A popular mantra of our President, Nana Addo has been Ghana Beyond Aid, supposedly an agenda to get Ghana to a place of freedom from dependence on the West that have since ages past come in the form of freebies.
As a Ghanaian, I will be happy to see my nation totally self-dependent. [ads1]In view of this, I am all for a Ghana that can do without aid. Not necessarily a country that rejects aid, that one isn’t smart but one that can do without it.
However, when my president goes round telling the world that he is targeting a Ghana beyond aid, I want to know when and how.
A vision should have a timeline
It should have an action plan.
Ghana Beyond Aid however has become a slogan, our president says it for applause and we sit back and hope.
We are still largely aid dependent and the only alternative is loans spanning over decades. How on earth can a country be free by being in debt?
Local banks are dying, our one district one factory is likely to be dominated by foreign investors, there’s nothing being done to elevate the Ghanaian entrepreneur.
Is there any country that has been able to navigate from developing to developed without weaning itself off total dependence on loans and without building local entrepreneurs.
2018 has been arguably the worst year for local businesses over the past decade. If you are on the ground, you’d never argue with this. I know and hope that we’d get over it but you see, it is impossible to develop and turn your back to aid without the business community being in the driving seats.
We are still economic policy takers from IMF and World Bank, we still borrow to fund infrastructural projects that do don’t repay by itself.
Our President is out of of the country almost every week in search of money, we are not looking inward to generate funds for our projects, we are not doing much to reduce corruption, we are increasing the size of government on daily basis and pacifying the citizenry with expensive social interventions, though good but difficult to sustain.
How so you grow Ghana beyond aid by doing all the above?
If we want to develop, we have to look at how China, Malaysia and Singapore did it. They didn’t slam the door to aid, they didn’t go round telling the world we want to be rich, we want to be rich.
They focussed on Agricultural, reduced importation of food, invested in local businesses, strengthened their financial sector by encouraging active locals to be active players.
In Ghana, both foreign and local banks are expected to raise the same minimum capital.
What we are going to end up with is a financial sector controlled by foreigners. The result is capital flight.
How to you realistically achieve this Ghana beyond and thing with these?
Add this to the fact that Nana won’t be President forever even if he lives forever, another President will come and come with his own vision.
So whatever Ghana beyond aid is, how are we entrenching it in our governance to make it binding on every government?
It starts with letting it resonate with the people,l by clearly defining it and providing the dos and don’ts and make it a law.
Free SHS is in our constitution, we can do same with this so that everyone has a responsibility to see to its fruition.
Until then, the whiteman will listen and laugh and Bring us aid to Achieve it like the British High Commissioner promised a couple of months ago.
We can also look at ‘loanaid’ too, that’s worse.
They give you loan, you pay with interest and as part of the conditions, you have to execute the project with their constructors.
As part of the Sustainable Development Goals, UN wants to achieve zero hunger globally by 2034.
To achieve this, they are investing huge sums of money to support farmers with particular emphasis on helping small holder farmers produce more and make more profit.
Can we say same about Ghana Beyond Aid?
It’s a great vision but honestly, until we have a target and well defined approach, we will struggle to measure our progress even before a new government comes with the vision: SMART AID TAKERS
What’s your take on GBA?
