There’s no doubt that Ghana is going through a very turbulent time economically. Government has taken drastic measures due to unsustainable debt levels such as applying for an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

It has also initiated a debt restructuring programme prior to IMF’s approval. The programme will among other things affect people’s investments in government bonds and other financial instruments.

In recent months, citizens have complained about rising cost of fuel and food. A struggling cedi against major international currencies in a largely import-driven economy has made the situation worse.

There have been varied diagnosis of Ghana’s situation, and what the ideal solutions could be in the medium to long-term.

Government has largely blamed the mess on external factors such as the impact of COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukraine war. But critics say reckless borrowing, uncontrolled expenditure and corruption among others, are largely responsible for the mess.

The latest to anal the state of affairs is the Ranking Member on Parliament’s Finance Committee, Cassiel Ato Forson.

The MP for Ajumako-Enyan-Esiam in the Central Region, has listed seven reasons for the economic challenges in a Twitter post.

Here Are The 7 Reasons By Cassiel Ato Forson:

1. The NPP has the largest size of government in the history of Ghana! Find out how many ministers they’ve appointed from 2017. At one point, they had over 125 ministers!
2. This government has over 1,000 presidential staffers paid as article 71 officeholders at the jubilee House!
3. They’ve also appointed so many special assistants to ministers with emoluments close to that of deputy ministers at the various MDAs.

Take also into consideration:

4. The number of spokespersons at various MDA’s paid above the pay of Directors!
5. The number of CEOs at various State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) and their pay packages! Many of these SOEs now employ 3 or 4 deputy CEOs with fat conditions of service!
6. The impact of the Over 50 new agencies with zero output, eg. CODA, NADA, MBDA, free SHS secretariat, 1D1F secretariat, Petroleum Hub Development Authority, Ghana cares Secretariat, etc
7. The unconscionable decision to send over 100 Databank staff to the Finance Ministry as special assistants and paid as customs commissioners on GRA’s payroll!

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