The managers of the state continue to give the economy a clean bill of health in spite of the challenges.
There is a spiraling wage bill that the economy absorbs every month arising largely as a result of the implementation of the Single Spine Pay Policy (SSPP).
Perhaps, there is no evidence to back such a claim but the slow progress of the economy in the first half of 2013 can be attributed to the election petition hearing at the Supreme Court.
Some of the investors, apparently unsure of which direction the judges will rule, have decided to adopt the “let’s wait and see” attitude.
No matter the worrying signals that we pick from the investor community about the future stability of the country, the petition hearing has its positive side.
Elections have always been the platform for conflicts on the continent and the records are there to show that in some of our neighbouring countries, the people are building out of the ashes of war because they were unable to handle election disputes within the confines of the law.
At least for us, the parties are in court trying to sort themselves out and our prayer is that the judges will deliver justice without fear or favour, ill-will or affection.
The present state of the economy has affected the conditions of living of the people.
The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has issued a statement on the economy and called on the government to “abandon all the failed economic policies that are based on inflation targeting and management and to show greater transparency and prudence in the management of national resources as a means of rebuilding the confidence in the state and its agencies”.
At the time the TUC issued the statement, the President and his Economic Management Team had met at the state resort at Peduase, near Accra, to deliberate on the economy in order to design the strategies to stimulate the economy to deliver to the needs of the people.
Although the issues from the government retreat not as elaborate as that of the TUC, we believe the government is conscious of the challenges confronting the economy presently and will initiate the actions to build confidence in the people and the investor community.
The Daily Graphic makes a plea to the government to expedite action on plugging the loop-holes through which some public servants siphon state resources for personal use.
The time has come for the government to make corrupt practices in the public service a high risk venture by exacting the severest punishment on those who profit from the sweat and toil of all Ghanaians.
If the government is unable to crack the whip on offenders, more public officials will find the loop-holes to loot the state coffers.
For unexplained reasons, the government is unable to punish those who loot state resources. Anytime certain actions are taken, it only touches the surface which ultimately becomes a festering sore that causes more problems for the economy.
Unless the open thievery of public funds by all manner of people is stopped, be it in the public or private sectors, the government will continue to struggle for funds to run the country.
There must also be a paradigm shift in the management of the economy so that we can rely on our resources to develop the country instead of the over-liberalised regime where we import everything.
The laisser-faire culture is killing our local businesses and helping to support the economies of countries in the Far East, Europe and America. Let us look within for the solutions to our problems.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
