POVERTY NEVER TAKES HOLIDAY IN AFRICA

major problems facing Africa today
A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, often before their fifth birthday.

More than one billion people do not have access to clean water. (global)

Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. (sources: UNICEF, WHO)

More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
(source: World Health Org.)

More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children. (global stats: UNAIDS)

Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations.

More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micro-nutrient deficiency.

world poverty facts and statistics

In sub-Saharan Africa, measles takes the life of a child nearly every minute of every day. An effective measles vaccine costs as little as $1 per child. (source: WHO)

poverty in Africa
AFRICA'S CHILDREN OF WAR
About 120,000 African children are participating in armed conflicts. Some are as young as 7 years old. (source: United Nations)

Children account for half of all civilian casualties in wars in Africa. (source: United Nations)

About 65% (nearly 2/3) of the world's HIV-positive population live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Women most Affected. (source: UNAIDS)

Nearly one third of children in Sub-Saharan Africa are underweight. (source: UNICEF)

Between 12 and 16 million African children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. (source: World Vision)

Nearly 2 million children under 14 years old are HIV positive in sub - Saharan Africa. (source: Avert )

43% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have safe, accessible drinking water. (source: UNICEF)

200,000 child slaves are sold every year in Africa. There are an estimated 8,000 girl-slaves in West Africa alone. (sources: BBC 5 October, 2001 & Anti-Slavery Society)

Only 57% of African children are enrolled in primary education, and one in three of those does not complete school. (African Union: Poverty in Africa statistics)

64% of children in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have adequate sanitation. (source: UNICEF)

For every 100 boys there are only 83 girls enrolled at primary school. (AU: Stats: Poverty in Africa)

POOR GOVERNANCE
"Those who promised to help us are the same people killing us.
Our leaders don't think about us. Our leaders don't care about us.

Africa is poor because our leaders are very poor-minded people.

They come to power with fake promises and once they are up there in the high offices, they forget about the people who put them there.
Not that we don't know how to choose the right leaders.

The problem is that, they are all the same and that is why Africa remains poor.
Africa is poor but we have the resources here. The problem is that we don't have the right leaders to help us.
Most leaders in my country for example have about eight to ten different mansions each with big businesses home and abroad where as the poor people in the villages don't even have access to clean drinking water.

The President and the ministers live in big mansions and send their children abroad to study in higher institutions whereas most children remain in the house because their parents can't even afford to pay for primary education.
They remain at home because their parents can't pay their school fees.

All the ministers and those in the higher positions have swimming pools in their homes.
They waste water whereas the poor people don't even have access to clean drinking water.."
The most painful part is that; the foreign aids that Western countries send to Africa in the name of the poor people in Africa don't reach the poor people who need the aids the most. Western donors like America and the UK send billions of dollars to Africa to help better the living conditions of the poor people in Africa. However, the poor people who deserve the aids the most get nothing at all. Instead those in higher positions spend the money on themselves buying big cars and building mansions while the poor die from extreme poverty and hunger.

I know poverty because poverty was there before I was born and it has become part of life like the blood through my veins. Poverty is not going empty for a single day and getting something to eat the next day. Poverty is going empty with no hope for the future. Poverty is getting nobody to feel your pain and poverty is when your dreams go in vain because nobody is there to help you. Poverty is watching your mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters die in pain and in sorrow just because they couldn't get something to eat. Poverty is hearing your grandmothers and grandfathers cry out to death to come take them because they are tired of this world. Poverty is watching your own children and grandchildren die in your arms but there is nothing you can do. Poverty is watching your children and grandchildren share tears in their deepest sleep. Poverty is suffering from HIV/AIDS and dying a shameful death but nobody seems to care". Poor Grandmother " Poverty is when you hide your face and wish nobody could see you just because you feel less than a human being. Poverty is when you dream of bread and fish you never see in the day light. Poverty is when people accuse you and prosecute you for no fault of yours but who is there to say some for you? Poverty is when the hopes of your fathers and grandfathers just vanish within a blink of an eye. I know poverty and I know poverty just like I know my father's name. Poverty never sleeps. Poverty works all day and night. Poverty never takes a holiday

Life was simple and beautiful in the villages of Africa. Children, Grandparents, Parents, Uncles and Aunts all lived together peacefully in extended family systems. While mothers and fathers are in the farm working, Grandparents remain at home taking care of their grandchildren. While the children play in the sand, grandparents mostly sit quietly under trees nearby sometimes with friends and watch their grandchildren play. While fathers clear thick bushes making way for new farms, mothers mostly gather foodstuffs to be brought home. Such was life in African villages. However, war, diseases, extreme poverty and famine have brought to Africa an entirely new concept. Most children are left alone in this cruel world with no parents, no grandparents, no siblings, and no blood relatives at all to take care of them . Most children have lost their parents to the deadly HIV/AIDS. Others have lost their parents to war and their grandparents, to extreme poverty.

Children have lost their parents. Parents have lost their children and the poor grandparents have lost their sons and daughters to war, poverty and to the deadly HIV/AIDS. Grandparents love and protect their grandchildren but grandparents do not have the strength to clear thick bushes and make new farms so with the parents gone (dead), the grandparents with their grandchildren are left with nothing but extreme poverty and hunger.
The number of orphans and street children continue to rise in Africa. orphans
In addition to war, HIV and famine, malaria continues to kill children in record numbers especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile a mosquito net costs less than $1. The problem is worse in the villages and small towns where there are no hospitals nor clinics to help the sick. Malaria death toll rises extremely high especially in the rainy season which is the breeding period for mosquitoes.

The faces of Poverty
POVERTY IN AFRICA: FACTS - HUNGER AND HIV/AIDS IN AFRICA
"As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children. Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children. To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease." Cozay: child poverty in Africa
"As a consequence of the AIDS epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa," one report stated, "it is estimated that more than 18 million people have died to date, of which over 3 million were children. Additionally, more than 25 million adults are currently infected which will result in the continued increase in the number of orphaned children. To date, more than 15 million children have already been orphaned as a result of the epidemic. Another 1 million children are currently infected with the disease."

RURAL POVERTY IN AFRICA: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IN AFRICA
The poor in Africa depend mostly on their subsistence farms for survival but fertile lands for farming are very scarce these days due to overpopulation, etc.
The face of a poor child The majority (about three-fourth) of the poor population in Western and Central Africa (about 100million people) are poor subsistence farmers who live in villages and farm just to feed themselves and their families. They depend mostly on agriculture for their livelihoods. However, about one in every five of these people live in a country affected by warfare. War destroys families and farms leaving most people with nothing at all but extreme poverty and starvation. Famine follows wars in most cases in Africa. poverty in Africa facts
In conflict-torn countries such as Angola, Burundi, Mozambique, Liberia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo, Sierra Leon, and Uganda, the capacity of rural people to make a livelihood has been dramatically curtailed by warfare, and per capita food production has plummeted.

