Before making my road trip to Osu R.E, also known as Oxford Street. I stopped at a shopping Mall to get some accessories for my new Android phone. It was full with sophisticated gargets - latest phones and computers - and one shop attendant looked leer at my phone.
�We have the very latest Android Phone!� he scoffed. �Do you want to have a look at it?
That encounter was a reminder that Ghana is becoming relatively rich, technology conscious and sophisticated country, more so than it neighbors.
One thing I observed during my trip is that the dwindling economy of the Mills administration is having an effect on the purchasing powers of Ghanaians. Businesses are folding up, workers are losing their jobs, petty trading is frustrating, and prices are soaring higher. This is devastating, and frustrating to the pocketbook of Ghanaians.
To be honest, the dwindling economy is having untold hardships on the average Ghanaian. It is inflicting prodigious economic pain on Ghanaians. The earlier president Mills does something, the better. Because it is generating discontent.
One phone dealer, Thomas Okai, who has a phone shop, told me he had to lay off 2 of his 5 workers. Another, Konland Raymond, a fashion designer, said that current situations have aggravated pre-existing economic hardship. �Things are expensive and so production is high,� he said. �People prefer to go for cheap China goods which makes our goods less attractive in the market due to the prices,� he added.
Konland said he used to train people who came for apprenticeship free of charge but due to factors in the economy, he charges something little in order to train them and keep his business running.
In Circle, I chatted with a store selling phones, computers, and digital cameras. He recounted how things where booming years ago. But sales have dropped disheartening, he fretted.
Many businesspersons and economist have issues with the way and manner Ghana�s economy is being managed. The former Deputy Bank of Ghana Governor thinks government is pursuing wrong economic policies that have crippled the economy and created unprecedented hardship for majority of Ghanaians.
At a youth forum held in Koforudua, the former deputy governor said: �The NDC government, within three years, has borrowed GH�16 billion, almost tripling Ghana's foreign debt from GH�9billion to GH�25billiion,' he indicated, saying that all these unprecedented borrowing had not been properly invested, with people still crying of hardship.
However, others blame our current economic situation on the global economy. Some of Mills� adherents think the wests are against president Mills due to his nationalist economic policies. Others also opined that because his foreign minister is a Moslem, most western countries do not want to deal with the Mills regime.
Lack of foreign assistance has greatly affected the Mills regime to be honest. �There are no job in this country, nobody is willing to employ you� one unemployed graduate said. �President Mills must do something�.
Economic pressure has focused people�s attention on the woyomegate and the C.P judgment debt scandal. Most Ghanaians are angry at such judgment debt. Ghanaians feel the amount doled out to Woyome and C.P could have changed things in the economy. I objectively feel for the young brilliant entrepreneurs and businesspersons who are struggling to make it under current economic cage we find ourselves in.
The growing discontent must be a wakeup call to the Mills administration, moreso when the December 7 election is near. Perhaps someone is not telling him the truth-the country is running into a ditch.
I for one admire his economic policies. They are nationalistic in character and poor friendly. But as to how his economic policies are failing baffles my mind.n�People putting bread on the table, accumulating the economic pressure, they have a limit,� said a sales boy I chatted with. �Sooner or later, the limit will come and things will change.�
<<Print>>