For
a number of years Ghana has been a model country in West Africa. It has managed
to move from chaotic politics and poor economic management in the Eighties to
democracy and growth in the Nineties and thereafter. But recently things
started to move in the wrong direction as the government gave up to
extraordinary demands for salary increases and accumulated a high level of
fiscal deficit. These actions were taken because the party in power thought
they would bring in popular support. They brought economic bankruptcy.
Now,
the situation turned to the worst, with the national currency losing value at a
rapid pace and the state being unable to meet its commitments. The government
had to call the IMF in. This will mean quite a number of public budget cuts. I
do not think the Ghanaian public servants are ready for any type of salary reductions.
We
might therefore see some political instability coming back to a country we
would like to keep calling a model nation.
