Are we really poor?

Kofi Bentum Quantson Opinion Jun - 23 - 2014 , 08:26

I recall that years ago an influential political actor cited the construction of buildings all over the country as the surest testimony that the Ghanaian economy was doing well. It also, by implication, meant that the people were feeling pretty good.

I still remember how a friend of mine who described himself romantically as a ‘’ construction economist’’ laboured to drill into my lay-man’s head that a booming construction industry is the best indication of economic progress.

These days as I travel around the country, I am amazed at the speed with which buildings are being constructed. Actually it is not only the speed that is amazing. The size and magnificence of some of the structures and exotic designs can set you gazing in sheer delight, or in annoying disgust, or envy, according to your economic status and allied financial circumstances.

Of course, in many cases, it is only human to reflect on just where all that big cash is flowing from. So are we a poor country? Or are economists and politicians deceiving us? Or are we the people deceiving ourselves and the world?

Flashy cars

Fast track to 2014. These days the number of vehicles on the roads is unbelievably high.

The harbours are choked with vehicles. The car ports selling vehicles in towns and cities are full. As you drive along you cannot miss the sight of vehicles screaming with ‘’FOR SALE’’ notices. There was a romantic one I saw the other day. It was a vintage American car with a healthy appetite for swallowing fuel. The sale sticker proclaimed ‘’ Buy me. I perform real good.’’

Interestingly, not only are the vehicles flowing in but some are the latest shining stars on the American and European markets. Often foreign visitors get surprised at our huge expensive tastes. That is hardly what you would expect in a poor country. So are we really poor?

Therefore, if those influential political actors were right in those days that booming constructions and roads overflowing with vehicles are healthy indicators of prosperity, then how and why can we be poor? Or are our esteemed economists misleading or deceiving us or themselves? Otherwise there must be something wrong somewhat, somewhere, somehow. Can that be an economic mystery?

Again, there seems to be a new craze for five-star shopping malls and other supermarkets. I find myself in an embarrassing fix looking at them. Which poor country anywhere on God’s earth encourages the building of exotic magnificent malls and supermarkets?

Genuine poverty?

You enter and you can be overwhelmed by the fantastic variety of imported goods at prices that must be beyond the pockets of genuinely poor people in a genuinely poor country.

And if you chance upon such ridiculous imported items like toothpicks and catapults and beer, you will wonder where all that cash for importing the stuff is coming from. And how do our economists and politicians justify this bizarre economics?

As I roam about, I am often thrilled, and actually mystified, at the wonderful skills with which we pursue our buying and selling economics. Can that be the reason many of our tertiary institutions are offering aggressive programmes in marketing?

Shops are everywhere. Stores are everywhere. Container shops are everywhere. Kiosks are everywhere. Tabletop selling is everywhere. Street corner selling is everywhere. Pavement selling is everywhere. And everything being sold is imported. Right down to secondhand underwear, socks, handkerchiefs, towels, head pieces and all that. Where does the foreign cash involved come from? Drugs? Money laundering? Don’t know, but the economic mystery persists.

I wonder if there is any other poor country on God’s beautiful earth that can mobilise the dollars and pounds to finance these buying and selling unproductive ventures.

Acheampong’s economic policy

It is worth reiterating that General Acheampong’s economic policy of empowering Ghanaians to capture the ‘’Commanding Heights of the economy” gladdened the hearts of many patriotic people. Forget about whatever sins he may have committed; that policy held the hope and promise for the nation’s economic development. Sadly, that policy was buried when General Acheampong was overthrown by his own military commanders.

It should be clear that our economy has been so manipulated as to serve foreign interests. The commanding heights of the economy have been commandeered and monopolised by foreign interests since 1966. That was when we began digging our economic graves. So should there be real honest surprise that the cedi is having problems? It is what we have sown since 1966 that we are reaping now. It was in 1966 that the shameful surrendering of the economy to the foreign interest began.

Let us stretch further into the area of our culture and religion. Look into our churches on Sundays; fashionable and glamourous display of opulence pushing out religious reverence. Our womenfolk dress to kill on Sundays. Sometimes I wonder whether Jesus the Christ smiles or frowns at this profane disgraceful display of affluence.

Our funerals have turned into splash, glamour, booze and dance. In some cases funerals degenerate into sexual decadence all the way to debauchery; all in the name of mourning. The dead have become commercial commodities; which brings me to my age-long problem with economics and economists and our dear troubled economy.

The recent National Economic Forum gladdened my heart; but it also chilled my heart. The galaxy of venerable economists, ancient and modern, was not only awesome. It was inspiring and of course hopeful. However, it chilled my heart too. Their collective expertise had manifested in such mysterious jargons like Structural Adjustment, Pamscad, Hipc, Nepad and the approaching, even if controversial, EPA.

The Senchi Forum must yield tangible results. For me success will be the day when:

(i) We will be rescued from our entrenched dependence on the 40 per cent foreign assistance for our stubborn budget.

(ii) We will be redeemed from our annual pilgrimage to the World Bank and IMF shrines in Washington.

(iii) We will be delivered from the weird economics of borrowing dollars to buy our own cocoa from our own farmers.

(iv) We will muster the patriotic courage to stop this buy and sell mentality, and stop the craze for super malls.

The writer is a former National Security Co-ordinator.