaian men are emulating the President by only wearing Ghanaian-made shoes and slippers?
The fight against the drowning currency must take a collective national and broader effort from every quarter than just supplying more dollars into the market without tackling the fundamental causes of the high demand for the dollar.
The increased supply will only be a short-term solution which will make the chase for a stable cedi a mirage!!. What is sustainable is for us to systematically develop and diversify our export base, develop import substitutes, develop the taste for the locally and proudly made-in-Ghanaian products.
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The writer is a PhD candidate with SMC University and a Sales and Marketing Consultant
aakolaa@yahoo.com