Lack of good drinking water is a major problem in almost all African villages especially in desert countries like Niger, Sudan and Mali. Water is very scarce
and lack of good drinking water is a major problem in Ethiopia and surrounding countries where most people and farm animals share same water sources. Children walk miles upon miles everyday to nearby streams to fetch water.
Although there are many rivers and streams in the Western, Central, and Southern parts of Africa, good drinking water is a major problem in these areas. Most of the water sources in these areas are infested with water related diseases such as bilharzia, sleeping sickness, river blindness, guinea worm disease ( guinea worm disease is a major problem in Northern Ghana. 2010) and malaria. Besides these, diseases such cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery and pneumonia continue to kill children in record numbers. One or two boreholes can provide good drinking water for an entire village but not so many of these poor villages can afford boreholes and they are left with no choice.
diseases in Africa

Poverty never takes a holiday. Help now! Help and let's fight poverty in Africa.

"Africa was poor, Africa is poor and Africa will continue to be poor if we the Africans are not ready to change Africa. Africa will remain poor if Africans are not ready to make Africa rich. There is poverty in Africa and there is hunger everywhere on the continent of Africa. HIV/AIDs continues to kill Africans in record numbers. Africa is poor and there is no doubt Africa is poor. The question is not why Africa is poor but may be how we can make Africa rich. What we can do as individuals or groups to help change Africa.
There is poverty in Africa but Africa has almost all it takes to be the richest continent on earth. The major problem facing Africa today is corruption and poor leadership. There are greedy people in Africa including our leaders who don't care about their poor mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters.
Some people are too greedy and that is why Africa remains poor. People are killing their own brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers just to make money. People didn't care about yesterday and people don't even care about tomorrow. All they care about is money and money and that is why Africa remains poor.
All African leaders I know are corrupt in one way or the other. They come as saints and leave as devils.. An African president of a country is a president for a few selected people. An African president is a president for only the educated and a president for only those in the higher class. An African president sees no poverty. An African president sees no hunger. An African president sees no HIV. An African president knows no orphan.
An African president shows no mercy. An African presidents sees only money and money and nothing but money.. Not just the African president but the African prime minister, the African governor, the African Doctor, the African Judge, the African lawyer, the African King, and even the African Pastor. And that is why Africa is still poor and that is why Africa continues to wallow in poverty..."

Thousands of children died in Angola during the period of war and Tens of thousands of children died in Uganda. Thousands of children died in Nigeria during the period of war and Tens of thousands of children died in Liberia. Thousands of children died in Zimbabwe and tens of thousands of children are dying in Darfur.Thousands of children died in Mozambique and tens of thousands of children died in Sierra Leon. Thousands of children died in Burundi during the period of war and tens of thousands of children died in Congo
Children are dying in India. children are dying in Pakistan. Children are dying in Israel. Children are dying in Palestine, and tens of thousands of children are dying in Iraq.
War kills children. Say NO to War!

HOPE IN AFRICA
It is very sad to read some of these stories and it is also true we face some of these problems but I also want the world to know that there is hope in Africa. Africa is not just a dark continent. There is also light in Africa. It is true we face several problems but we are not alone. Almost every country in this world faces some problems in one way or the other but there is still hope.
Our problems may be bigger than other countries but that doesn't mean there is no life in Africa. Even in America the richest country on earth, some people sleep on streets because they have no place to call their home. So Africans are not the only ones facing problems.

Who thought Haiti was that poor? but now we all know Haitians face even worse problems than Africans back home but let us not forget that Haiti is on the continent of America. In fact Haiti is very close to America the richest country on earth yet people go to bed hungry in Haiti with nothing at all to eat which is very sad.

So you see, Africans are not the only people facing problems in this world. Some face even worse problems than Africans. I have heard some Indians face even worse problems than Africans. So we are not alone. Several people in this world need help not just Africans.

Some people think Africans still hunt and gather food in the jungle which is not true. There are so many educated people in Africa. We have computers and computer literates here in Africa. We have good roads, good schools, etc in some places but our problem is that, they are not enough. In my country for example, we are poor but we have enough to eat. The problem is that there are some in Africa who have nothing at all to eat just like in every other country except that the number is very high in Africa.

It is getting too long but what I want the world to know is that, Africa is not just a poor, wretched continent with no hope as some western media portray us. There is life in Africa and by life I mean life. Some of us here in Africa even live better lives than people in the so-called advanced countries but once again, there are people here in Africa who need help especially in the war-torn countries.

There is real life here in Africa but we also face so many problems so the western media should also focus more on the good side of Africa and ways to help the continent instead of just the negative images. Thank you.

Africa means "Beauty" and Africa means "Love". Africa is nature and Africa is life. Africa is "culture' and Africa is "tradition". Africa is blessed with beautiful culture and traditions across the continent.
There are birth rites and there are puberty rites. There are initiation rites and there are marriage rights.
There are chieftaincy rites and there are kinship rites.There are rituals and there are death rites. There are festivals and there are burial rites.

Africa is a blessed continent in terms of culture and traditions.
There is no other continent like Africa in terms of beauty and love. However, not every part of the African culture is good and not all the African traditions are great.
Most part of the African culture benefits and most aspect of the African tradition is nothing but beauty.
Time is going and the world is changing and hence man must change with time.Time is changing and the world is moving around and hence traditions must be modified with time.
Most African traditions have gone through great changes to benefit man but few remain unchanged through the ages.

Go to some villages in Africa and you will notice some of the harmful effects of bad African traditions.
Go to a village in Africa and you will see teenage mothers everywhere. Ask a teenage girl and she will tell you what she went through.

It is a taboo in certain African villages for a girl child to refuse a man, sex. It is a taboo for young girls in certain parts of Africa to make their own choices when it comes to marriage.

Some are being raped in the name of tradition. Some are being molested in the name of culture. Some are being buried for no fault of theirs. Africa will forever remain poor if Africa is not ready to change with time.

Traditions were made for man not man for tradition and traditions were made to benefit man and not to harm man. It is time to move forward and it is time Africa throws away all these barbaric traditions and begin to think right.

SO WILL AFRICA CONTINUE TO REMAIN IMPOVERISHED?
you just take a clear look at some of these pictures

Africa is the most materially impoverished continent on earth. Her people are among the destitute. A child born to African parents on African soil has a greater likelihood of dying before his or her fifth birthday than a child elsewhere in the world. African children are less well-nourished, poorer, and less literate and have a greater possibility of contracting AIDS than children elsewhere in the world.
So the question is; what is happening to Africa? What has made Africa impoverished the more? Or is Africa really cursed?

