The role of propaganda in the management of Ghana’s economy is nearing an unbearable notch. And for the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to be providing the impetus for this aberration is most unfortunate and appalling.
Indeed, the propaganda project of the ruling party is no longer restricted to serial callers and minders of the subject on the corridors of power but extended to persons whose occupation and professions should have precluded them from the negative task of churning out falsehood to achieve political leverage.
Accountants and economists are among the professions whose words are highly respected: the code of ethics underpinning their work makes it objectionable and even sanctionable for them to join the bandwagon of political propaganda.
Over the years since the economy went into the current hibernation under the current political dispensation, fiscal figures have suffered the manipulations of economists, and even accountants turned propagandists, the authorities of professional bodies to which they belong, watching stupefied.
The Governor of the apex bank has regrettably become a willing hand in the manipulation of these economic figures much to the chagrin of the connoisseurs of the subject.
It has become doubtful now whether the Governor is able to tell the president the truth about the self-inflicted factors which have forced the economy to its knees.
The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is being infected by the attitude of the Governor and we find it objectionable and economically perilous. Just when shall we be given the true picture of the economy and why shouldn’t we query the Governor’s decision to throw economic wisdom to the dogs and damn the consequences?
The triennial reports and prognoses from the MPC have lost the important attribute of consistency perhaps because of the apprehension or even hesitation of releasing the true state of the economy warts and all and incur the wrath of the political masters represented by the Governor of the Bank of Ghana.
The MPC’s December report is yet to be released for our perusal, and it hurts to brood over the inconsistency. The excuse that a certain reconciliation of figures is being undertaken does not sound convincing. We shudder to wonder whether the delay is because the MPC is scared to put out the reality of a 70% debt ratio to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Under the circumstances, we are daring the Governor of the Bank of Ghana to release the true picture of the economy without delay.
Propaganda and fiscal matters are not compatible bedfellows. Very soon the mendacity will be out and those behind its dissemination would be exposed with their tails between their legs like crestfallen mangy curs.
For how long shall we continue to run the economy in this manner and lie unapologetically about our contribution to the mess?
For some time now the fatigued template of a robust economy with prospects of attractive growth presentation has become the order of the reports of the MPC in opposition to the true picture.