The Dustbin Of History Shall Be Filled With Dr. Bawumia’s Failed Policies

Effort by Dr. Bawumia and his economic management team to restructure our external debt has become increasingly difficult. A recent report by Bloomberg (May 20,2023) shows that loans from the Bank of Ghana played a major role in the country's debt expansion. Under Dr. Bawumia, Ghana is finding it difficult to manage and sustain its debt load. Looking at economic indicators from the previous administration to that of Dr. Bawumia’s NPP government, it is evident that Ghana’s ticking debt bomb started in 2017 when Dr. Bawumia and his NPP economic management team engaged in aggressive borrowing and spending.

Under Dr. Bawumia’s NPP economic management, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) embarked on quantitative easing. BoG became a hub for money printing machines to finance Dr. Bawumia’s government. BoG also ignored certain monetary policy guidelines. You do recall that Dr. Bawumia and his economic management team informed Ghanaians that they can no longer service our debt. In a desperate move, Dr. Bawumia introduced a policy to purchase oil with gold with the goal of preventing the cedi from having Humpty Dumpty had a great fall or as Dr. Bawumia puts “Medo Nyame Exchange Rate”.

Dr Bawumia’s gold for oil policy did not work. Paul Krugman, the renowned American Economist was right in his legend of King Midas, and I quote “Legend of King Midas...whose true sin was his failure to understand monetary economics”. Paul Krugman, a Nobel laureate for his analysis on trade patterns and location of economic activity argues that gold is not a stable standard when measured in terms of other goods and services. According to Paul Krugman, gold is a commodity whose price is constantly buffeted by shifts in supply and demand. This makes me question the true intent behind Dr. Bawumia’s gold for oil policy.

The man who asked Paapa Amissah-Arthur (may his soul rest in peace) to answer 70+ questions has failed Ghana miserably. Dr. Bawumia with reference to your own question number 69. Have you done the following:

• Solved the water problems in Ghana.
• Solved the energy problem…….
• Put in place at least 1000 kilometres of asphalt road in each region. There would be no major road problem left in any region after this.
• Transformed Agriculture in the Northern regions, Afram Plains, and the rest of Ghana through investment in machinery, irrigation and dams.
• Put in place one world class hospital in each region.
• Buy at least 1000 ambulances for the Ghana Ambulance Service.
• Set up factories with the private sector across the country to add value to our raw materials and create jobs.
• Equip our existing health and education institutions with state-of-the-art facilities.
• Build an additional 600 of the Senior High Schools the government is currently trying to build.
• Construct the Accra-Kumasi-Paga railway as well as the Western Railway line.

Ebenezer Ato Ntarkurfah Jackson
Cornell University Johnson School of Business Management

MBA Class of 2015