LETS ALL HELP AND MAKE AFRICAN ENJOY THE BEST MOMENTS OF LIFE.

Historical background of the Economy of Ghana
The Economy of Ghana, the Historical Perspective
In 2010, there was the rebasing of Ghana’s national income. That is Ghana was undervaluing the assets and income of the country and overnight we moved from 700 per capita income to 1300 and thus became a middle income country. However, despite the rise, Ghana still has the characteristics of a low income and underdeveloped economy
General characteristics of low income and developing countries
- Low income per head (less than 1000 per head)
- High population growth rate (approx. 3%) Ghana’s is about 2.7%, often times the youth population is high. In some countries 45% of the country’s population is under the age of 15. In developed countries they have a large percentage of middle aged people.
- A large population of the country is Illiterate or under skilled. Even among the literate numerous people are not functionally-literate
- As a result developing countries have a low level of productivity. Ghana has one of the lowest productivity per head of any country in the world.
- The position of their GDP is dominated by primary productions, i.e. unprocessed products such as cocoa, bauxite and other raw materials. We tend to be “hewers of stone and drawers of water” and allow foreign countries to add value to the goods and often sell it back to us
- Low level of technology usage
- Usually have a very small manufacturing sector. The rebasing has brought Ghana’s level of manufacturing to less than 10%
- Financial intermediation (sector) tends to be rather small. Approximately less than 1 million Ghanaians have bank accounts. (1/25)%
- Level of integration into the world’s economy is very high. We are highly dependent of foreign goods, and aid. Not only for imports and exports and capital investments but on economic policy adoption. This is usually on an un-equal basis to the disadvantage of Ghana.
- In recent years most developing countries have a high debt to GDP ratio. For example Ghana had to declare HIPC status.
- Migration of skilled labor to find “greener pastures” elsewhere. This is also known as “Brain Drain”
- A characteristic of developing countries is that in Rostows preconditions for takeoff they tend to be low, that is low level of economic infrastructure development (railways, transportation, water, energy, communication)
- Finally all social welfare indicators tend to be low. For example, life expectancy is low, high ratio of infant mortality, low doctor to patient ratio, literacy is also low in developing countries.
Human Development Index. Ghana is consistently in the low HDI countries. We rank 130 of 169 of member countries. http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/
The less developed a country is the higher the impact geography of the nation has on the country’s economy. When you are poor and less educated, you tend to rely on the land more.
The history of Ghana that we are looking at is up to 1951 when Ghana became self-governing.
Geography
If you want to discern how dependent Ghana is on geography, think of Ghana without the Volta river, cocoa, gold, imagine Ghana without having access to the sea and recently imagine if Ghana had never found oil.
The size of Ghana is also important; the population density is dependent on land mass. The size of Ghana is approximately 238,540 square meters. So with approximately 25 million people in the country we can find our population density.
Ghana is a tropical country. Ghana is also the center of the world, latitude and longitude 0 pass through Ghana’s land mass and territorial waters. As a tropical country, you can pursue agricultural ventures all year round.
On the negative side our geography helps to breed mosquitoes which contribute majorly to our medical bills.
The geography of Ghana defines the vegetation. Which is a major contributor to our agricultural output.
As a country develops, the impact of geography lessens. Infrastructural and technological advancements help to overcome limitations set by a country’s geography.
Major historic events
There are well defined historical epochs in Ghana’s economic history
- The pre-European economic history. This was preceded by the Ghana, Mali and Sonja empires. The significance of those times is that the Ghanaian economy had its first contact with the Europeans was through the trans-Sahara trade route which started the trade of gold and textiles. During that time there was the beginning of iron extraction in the region (beginning of industry). There was tradition gold mining (shallow and surface mining), there was salt extraction and primitive agriculture.
- The period of the first real physical contact with Europe (approximately 1480) to the slave trade began towards the end of the 15th century. They were initially attracted by the prospect of gold. The trade was extended southwards. Main economic transactions was ivory, gold and pepper
- Period of the slave trade from the 15th century to the 1800’s. This sparked a lot of violence between indigenous people in Ghana, between separate European states and between Ghanaians and the Europeans. The slave trade was driven by the need of manpower. It is estimated that from the whole of Africa 20 million people were exported. This basically arrested all other aspects of the local economy and soon slave trade replaced gold as Ghana’s major export. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_trade
- Normal colonial period from 1870-1951. The abolition of the slave trade allowed the commodity trade to begin, there were three commodities that were prominent, palm oil/kernel, rubber, cocoa. In 1881 approximately 73% of Ghana’s export was palm kernel. This collapsed utterly during the world war since the palm kernel export was directed mainly at Germany who stopped purchasing it during the war. Rubber replaced it as the major export; it grew quickly and was well suited to the tropics. At one point Ghana was the 3rd largest producer of rubber. In 1876 cocoa was introduced to the Ghanaian economy. The missionaries took it to Switzerland where chocolate was formed from it and cocoa rose in prominence in the Ghanaian economy. A lot of this took place under the governance of Sir. Gordon Guggisberg. He propelled the trade in Ghana by building the western train route which opened the way for timber and farm produce to be transported across the country. The Ashanti kingdom was added to Ghana’s economy after the Yaa Asantewaa wars around 1901 and later the northern regions were added as a protectorate. Also the Volta region was added to Ghana close to the official independence of Ghana. The Ghanaian economy at that time was largely commodity based. By 1951 the economy of Ghana as we know today had largely been shaped and we had inherited what is called today as the “colonial” economy.
- The post-independence era.
Culture
Ghana, its People and Inherited Culture
Culture is such an important economic variable.
Max Webers “the protestant ethics and the capitalist progression”
What is culture? Culture is not bare chested women dancing on the street. It is;
- Peoples belief system
- Their values
- Their norms
Culture has many economic variables in the Ghanaian context.
- Attitude to hierarchy: we have a “long hierarchical distance” there is a large distance between leaders and followers. We tend to put our leaders on a pedestal, this leads to the inability of the general public to hold their leaders accountable.
- Ascription vs. achievement. The value of “titles” in Ghana is due to our cultural setting. It does not have any direct usage. Therefore authority is ascribed. In other more developed countries position is achieved and not ascribed (given to).
- The path of progression. In primitive cultures it is by “who you know” or “connections” that allow people to achieve certain positions. In the cultural settings people who are related to royalty are given prominent positions in the society. This is still evident today. In more developed countries, advancement (progression) is determined by your productivity.
- African traditional religion.
Main elements of Ghanaian culture that affects our development
- Our dependency syndrome. Because of the colonial and extended family systems it is a common belief that you “need” someone else to succeed. This often times lead to corruption.
- Attitude towards our employers and the government. Traditionally, stealing from the government makes you a hero since the original government was the colonialists. This culture has continued today.
- The slave mentality. When a slave was released they lived very “visibly” to show that they now have the same “freedom” as their former masters. This is still evident today where oftentimes when Ghanaians gain a certain status they tend to “show off” their new found wealth. The result is that we do not save but have a high consumption level.
- An unscientific world view. We do not strive to find out the “why” of situations.
- Short term thinking
- Toleration of high level of bad governance
- Education is seen only as a means to an end: to make money, and not to gain skill and build your capacity

Governance and Politics

It is the responsibility of the political leadership a country to take note of the opportunities that the country’s background present, the challenges to their progress and to craft a long term strategy to deal with them and transform the economy. It is on that basis that post independent leaders are to be judged.


