The government of Ghana is unduly using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for its poor handling of the economy, the Dean of the School of Business at the University of Cape Coast, Prof John Gartchie Gatsi, has stated on ClassFM’s mid-day news on Monday, 10 May 2021.
Prof Gatsi said although: “it’s a fact that the pandemic has done a lot of havoc to the economy globally” and “has affected our momentum of growth, revenue mobilisation and expenditure”, he thinks “by now, the government should appreciate the fact that Ghanaians don’t believe that the problems that they are talking about, in terms of jobs, in terms of hardships, started with COVID”.
In his view, “COVID came to aggravate the already-existing hardships of Ghanaians”, adding: “We started talking about, or hearing about the erosion of the income of Ghanaians, hardships of Ghanaians, limited access to opportunities long before COVID-19”.
“So, we appreciate the fact that COVID-19 had a toll on the economy but if that will be used as the cause of the hardship of Ghanaians, then appreciating the issues becomes a problem”, Prof Gatsi observed.
He said the “government should just be bold and publish the details of expenditure, monies that have been borrowed for COVID-related purposes” and “you’ll see that that will be around 2.5 to 2.8 percent of GDP”.
Prof Gatsi’s comments come on the back of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta’s rallying call to the #FixTheCountry campaigners to join hands with the government in fixing the economy during a press conference on Sunday, 9 May 2021 at which he laid the chunk of the country’s economic woes on the pandemic.
“In extraordinary times, you should expect exceptional leadership from your government. I truly believe we cannot ensure exceptional leadership without a collective effort”, Mr Ofori-Atta said, adding: “So, I commend the youth for calling on the government and leaders to be at their best. This shows the patriotism of the Ghanaian Youth, echoing the President’s call to be a citizen, not a spectator. You have elected us to solve the problems that face this country. We will continue to work with you and other stakeholders to do just that”.
