KB Asante: Voice From Afar column
Dear Lord, forgive our foolish ways
A hymn we often sang at Achimota College was a prayer: “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Forgive our Foolish Ways, Reclothe us in our rightful mind”.
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The hymn was taken from a long poem by the American Quaker, John Wittier. Achimota had a strong Quaker influence through masters such as “Akpo” Dickens who founded the Engineering School, and Dr Irvine who classified the plants of the Gold Coast, as well as through the Cadbury family. I believe that Ghana today needs a spiritual re-awakening to resolve the apparently intractable but really simple problems which confront the nation.
Most of us go to church alright and we consult our priest or “medicine man” when in serious trouble. But for that insight into self and strength of character to follow the true path, we need to go to the “Hill House” and be still with the Lord as the Quakers of Achimota did.
What I like about the hymn is that it asks us to realise that we have been foolish. Forgiveness comes from straying from the foolish path and not by the expectation of lollipops from Macedonia.
When you use all the money you have to organise a big funeral for your departed dear one and then cannot pay for the mortgage on the house or the children’s school fees, you are left in a very difficult situation. If you are lucky enough to be able to borrow money, you will do well to have learnt something from your foolish ways and impose some austerity on your living standards while you pay for the mortgage, the school fees and the instalments on the borrowed money.
You may think it clever to go to another bank to borrow to maintain your lifestyle but sooner or later, your foolishness will catch up with you. Incidentally, the banks now consult centrally on borrowers and you may not get a loan from another bank. But we are very clever and we may adopt “smart” methods to get another loan when in debt. But sooner or later as already remarked, the foolishness will catch up with you. The dear Lord and Father of mankind forgives when you acknowledge the foolishness of your ways.
Managing the national economy is similar to running our individual homes. The government uses the money it gets from our taxes and other income to build roads, schools, hospitals and the like and to promote the earning capacity of the nation. If what we earn from our cocoa, gold and other exports are not sufficient to import the inputs for our factories, drugs, vehicles etc., the nation goes into debt. The way out is to curb our imports and increase our exports.
Meanwhile, we may have to borrow to maintain essential supplies and to increase production for local needs and exports. If the borrowed money is not used properly, then we get deeper into debt. The problem we have is not from borrowing but from not using the borrowed money properly to reduce or get out of the national economic distress.
Those who are well-versed in finance may consider what has been discussed so far to be trite and insulting to their intelligence. But sometimes we have to go to the basics. We have to go to first principles. We have to remind ourselves of simple facts. Much knowledge may lead us to the foolish path. The financial crisis from which the world has not fully recovered was not caused by ignorant people but by the most learned in finance.
Here in Ghana, an attempt was made to arrest the fall in the value of the cedi by putting in some measures, some of which made matters worse. We are now trying to modify the measures. We strayed into the foolish way of believing that the dollars would continue to flow in when it was directed that those who sent the dollars in could not take it when they wanted it. We talk a lot about financial and business confidence but a simple problem reveals that we do not fully understand it.
We who know little or no finance should be bold to ask our leaders and experts to change course when they stray into paths we do not fully understand.
The Lord and Father of Mankind forgives us when we abandon our foolish path, but that is not enough. We must labour along the sensible path. And here again we need self-examination and deep thoughts as well as hard work. The hymn, therefore, rightly implores the Dear Lord to “reclothe us in our rightful mind”.
It is hard to admit but we must accept that quite often, we are too lazy to think, let alone reclaim our rightful mind. It is, therefore, right to ask the dear Lord to “Reclothe us in our rightful; mind”. The rightful mind, especially so far as international affairs are concerned, should be robust, unsentimental, and informed.
Having decided that we need IMF support or assistance, we should refresh our minds as to what the IMF is, what it is likely to demand, and what our unique knowledge of the situation suggests. We should not go to the IMF like children of immature minds pleading for help to continue in our foolish ways.
The Senchi Accord gives good guidelines to move from our foolish ways. But to achieve the end results, hard choices are needed. We should know what choices we require and be prepared for some hard times which will lead to a better future. The people will not have it easy for some time and they should therefore be prepared for it.
Eventually their resilience and pride will see them through.
Iceland has risen from an economic meltdown five years ago to show what the resilience of the people and national pride can do. The people were persuaded by British and Dutch banks to save for very high interest rates at Icesave in Iceland. They were told that with Icesave, they would be offered the same level of financial protection as every bank in the UK. The system could not be sustained and the mighty crash occurred.
Iceland went to the IMF. Now one of the conditions of the IMF is that Iceland should pay the losses of the British and Dutch banks which caused the collapse of the economy. But the people, led by their young Prime Minister, have refused to pay the banks. And it appears they will succeed because rightful thinking is on their side.
Agreement with the IMF does not absolve us from putting our backyard in order. We should ask ourselves the necessary difficult questions and take appropriate action.
Did our government ask individuals to source funds for us and why?
How and why did the government incur debts for which there are no adequate records?
Why did the state not go to court to answer the summons for debt?
On what grounds did the government sanction the payment of debt?
Procedures for agreements and loans should also be scrutinised. Were they followed?
And why did government engage in projects for which funds were not available? I know of a bank which has a large portfolio of unpaid loans contracted by companies which did work for government and for which they had not been paid.
I can hear those without rightful minds saying "this contract was given by the NPP government. This work was done when NDC was in office." Such arguments and comments are for those who do not think. We should pray for them to have rightful minds.
We should find out why and how things went wrong and hold those who were responsible for specific wrong acts accountable. That is the only way of chaining corruption and getting rid of indiscipline.
Ghana would be the country we all desire if we foreswear our foolish ways and are “reclothed” in our rightful mind.