Economy of Ghana
Class notes: Lecture 2
26/01/11
Sir Gordon Guggisbergs saw that a country needed a strategic long term framework for development. He then launched a 10 years development plan which was called “The Gold Coast Development Programme”, to cover the period of the 1920s-1930s.
The plan was divided into 6 year and 4 year blocks. During that time a lot of the current infrastructure today was planned then. He emphasized the construction of railways (actually created over 300 km of rail), construction of major roads in Ghana (over 300 roads were prepared under him). He expanded the electric grid. He emphasized education, e.g. Prince of Wales College (now known as Achimota School). Many of the hospitals, including Korle-Bu teaching hospital were started by him. At that time he had a 24 million pound budget, but in effect all the things he did fell within 9 million pounds, as he was withdrawn before the completion of his 10 year plan. He was withdrawn by the British for “over-civilizing” the black man; my own submission is that they were so angry with him developing Ghana that when he died he was buried in an unmarked grave.
During this time there was a lot of economic trouble in Europe. At that time Hitler rose to power in Germany off the back of great depression occurred at that time. He was a sergeant during the First World War and was disgruntled at the defeat of Germany; he pushed for the genetic supremacy of the Aryan race (Blond haired blue eyed Caucasians). He was the instigator of World War II
The British had to recruit many soldiers from their colonies to join in the war. After the Second World War the British had agreed with the Indians that if they supported them, they would be granted independence from Pakistan. This happened after the war. This gave colonial countries the first feeling of independence. Also after the war, the African soldiers who had fought sided by side with their British counterparts returned to Ghana. Now there was a battle hardened and trained military force, indigenous to the country that could be used for independence-minded instigation.
The main issue was that now the time was ripe for countries to grab for independence. Nkrumah created the CPP and spurred the quest for independence.
Nkrumah broke away from the UGCC, according to my own premise, is that he wanted to become the first prime minister. His own reasons were that he wanted to accelerate the quest for independence.
All these things did not change the fundamental concepts of the Guggisberg economy. Those things by his effort were expanded but not structurally changed. We therefore became an economy of “hewers of stone and drawers of water”, where we export our natural resources and purchase processed good from foreign countries.
From 1910 to 1960, structurally the economy stayed the same but with rapid growth of approximately 6%. At that time the GDP per head was calculated by Birmingham, ------std and Omabo and income per head was growing approximately 3.6% per anum. By 1970 that grown rate fell to an average of 2.8 and that of per-capita income fell to 3.5%. Therefore the real growth rate, due to population growth, for Ghanaians was 0.4%. Interestingly between 1970 and 1980 total GDP per capita per head grew at approximately 0.4% per anum and if population is taken into account the real growth rate was -2.2%. Therefore in real terms every year Ghanaians were getting poorer. 1980-1983 those 3 years under Rawlings we saw a decline in the total GDP of – 5.2% and real GDP per capita reduced by -7-7%
In 1951 Kwame Nkrumah was elected, cpp was voted in with an overwhelming majority.
1951-1960 – Ghana’s Golden Age
This was the first period of internal self-government and independence. These were the golden days of Ghana, and Ghana’s economy boomed with an average of 6% growth rate. I call it the period of liberal economic regime. At that time Ghana was part of the Sterling Zone. Our foreign exchange reserve was over 400,000.00 pounds with a population of just over 4 million. There was rapid economic expansion of Ghana’s infrastructure and economic progress.
By 1961 we stared to get impatient.
1961 – feb-1996
Nkrumah continued his expansion plane
1961-1995 the years of Contoll. First of all ihte
Large budget deficit
Lack of foreign exchange
Estate controls and … department, this was the first avenue for corruption in Ghana
The second source of corruption in Nkrumah’s days was political corruption,, more money was needed in the party (CPP) to fund it
The suppression of aggregate demand
Officially the import controls were to be rational with preference given to …. The setting up of new industries, trade diversification and trade from the east
There was a negative impact on the Ghanaian economy.
- Growing budget deficit
- Economic growth rate which was very high in the 50’s started reducing
- High rate of inflation (in one year almost 100% was reached)
- The unit cost of production in the modern sector increased.
- During that period, internal debt increased 500% (5 times)
- Internal debt increased 3000% (30 times) during that 10 year period
- Commercial and industrial mismanagement
- Out of 32 state enterprises only 2 were making progress.
- Administrative corruption
- High rate of inflation
The industrialization process almost died out. Then there was another deadly ……
Nkrumah overtaxed the cocoa farmer for two industries, to gain more money and the “…. The cocoa farming industry essentially died out…..
The good side
- <>
- The establishment of the Volta River Authority and the construction of the Akosombo dam that came online in 1963
- J.H. Mensah and Nkrumah came up with the 7 year development plan for accelerated development of Ghana. The only problem was that not only did it not see the light but …
Subjective assessment
- I think that Nkrumah overthrew himself … this I because by 1966 Nkrumah had totally lost favor with 85% of Ghanaians and was holding onto power by oppression and fear. At that time Ghana was looking for the opportunity to overthrow him. When he was ousted, the whole Ghana was literally celebrating in the streets. For 2 weeks the whole of Ghana came to a standstill and the soldiers had to beg the people to go back to work.
1966-1971 (technically Feb 1972)
Note: economic periods are separated from political periods. This is because often times when the government changed hands they maintained the same economic policies.
That was largely a period of stabilization. (Nkrumah had overheated the economy, so it was not time to fix the problems associated with it). The situation was such that the controls had to be maintained in order to reduce public expenditure. Our short term external debts had to be renegotiated to reduce payment pressures. The currency had become over-valued during Nkrumah period. In 1967 we had our first major devaluation of our currency. With the devaluation, the liberalization of the economy was started, and the import license system was disbanded. That period saw a significant drop in inflation. It was also a period of emphasis on private sector development/growth.
In 1969, when the new government came, the demand for imports started going up and in 70-71 the liberalization system collapsed. This is because the economy could not support the rapid growth. And to curtail the rapid demand (without imposing import licenses) the currency needs to be devalued. Busia planned 50% devaluation of the Cedi. Unfortunately they stuck to the liberalization and even under the poor advice of the World Bank and IMF they also reduced the import duties of consumer goods. At that point the political leaders were forced to re-introduce the import controls (ideologically impossible), to go to their donors and request for debt relief, which they did but got little relief. They then had to devalue the currency, which they did by 78%. The devaluation caused such a shock to the public that the military intervened in 1972. This ushered Ghana into a new period.
1972-1983 (it was a period of unmitigated disaster)
One author (Rado) describe that period as “acceleration towards the abyss” another author called it the economic “nightmare days of Ghana”.
At that time the military was coming in with the decision to stay. They had a very good minister of agriculture, along with Busia’s agricultural plan, with operation “Feed yourself” and there was rapid growth in that sector. But the military did not have the capacity to rule Ghana. This is likely because the method of order in the military is contrary to methods used for civil control. They reintroduced import controls and licensing.
In 1973 there was the first oil price hike by OPEC, and it caught the military government off guard. In Ghana the price was increased by approximately 300% and from that time the economy plummeted downhill. The real GDP of Ghana fell by approximately 40%. This equates to a consistent worsening of the Ghanaian civil populations position. When there was the big devaluation they revalued the cedi by 2/3’s.
Rawlings came and finished it in 1981. The policy at that time was “crazy”, 80% nationalization of almost all industries (even to the point of saying if you have 2 toilets in your house it means you have “chopped” money). The economy at that time, which was already in a downward spiral, became even worse. In 1983 there was complete disaster. There was a week of bush fires from Accra to Paga and most of Ghana’s agricultural prowess was destroyed. It was a boiling point for Ghana and the military government went to “beg” the IMF and World Bank for assistance.
As a condition for support the World Bank and IMF decided that foreign NGO’s had to personally supply food to the country, not through the government. This essentially stopped the corruption and violence that was rampant in the country at the time. This ushered in a period of economic restructuring. It started with stabilization and then the introduction of World Bank and IMF programmes and after that period we experienced a growth rate of 4-5%. It included reducing the size of civil service, liberalization of the economy ….
1983 - 2011
- It has been a continuation of the liberal theme of the 80’s
- Especially the liberalization of the foreign exchange
- Governance has improved significantly
- Creating room for private sector development
- The introduction of the stock market and the mutual funds
- A massive growth of the financial sector
- The introduction of ICT to the country’s infrastructure
- Continuous reduction in inflation
- There has been a real growth in per capita income
- It has been a period that has improved … especially with the discovery of oil
In a nutshell growth has accelerated. We are currently averaging between 5-6% growth rates.

