2012 presidential candidate of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey is calling for a return to military rule as the surest way to accelerate the development of the country.
He believes if the nation was under military rule, the rampant spate of corruption prevalent in the country would not be existent, and the nation would not be experiencing economic challenges.
The leader and Chairman of the GCPP, Dr. Henry Herbert Lartey believes a return to military rule will instill some discipline in Ghanaians who steal the countryοΏ½s resources for their personal benefit and that of their friends.
He also took a swipe at government for mismanaging the economy. According to him, Ghanaians are feed up with the current economic hardship bedeviling the country which he thinks is worsening by the day and puts the blame squarely at the doorstep of leadership.
Dr. Henry Lartey in an interview with this reporter said leadership needs to think about an innovative way to deal with corruption to save the country. οΏ½Leadership is not rulership. Leadership is not kingship. Leadership is when you have creative mind. Leaders need to think on their feet and bring out sterling ideas to change livesοΏ½, he said.
Hesaid workers now find themselves in a tether, and could no longer bear the hardship in the country. He cited the rising cost of transportation, accommodation, food among others, resulting from the sharp fall of the cedi against the major international currencies as a main problem that needs to be tackled.
Dr. Lartey said the present economic doldrums are having adverse implications on the salaries of workers, which demands an immediate intervention from the central government.οΏ½Ghanaians are facing difficult times; I think urgent steps are needed in solving these problems,οΏ½ the 2012 presidential candidate asserted.
He is concerned Ghanaians have lost control of the economy, and have allowed foreigners to hijack our economic management policies, thus churning out policies that are destroying the economy. οΏ½Sadly, the managers of our national economy have chosen to ignore the advice of the local professionalsand many other brilliant suggestions that have been put forward by civil society organizations.Instead, those in charge of our economy have chosen to rely on the economic policy advice of experts at the International Monetary Fund and the World BankοΏ½ Dr. Lartey lamented.
He called for a return to the policy of domestication that his late father, Dan Lartey preached as the long term solution to the countryοΏ½s economic woes. οΏ½Eat what you grow. Grow what you eat, stockpile and export. Domestication can end the dollarisation of GhanaοΏ½s economy,οΏ½ Dr. Lartey said.
He is concerned Ghana imports almost every commodity consumed in the country. οΏ½A long-term way of reducing inflation and thus restoring some confidence in our national currency is to produce, produce and produce and export, export and exportοΏ½, Dr. Lartey proposed. οΏ½Ghana can earn Dollars, Euros, Pound Sterling and other currencies (foreign reserves) by producing and exportingοΏ½, he added.
οΏ½We have to earn more from our exports such as oranges, pineapples, pawpaw, mangoes as well as other fruits and vegetables by value addition. Ghana cannot rely on cocoa alone for a lifetime at the expense of other productsοΏ½, he advised.
He said: οΏ½We should encourage the large production of rice, maize, palm oil, rubber and sugarcane for the production of sugarοΏ½, and warned that: οΏ½If we don't promote domestication to change our current import and export orientation, then the light at the end of the tunnel will continue to elude usοΏ½.
On his view about why the value of the local currency continues to fall drastically against the dollar and other international currencies of trade in the past few months, he explained that: οΏ½When the total dollar value of a country's imports exceeds the total dollar value of its exports, the county has a trade deficit. This means the country is exporting fewer goods than it is importing. When a country's trade deficit increases, the value of that country's currency depreciates against the currency of its trading partner countriesοΏ½.
He noted that: οΏ½As we have consistently imported more goods over the years than we exported to our trading partners then the cedi depreciates against the dollar and other currenciesοΏ½.
Despite all these suggestions on how to deal with the problems of the economy, Dr. Lartey said:οΏ½a short-term solution to GhanaοΏ½s woes is returning to military rule.οΏ½
On how the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) is faring, he said the party has begun strengthening its structures at the grass roots level as part of the partyοΏ½s preparations ahead of the 2016 elections.
Source: Nana Yaw Reuben
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