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There is no gainsaying the fact that, Ghana’s economic programmes have chalked up successes and failures over the last five decades of nationhood.

In fact, no regime can be said to have failed or succeeded in all its programmes to restructure the economy.

Right from independence, governments of the day come to the scene with so much passion to transform the economy and the living conditions of the citizenry. These passions are revealed in the lofty ideas they put out there in their plans and programmes.

Admittedly, we have seen some strides made in almost every government we have had in this country and the successful attempts made towards the developmental needs of the people. Nonetheless, for those programmes that governments over the decades have not been able to achieve, they have ended up creating discontentment among the people.

Whatever the passion and the commitment of our governments to improve the economic situation of the people, the difficulties still persist to this day. There are still many people in Ghana today who are living well below the poverty line. Providing one square meal a day for their families is a daunting task, not to mention decent accommodation and all the basic necessities of life.

The hardships arising out of bad economic management continue to pose challenges for the people and stalls the general development of the country.

For instance, during the previous administration the economy faced a number of challenges, such as continued load-shedding which saw the closing down of many businesses and therefore laying off of workers, the depreciation of the Cedi, high interest rates and increased unemployment, all of which contributed to general economic hardships.

These difficulties resulted in some street protests and angry discussions in the media, with many people accusing the then government of doing very little to improve the lot of the people.

But the truth must be told. No government, even if endowed with all the resources can provide for every need of her people.

Therefore, some criticisms directed at the government regarding its slow response to the concerns of the people must not be dismissed completely. The government may have all the good intentions to transform the economy to the advantage of all Ghanaians. The slow progress may not be meeting expectations of some, hence the criticisms.

Whatever the case, some level of tolerance must be exhibited for the criticisms for having as a country accepted democracy as the best form of government, we must also bear in mind that, it (democracy) thrives in an atmosphere of openness and the preparedness of everybody to voice out his or her opinion on matters of public concern.

When majority of the people decide to sit on the fence, the act of governance will be left to a few whose efforts may not be good enough to take the country out of the woods.

Today would like to plead with our leaders to continue to listen to the concerns of the people and build on them to meet expectations.

We know that the inherited economy was not the best and so we know that it is not going to be easy. But we also know that if we stick to time-tested values and practices, we shall make progress.

We cannot and should not throw our hands in despair and abandon the ship. We need all hands on deck to help salvage the economy.