Structure of the economy of Ghana
- Principally focused on agriculture
- Although minerals are also exported to some degree
- The new oil finds and exports will alter the structure of Ghana’s economy
Agriculture forms 5% of Ghana’s formal work force.
Timber, coconut, cashew, shear nuts
Plantain cassava, millet
The industrial base has not done badly in comparison to other African nations. Unfortunately the industrial base has not been really built upon since Nkrumah’s time. Some of these include the beverage industry.
The structure of the economy as at now is divided into numerous sectors.
Agricultural Sector
Agricultural dominates all of the sectors in Ghana’s economy. The sub-sectors under agriculture include
- Livestock
- Crop
- Forestry and logging
- Fishing
- Cocoa production and marketing (counted as separate due to its singular magnitude)

The Industrial Sector
Manufacturing
- Production of Agricultural inputs (processing of agricultural products)
Mining and Quarrying
Construction
- Another dominating sub-sector as well as acting as a large employment base
- Housing and road construction come under this sub sector
Water
Educational Sector
Health Sector
Tourism Sector
Energy Sector
- Electricity
- Oil & Gas: the recent discovery and production of oil and gas has boosted this sector.
The Financial sector
- The banking system which is governed by the central bank
- Securities and Exchange commission that look at the capital and money markets
- The insurance commission which supervises the insurance companies

The government plays a large role in the economy of Ghana. It can be considered as a sector or a sub sector
Service sectors should not be left out. Even though tourism is one, we have wholesale/retail sectors are among
Economic Trends
We are looking at many economic indicators from independence till today. One strong indicator over the years is the GDP. What is GDP? GDP is the gross domestic product; it is essentially the market value of all goods and services over a time period (usually a year).
GDP is calculated from the national income accounting. We also have national income determination. We are measuring the national income of the economy. There are three methods of measuring
- Income approach: it measures the incomes received from the factors of production. These are wages and salaries
- Output approach: a term for the goods and services produced in an economy in a given year
- Expenditure approach: aggregates…. Investment expenditures and government expenditures, as well as net exports
If you use any of these three approaches you should get a similar result
GDP falls under the income approach
The net national product
Net National Product (NNP) = Gross National Product (GNP) – Depreciation
Net factor income from abroad is the difference between goods and services produced by Ghanaians living abroad or foreigners living in Ghana
Uses of the Net National Indicator
- It is used as a measure of standard of living of people within a nation
- Used as a comparison between countries
- A trend analysis can be used as a performance indicators
Problems when calculating Economic Indices
Double counting: possibilities are that if you are looking at the output approach there is the likelihood that you can count a certain good twice. Some products are used as inputs for other products. Eg if cotton is used in the production of a shirt, cotton becomes an input in the shirt manufacturing process. These things must be taken into consideration when doing economic calculations
Problem with statistical data; Most figures that come with some manner of suspicion since data gathering techniques are not too good and data gathering institutions lack qualified personnel.
The underground economy; Black marketing, illegal activities as well as the informal sector are difficult to capture effectively. Thus the information that would be used to compute these national statistics is not captured and therefore is not included in calculations.
GDP
GDP growth rate since independence has fluctuated greatly. E.g. In 1990’s the average growth rate was 4.2%.
Between 2000-2005 we have had an average growth rate of 5%. Historically before the economic recovery programme we have had negative GDP growths due to military coupe’s and other political instabilities.
It is possible with the recent oil finds as well as emerging industries our GDP growth rate
Inflation
Ghana had large inflation rates which have always been in the positive (i.e. rising). It has not been steady and has been subject to fluctuations.
1977 116%
1982 117.1%
1985 10%
1986 24%
1992-3 27%
1995 74%
2000 40.5%
2001 21%
2002 15%
2004 11.8%
2006 10.5%
2007 10.7%
2008 16.5%
2010 9%
GDP and Inflation
The link between GDP and general price levels does not exist. When GDP increases, it does not mean necessarily that prices will go up.
Population information is usually gathered from censuses. The one that is the most accurate was the 1960 census then our population was 6,727,000 and then 1970 which put the population at 8,559,000. The rate of change between the two was 2.4%.
In 1984 the population was 12,206,000.
Unemployment
The exchange rate
The current exchange rate is approximately 1.5 Cedi to the Dollar.
Depreciation
The main cause of depreciation is demand and supply. When more dollars are required, the exchange rate goes up, if the demand for the Cedi goes up its strength will also increase. External loans may come with the requirement to reduce the strength of the nations currency. The general trend is that the cedi depreciates over time.
The cedi in 1985 the cedi depreciated by 15%
1990 12%
1995 27%
1999 33%
The central bank can stabilize the exchange rate by pumping foreign currency into the system. This can only be done when the country has a large reserve. Foreign inflows are beneficial but if they are less than the country’s exports there will be an overall negative effect.
Devaluation

Imports and Exports
Resources are required for any form of development. The source of these resources is from what we produce. After production, if there is surplus of goods that cannot be used within the country, we export to foreign countries and receive foreign currency.
What we need but do not produce would be bought from other countries or imported.

