One gray rainy evening in Breman Asikuma, I switched on the
Akasanoma radio I inherited many years ago and tuned into this station
broadcasting from Adabraka, managed by that dude from Ajumako.
The newscaster talked about the incredulous fight between
the ruling Democrats and Republicans in the US. It reminded me so much about
the fight’s we had right here in Ogyakrom between our parliamentarians. Here in
Ghana, we tended to make statements to the effect that what happened here in
Ghana would not happen in the United States or the United Kingdom. So wrong we
are.
What were the Democrats and Republicans arguing about?
America’s expenditure had been projected to exceed its income. America hitherto
had solved the problem by borrowing money.
America now needed to borrow more to plug the fiscal hole in its budget.
Just like Ghana.The Democrats favored borrowing more, the Republicans favored
cost cutting to reduce or eliminate the hole in the budget. That was the fight.
Koo Krampah, my childhood pal and cocoa farmer, sitting
right by me, asked what defaulting meant. I told him simply that to default
meant that America owed some people and that it would not be able to pay them
when the time came to pay them their money. “You mean Obama is going to do what
Acheampong did some time back?” “Yen tua?” The irony of that hit me then. Funny
how life imitates fiction.
It has become the norm in Ghana (and apparently globally) to
run a budget deficit annually. In effect countries like Ghana and America, were
mortgaging future income to satisfy present needs. And irrespective of how
sanguine economists projections were, there would come a time, when the state
of a countries economy would not permit the country to honor its debt
obligations. And if a country like America could default, then surely so could Ghana
.America would get away with a default but Ghana would not escaped unscathed.
The expected Oil income and HIPC (Highly Indebted Poor
Country Initiative) have lulled our politicians into a false sense of security.
It is tempting for them to think that in the future, income from oil could be
leveraged to help settle our debt obligations. But a fact of life is that, as a
countries incomes rises, so does its expenditure and its obligations.
Another bad case of indebtedness, Greece, also teetered
recently on the verge of a default. But it was bailed out to the tune of $110
billion. We in Ghana should never dream of being bailed out by even 10% of that
amount, should it ever come to that. And the restrictions and conditions that
would accompany such a bailout could trigger unthinkable consequences in this
country of ours.
Our Politicians should jettison fancy economic models and
projections and return to good old common sense to reduce or eliminate our
budget and secure the future of our country. In every budget with a deficit,
there are areas of expenditure that can be eliminated. The government of Ghana
is definitely not the most efficient and cost conscious of governments.
Acquisition of Government vehicles and consequent expenditure
on fuel is one area that can be examined and sacrifices made to bring us closer
to a balanced budget. Allowances and expenditure like free phone calls and
travel abroad can also be pruned to help balance our budget.
I could go on and on but what would the point be? It would
be naïve and utopian to think that those in government would sacrifice the
comforts of their existence to ensure the future of their and our children.
We in Breman Asikuma can only live in hope
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