The irony of life in Ghana, under the Better Ghana agenda, is that of a booming economy that has failed to support the citizenry. The economy is supposed to be among the fastest growing in the world. Inflation has remained in single digit for nearly three years, and the foreign reserve is said to be bulging.
In spite of all these platitudes, the economy is struggling to support life. The cedi is on a free fall, cost of goods and services are hitting the roof, and cholera is on the loose. To add to the irony, the economy is unable to support job creation.
Yesterday, the Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress, Brother Kofi Asamoah, minced no words about the contradictions that undermine the quality of life, at a time the economy is supposed to be booming.
As head of organized labor, Brother Asamoah, wondered why the economy is booming while the people cannot find jobs.
“The reality is that the unprecedented growth rate has failed to create jobs for Ghanaians. Joblessness is on the rise. Nearly all new jobs are being created in the informal economy, where incomes are low, and workers have very little protection from the country’s labour laws,” Brother Asamopah said, cheered on by the large turn-out of labour representatives in Sunyani, with President John Evans Atta Mills and some of his leading members in tow.
Instead of trying to offer solutions to the myriads of problems created by the distortion in the economy, as outlined by the chief scribe of unionism in the country, President Mills went on high gear about how his administration had worked magic by expanding the economy and bringing inflation to single digits.
The Chronicle is of the view that the time has come for this nation to take a very hard look at economic indicators, and stop this idea of creating an economic haven, while the large mass of our people live in abject poverty.
The last time the government talked about creating jobs, the 1.6 million people who were supposed to have climbed out of the unemployment pit were not known to the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare. The employment figures existed only in the mind of Deputy Information Minister of Information Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa.
Quite recently, the compilers of the Green Book of phantom achievements recorded over a million and half jobs created, without detailed information on the beneficiaries.
Like the Secretary-General of the TUC, The Chronicle is urging the authorities to descend from their self delusion, and examine the life of the ordinary Ghanaian in three and a quarter years of preaching the Better Ghana to the high heavens.
There are no two-ways about the healthier nature of the bank balance buoyed by proceeds from the new oil find. But there is no corresponding effect on the standard of living of the ordinary Ghanaian, who still wallows in joblessness.
Even those, who have managed to keep themselves in the few jobs available, are unable to make ends meet. Better Ghana remains a mirage. In the interim, we salute hard working Ghanaian workers.
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