National Competitiveness and Oil

Introduction

As first years we will not go into details on these subjects but it is important to appreciate that
- Ghana has one of the lowest levels of productivity in the world and in the bottom third off nations in Africa. This is a fact that most Ghanaians are not aware of
- There are several reasons for that which we will look at including in particular low application of modern technology
- As such we are not competitive among the community of nations ranking low on national competitiveness index. In other words Ghana is generally not able to produce quality goods and services at costs that make it possible to sell them on the international market, except where we have resource advantages which is geographically specific – cocoa, minerals, timber (no longer a player in the world) and now oil. All of which we add no value to in the main locally.
- It is one of the reasons why the oil find may not help us much unless specific measures are taken. In fact it could end up making us worse by diverting attention away from sectors that impact most Ghanaians.

We shall look briefly at each of these starting from how Ghana fares in competitiveness among the nations of the world. We start there because the studies to arrive at national competitiveness index do three things for us;
1) It gives us a summary of 12 factors that go into measuring a nations competitiveness
2) Where Ghana stands viz-a-viz the nations of the world and in Africa
3) The reasons why we score low

We will look into the main reason is that Ghana is a low productivity economy and we will look into the factors that together make the Ghanaian worker less productive than the average worker in even afric, one of which is low application of technology.

We will conclude with the difference what the oil find will make positively in terms of accelerating growth, boosting foreign exchange earnings and reserves and our ability to import vital goods, the opportunity to develop our social and economic infrastructure and non-oil sectors. In relation to the current economy the oil find is most significant (statistics to be supplied later).

However the oil has not proven very beneficial to many African countries; Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Angola being examples. In fact the impact has been such that many talk about the “oil curse”. We will look at the factors to that end including;
- The “Dutch Disease” whereby large inflows of foreign exchange and resulting appreciation of the weak currency hurts other traditional sectors, raise the cost of doing business and not only constraining but killing local manufacturing and internationally tradable industries partly as a result of resources (labor, capital etc.) being diverted to serve the oil sector.
- The likelihood of it disturbing fiscal discipline, causing inflation and leading to mismanagement of the resources
- Fueling corruption
- In worse cases resulting in conflict, a first sign being chiefs in the Western Region asking for legislation to earmark 10% for them as if Ghana is a federal state.
The oil gives us our best chance but in its management we need to be careful

National Competitiveness

Since 2005, the world economic forum has been measuring the competitiveness of economies based on a comprehensive analysis on the Global Competitive Index (GCI). Competitiveness is defined in terms of “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of productivity of a country”.
The use of 12 sets of indicators called the pillars of competitiveness evaluates the countries. Each pillar itself if a composite of several other indicators (see appendix 1).

The 12 pillars are clustered into 4-6-2 as:
- 4 basic factors for an economy to be productive
- 6 factors which enhance the efficiency
- 2 factors that promote innovation (see appendix 2)

What the competitiveness index shows are;
- Factors that define how productive an economy is
- The index itself compares the countries to others (appendix 3)
- The score on technological readiness (one of the efficiency enhancers) and business innovation point to the level of application of technologies in the economy
Let us see how Ghana fares on the productivity and technology applications
Appendix 3 tells us where Ghana stands: in 2010 Ghana ranked 114 among 139 countries studied. Note that only 16 countries in sub-Saharan Africa came below us. Not the positions:
- South Africa 54
- Mauritius 55
- Namibia 74
- Botswana 76
- Rwanda 80*

Our index was 3.56 compared to Switzerland’s 5.63 and Singapore’s 5.48.
Interestingly we ranked a bit better on efficiency enhancers (96) and even innovation (100) but performed woefully on basic requirements of institutions (Judiciary, CEPS, Police, etc.), infrastructure (electricity, water), macroeconomic environment (inflation, deficit, interest rate, etc.), and health and primary education where we rank 122 compared to our overall 114 rank (see page 2 of appendix 3)

The report has this to say about Ghana:
Ghana is ranked 114th this year, the same as last year although gaining four positions in a constant sample. Ghana continues to display strong public institutions and governance indicators with relatively high government efficiency, particularly by regional standards.
Some aspects of the country’s infrastructure are also good by regional standards, particularly ports (ranked 59th”. Financial markets are also relatively well developed (ranked 60th). On the other hand (and these explain our low productivity and lack of competitiveness);
- Education level continue to lag behind international standards at all levels
- Labor markets continue to be characterized by inefficiencies (i.e. job markets are not good, no transparent wage systems, poor industrial relations etc.)
- The country is not harnessing new technologies for productivity enhancements (ICT adoption rates are very low)
- Finally the country is characterized by macroeconomic instability (inflation can rise by heart, interest rates are too high, the cedi can fall, etc.)
- With the government running high fiscal deficits (i.e. they spend more than they collect in revenues)
- And building up significant debt and
- With high interest rates spreads pointing to inefficiencies in the financial system

Causes of Unproductivity in Ghana:
- Weaker institutions
- Poor infrastructure and utilities
- Bad management of the economy
- Poor health system
- Inefficient primary education producing illiterates beyond the few specially prepared to go to secondary school
- Poor quality of high level education and training
- Goods market inefficiencies (such as lack of information)
- Labor market challenges
- Banks and the financial sector not developed and inefficient s they can charge high interest rates even when inflation is down and Bank of Ghana prime rates
- Our industries and labor less ready to adopt new technologies etc.

Underlying causes of our low productivity are
1) Poor education at all levels
2) Bad work ethics
3) Basic infrastructural constraints
4) Weaknesses in managerial leadership worsened by political interference
5) Bureaucratic (public services) inefficiencies
6) Corruption
7) High cost of capital (borrowing) itself an evidence of economic inefficiencies
8) Low levels of adoption and application of technology in all sectors from agriculture to services
Most of these can be improved with policy action and modeling by the state.

