By Kingsley Nyarko, MP, Kwadaso
Since 2020, the world has been confronted with very severe and debilitating challenges. In 2019, the novel corona virus was discovered. The virus wreak havoc in countries: took away lives, livelihoods, rendered a lot of people jobless, destroyed businesses and made governments vulnerable, and virtually impotent.
Covid 19, succeeded in eroding the gains countries, even the most advanced ones had made. Countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, China, considered as socio-economic powerhouses were rendered powerless as scores of their citizens and others died. Some businesses collapsed leading to joblessness and increased unemployment.
Worst of the hit was in developing and emerging economies, sub- Saharan Africa being the hardest hit. As economic growth plunged by -3.7% globally, Sub-Saharan Africa had her growth declined by -1.7%—a very worrying spectacle. Growth in Ghana—one of the rising stars on the continent, and the second largest economy in West Africa, managed a growth of 0.4% in 2020, slightly above the continental average.
As governments were instituting measures—fiscal and monetary policies and health and other interventions to get out of the woods, from nowhere, in February, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, further aggravating and compounding the already volatile economic environment.
Governments everywhere are suffering and reeling under pressure from citizens, who are going through the worst economic difficulties in their lifetime.
No government nor political actors can wish away the burden on citizens and the economic pains they’re going through. This has resulted in agitations, demonstrations, unrests, disintegration of governments as was seen in Britain in the past weeks.
With the surge in food prices, energy costs, freight charges, rent, and other economic goods and services—which see no signs of declining, at least for now, I ask myself where this world is heading to.
Are we nearing the end of the world, or like the Great Depression, this too will become part of one of the bitterest historical lessons on God’s planet.
What is happening in the world now, can hardly be blamed on the ineptitude of governments and their leaders. It is like a force majeure that caught all pants down. The twin devastating occurrence of Covid 19 and the Russia-Ukraine war has curtailed and succeeded in disrupting the Sustainable Development Goals which were positioned to confront these current occurrences by 2030.
These are obviously difficult and challenging times; which must be addressed, frontally, and in the near-and long-terms. There must be quick fixes, but they must be done carefully without imposing further dislocation in the economy and causing further burdens on the citizenry in the long term.
This is the time for cooperation and collaboration between political actors, civil society organizations, academia and other stakeholders both internally and externally to find solutions to benefit the citizens now, and in the long term.
Again, of the countries that have signed unto the International Monetary Fund programme, about 26 of them are from Africa. This sad spectacle should clearly indicate to us that, the time has come for us to aggressively pursue an agenda of vigorous transformation through cross-border trade, collaboration and cooperation and full utilization of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area opportunities.
It seems to me the world is heading towards a discomforting end or probably, coming to an end; it might be a mirage though. But, if it doesn’t, this will be the most opportune time to turn our continent and countries around. Let’s realize this together!!!
God bless Ghana! God bless Africa!!!
