The proposed establishment of the Women Bank, one of the economic policies contained in the National Democratic
Congress’s (NDC) manifesto, has been greeted with divergent views among market women, entrepreneurs, and petty
traders in the Sunyani Municipality.
Since the launch of the manifesto in August this year, the former President John Dramani Mahama, the Election
2024 flagbearer of the NDC and his running mate, Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang had touted the
establishment of the Bank to address the challenges female entrepreneurs face in accessing loans from financial
institutions.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on their opinions about the proposed Bank, some women
engaged in hawking, petty trading, and entrepreneurship at the Sunyani Central Business District (CBD) welcomed
the idea, describing the policy as good intervention.
However, other market women at the Sunyani main market questioned the reality of the policy, and therefore, called
on the NDC to come clear, and explained to Ghanaians how an NDC government could do that considering the
economic situation in the country now.
Describing the policy as one of the political gimmicks, some of the market women said they were fed-up with the
numerous campaign promises that had taken a center stage in the electioneering.
The Daily Searchlight is of the opinion that what politicians and governments in Ghana have done, over the years, is
avoid any attempt at solving the real problems facing Ghanaians generally, and the economy specifically.
What they have done, in the interim, is graft on so-called solutions, which in the end, end up creating even more
problems. Like spuriously setting up banks and financial institutions instead of attacking the numerous problems
afflicting local banks.
The problem with banking in Ghana, is that it is unresponsive to the needs of the people and society, particularly
business people. A bank in Ghana would only lend money, when the lender has huge bank balances, or the proposed
loan does not entail any form of risk.
Banks, and the people who take loans from banks in Ghana have to deal with extremely high interest rates, which,
even if the bank would lend you money, would end up collapsing any venture.
What needs to be done is a comprehensive exercise aimed at making banks and banking more responsive and
attractive to their customer base, as well as doing the hard work to bring interest rates down to attractive levels.
What needs to be done, certainly, is not to set up a new bank, for women or not.
The State of Ghana has enough publicly owned banks and lending institutions. We even give out free loans. These
already existing banks and lending institutions could be restructured, policy-wise, to meet the needs of women. If
the NDC were sincere, that is what it would have proposed, instead of setting up a so-called women’s bank.
It is a joke, an expensive joke, and if Ghana were unlucky enough to vote for the NDC, Ghanaians would pay the
price.
(Editorial of the Daily Searchlight of Monday, 7 th October, 2024).