Week 13
Ghana as an Oil Exporting Country

Why oil may not be as lucrative as we might hope;
- A non-renewable resource
- Oil is a difficult resource to manage due to rapidly fluctuating prices
- Much of the equity is held by foreigners (90%)
- High polluting industry

What benefits can we derive from oil as a country (Ghana)
Direct Impacts
- Economy will grow
- GDP increases
- Increases foreign direct investment
- Revenue to the state increases, through royalties, 10& equity on oil profits and taxation
- Can generate other industries, economic activities, to service the oil industry and process some of its by products, etc. gas
Indirect Impacts
- Improve utilities (water, electricity, sewage etc.)
- Improve the health and education systems

Will the oil make a difference in the lives of the ordinary Ghanaian? In between the oil and its benefits is the management of the Government. For the effect to reach the ordinary citizen would require;
- Infrastructural improvements
- Institutional framework
- Policies

Is the Oil a curse? What disadvantages are there with the new emerging Oil Sector
- There is always the possibility of the oil destroying other sectors of the economy. It can divert the attention and resources especially skilled labor from traditional sectors.
- In Africa it has the tendency of fueling corruption, the state becomes “big” and fuel corruption in the country increases.
- Can lead to conflicts if not married well.
- It has the possibility of undermining the building and infrastructure not directly serving the industry and not solving the problem
- Dutch disease. It is easier to import goods, killing our import substitution industries. Exports become more expensive to people outside the country, causing people stop top buying our goods
We can look at other countries such as Sweden. In proper management we can reverse negative consequences.

Prospects and challenges of Ghana’s economy;
- Eradication of extreme poverty
- Achieve universal primary school education
- Promote gender equality and empowerment
- Eradication of HIV, and other preventable diseases
- Improving public health and reducing child mortality
- Promoting global partnerships
Are these realistic goals? They are but they are basic goals that all nations should have as a base.

What Ghana needs to move forward;
- The need for development leaders
- There is the need for a clear cut vision and development agenda
- There is the need for commitment to deliver certain outcomes for which the millennium development goals are just a bare minimum

Challenges to our economic development
- Political instability
- Ideological switch
- Lack of long term national development vision and growth agenda
- Policy failure
- Weak think tank capacity
- Poor visionary and development leadership
- Developmentally weak culture and value ethics
- Corruption
- Weak social infrastructure: education and health
- Weak economic infrastructure: roads electricity and water

What made the “newly industrialized countries” work? (Ishmael Yamson)
- Transformational leaders: it matters what the leader says and does and what is in him mind
- Clear long term vision
- Definition of focused strategies and commitment to (strategies into action)
- Creation of a competitive economy driven by public private partnership
- A balancing of political social and economic goals focused on poverty eradication
- A paradigm shift to behaviors and values that build

Ofori Atta: the agenda for change
- A righteous way
- Building the political space
- Creating social space
- Removing disempowerment (through a national consensus to pay for growth so that a majority of people are free from poverty and to free ourselves from the pervasive psychology of free goods)
- Economy (efficient economic management, involving transforming Ghana into a financial service center; modernizing agriculture; placing emphasis on the services sector- tourism health care, education, ICT and data processing; creating a diaspora ministry to better capture the resources of the billions of remittances and talents of 2-33 million Ghanaians; promoting policies to grow savings and investments by Ghanaians and establishing the best educational and health care system in Africa)

Elements of Ken Ofori-atta dream: contract of hope
- A godly country
- A country of peace and prosperity
- A solidly middle income country
- International financial service center
- A service oriented economy
- Quality education for all
- Law abiding citizenry with a world class police force
- A resected and thriving entrepreneurial society
- The business headquarters of the sub-region
- The first sub-Saharan African country to exit the Worldbank/IMF programme

GHANA IN THE REGIONAL CONTEXT AU/ECOWAS (Integration)
RATIONALE FOR INTERGRATION
Why would one country want to integrate with other ECOWAS countries economically?
- Promotes international trade
- Increases the market size
- Facilitate easier transportation
- Promotes FDI
Economic Integration Levels
- A free trade area: Basically an agreement not to charge taxes for bringing goofs into a country. The current largest free trade is NAFTA (US-Canada-Mexico). The European FTA (Iceland-Norway-Switzerland) has been there the longest.
- A customs Union: similar to a free trade area but with the addition of a common tariff for imports from other countries
- Common Market:
- Economic Union: generally, on the economic viewpoint, the countries have become economically one

If it has all these benefits, why don’t we implement it?
- Lack of political will
- Not all economies are balanced, the possibility that stronger economies will “commandeer” some of the weaker ones
- Exchange rate issues
- Language barriers
- Economic policy differences
- Low level of technology, economies are not sufficiently technologically differentiated

African Union
The OAU was formed in 1963, at that time it was called the Organization of African Unity, and was initially spearheaded by Kwame Nkrumah. It was changed into the AU, African Union, in 1975. It has ** member countries and has its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Its main purpose was to accelerate the political and economic integration of African countries, defending African common interests and promoting peace, stability and democracy in Africa.
African Union After independence, Ghana initiated moves that ultimately culminated in the birth of the regional body that has today become known as the African Union; or AU, as it is called for short.
The African Union is a union consisting of 53 countries on the continent. Established 9th July, 2002 succeeded to the (OAU).
The most important decisions of the AU are made by the Assembly of the African Union, a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of its member states. The AU's secretariat, the African Union Commission is based in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.
Among the objectives of the AU's leading institutions are:
· to accelerate the political and socio-economic integration of the continent;
· to promote and defend African common positions on issues of interest to the continent and its peoples;
· to achieve peace and security in Africa; and
· To promote democratic institutions, good governance and human rights.
Institutions
To achieve its aims with much efficiency, AU is composed of following institutions:
- The Assembly of Heads of State and Government (it meets in Ordinary Session first Monday of June every year)
- The Council of Ministers i.e. Foreign Affairs Ministers (it meets twice a year, in February mainly on budgetary matters and in May/June prior to Summit.)
- Other Ministerial Sectorial Meetings are held every two years in different domains such as Labour, Information, Trade, Health, Culture, etc.

