Prof. Godfred Bokpin, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, has opined that celebrating independence amid an economic malaise is untenable.
He has tasked government to thus, ensure that measures are put in place to root out corruption, nepotism and low productivity, which are part of the problems that the country faces.
“I think that what is also important is that merely spending on independence means nothing. We need clear timelines and targets to guide our next celebration and more importantly, during the 67th celebration, we should look forward to gaining independence from corruption, nepotism and low productivity,” he told Accra-based Citi FM in an interview, on March 6.
“We must look forward to something worth celebrating. It is not enough to spend millions of Ghana cedis to celebrate every 12 months. There are challenges and so if we can’t gain independence from corruption then it is not worth celebrating anything anymore,” he stressed.
Ghana celebrated its 66th Independence anniversary with a national parade in the Volta Regional capital, Ho.
The event was presided over by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo with the Guinea-Bissau president as special guest of honour.
Government working to attain IMF bailout
Government run to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2022 at a time the economy was in a downward spiral.
The government only recently secured a Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP), which according to experts is a major conditionality of the lender in granting Board approval for a US$3 billion bailout.
The programme was meant to ensure the streamlining of Ghana's unsustainable debt. The government announced an 85% participation rate.
Ghana is hoping to get the first tranche of the bailout by March this year in order to among others rein in inflation and arrest the galloping depreciation of the cedi.
Talks are currently underway with Ghana's external creditors in a bid to restructure loans in order to get IMF Board approval in March 2023.
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Prof. Godfred Bokpin of the University of Ghana and president Akufo-Addo