The General Secretariat ACHIEVEMNTS
1. Decolonization:
2. Boundary conflicts
3. Defense of Member States' sovereignty and territorial integrity
4. The struggle against Apartheid:
5. Promotion of African Culture:
6. Fields of economic and social development, transport and telecommunication:
7. Fields of Education, Science, Health:
8. Action in favor of African Refugees:

CHALLENGES/FAILURES

Financially weak and this cripples the African Union, and makes it hard for it do the kind of things that its role model, the EU, is capable of doing.
AU keeps copying everything the EU does and ends up constantly looking “useless” and “laughable”, in terms of implementation of its resolutions and also, in terms of handling of moments of crisis in Africa.
The third factor that accounts for the ineffectiveness of the AU is the “notion of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries The regional body has had to wait for Europe and America to push the UN to act to stop mad and power-drunk Gaddafi from slaughtering his own citizens, who only want to exercise their fundamental human rights to change a government which has been imposed on them for 41 years. The AU has, once more, proved that it cannot be trusted to keep its house and backyard in order.
The Budget:
The annual budget of the Organization (1st June to 31st May) is provided by contributions from Member States in accordance with the scale of assessment which is calculated on the basis of area, population and per capita income. However, no Member States shall be assessed on an amount exceeding 20% of the yearly regular budget of the Organization. The budget is in the range of US$ 27–30 million.
ECOWAS
The vision that the founding fathers had at the time of the creation of ECOWAS was one of collective self-sufficiency through the integration of the sixteen West African countries into an economic block with a single market organized around an economic and monetary union. This concern was born out of the realization that the domestic markets of the member States taken individually were, as a result of their smallness, far from being competitive in a world environment marked by the existence of large trade blocks.

The overall objective of ECOWAS is to promote co-operation and integration in order to create an economic and monetary union for encouraging economic growth and development in West Africa.
In order to do this, the following actions are envisaged: the suppression of customs duties and equivalent taxes the establishment of a common external tariff; the harmonization of economic and financial policies the creation of a monetary zone.

In view of the slowness in the progress recorded by ECOWAS, the 1975 treaty has been revised. The principle of supranationality[1] in the application of decisions and the autonomous funding of the budgets of the institutions have been introduced. Furthermore, the creation of supranational institutions of control and arbitration has been envisaged in the application of decisions: a court of justice, a parliament and an economic and social council.
Achievements
- In spite of the difficulties, ECOWAS has chalked up remarkable progress in the areas of:
- Free movement of persons; construction of regional (inter-State) roads,
- Development of telecommunication links between the States
- Maintenance of peace and regional security
- West African gas pipeline
- Interregional infrastructure
It is in the area of the integration of markets that the efforts of the Community have been frustrating. In fact, the trade liberalization scheme is not yet operational as shown by the low level of the intraregional trade which is only 11% as compared to trade with third countries. Besides, the common ECOWAS external tariff has still not seen the light of day and the economic and financial policies have not been harmonized although a framework has been established for this.
Downside
- There is political instability in the sub-region and people are focusing on political instead of economic affairs
- Bad governance
- Many weak economies so therefore they do not have what it takes to integrate fully (some have almost nothing to bring to the table)
- Colonial differences
- Many members do not pay dues
Problems Faces by ECOWAS
Numerous problems have been encountered by ECOWAS in the enhancement of the process of regional integration of West Africa. Among the most important of these problems are:
- the political instability and bad governance that have plagued many of the countries;
- the weakness of the national economies and their insufficient divers if telecommunications and energy infrastructure;
- the insufficient political will exhibited by some member States; the bad economic policies in certain cases;
- the multiplicity of organizations for regional integration with the same objectives;
- the irregularity in the payment of financial contributions to the budgets of the institutions;
- the failure to involve the civil society, the private sector and mass movements in the process of integration;
- The defective nature of the integrational machinery in certain cases.
Promising Signs
If, on the whole, the results of the integrational efforts made in West Africa by ECOWAS have, as already indicated, been clearly below expectations, there are, however, promising signs which indicate better prospects for the future. For example, it has been observed that the absence of reliable road, that recent events in the political and economic scenery of West Africa have gradually helped to remove the principal obstacles to integration. Among these are:
- the advent of democracy in most ECOWAS countries, particularly, in Nigeria which is the dominant economy in West Africa;
- the gradual withdrawal of the State from the sectors of productive activity, and the realization that the private sector must be the mainspring of growth and economic integration;
- the adoption of a strategy for accelerating the ECOWAS process of integration in order to create a single regional market based on trade liberalization, to establish a common external tariff and to harmonize economic and financial policies;

The recognition of the relevance of a different approach in the march towards integration as found in the initiative of the non-UEMOA countries in creating a second monetary zone in West Africa which will merge up with the UEMOA zone to give rise to a single ECOWAS monetary zone in the year 2004;
How can Ghana position itself to benefit greatly from economic integration?
- Our government should have a long term strategy to benefit from the sub regional integration. This strategy should include some of these; improved labor productivity
- Better work ethics
- Improved infrastructure
- Improved Industrial relations, courts systems,
Note: se the 12 pillars of national competitiveness to answer a question like this.
12 pillars are
Basic requirements
- Institutions
- Infrastructure
- Macroeconomic environment
- Health and primary education
Efficiency enhancers
- Higher education and training
- Goods market efficiency
- Labor market efficiency
- Financial market efficiency
- Technological readiness
- Market size
Sophistication and innovation factors
- Business sophistication
- innovation

love poems

* I said i will forget
Yet i cannot forget
For my past is following me like my shadow...
When will my past stop following me...
Maybe,the day i will see him for the last time...
I am still connected to you,
My impossible love..
And only the heart knows how
I can sense that sooner or later we will meet
Maybe for the last time...
The time to say Adieu...
How painful it is to say adieu to someone...
Whom the heart does not want to forget...
How easy it would have been to erase past memories...
which keep haunting oneself...
How easy it would have been to let go things which is not yours...
How easy it would have been not to remember each and every details...
which has become the reason of suffering...
When will i stop thinking of you...
Only the heart knows
When it will forget...

*Only love
by Richie



Only love can take away my sorrows...
Only love has a cure for my loneliness...
Only love can heal my wounds...
Only love can give me a reason to live for...
Only love can bring my confidence...
Without it I am nothing,
Love,where are you?
I am so desperate and alone..
But only the thought to have someone's love makes me...
To believe,to expect and to hope for...
Love,do make an apparition in my lonely life...
Fill the emptiness of my heart...
My heart does not know how you will look like...
But i am sure my heart will be loving you always..
For only love can give me happiness...
Forever...
Only love...

*

From your eyes ..
by Richie



I don't need a mirror to look at me
I only need to look in your eyes,
For i can see my reflection...
Only when you look at me that i feel that i am beautiful and important...
I don't need anyone compliments except that of yours..
Only when you look at me with admiration,
I feel that i am the most desirable woman on earth..
You made me feel a complete woman...
As if time has stopped when our eyes meet..
You reassure me and give me confidence also...
I want nothing more except your true love
I want to dress up nicely only for you
I want to see myself only through your eyes..
I know you find me beautiful..
Look at me again with those eyes full of love and concern...
It is only then i will know my importance in your life...
I will get a reason to live
Above all, i will be conscious about my beauty...
For my beauty lies in your eyes,
Sweetheart of mine...& NBS