WANTED: A NEW DEV MODEL (OCT 28)

FOR many people in our part of the world, a greater part of the problems impeding the development of Africa in particular can be linked to our dealings with the Breton Woods institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Here in Ghana, the view is held that the country’s resources, if properly managed, can be used to change the fortunes of the citizenry for the better by relying entirely on our indigenous ways and means.
The thinking informing this position is that the country is in the doldrums because of our over-reliance on donor agencies, instead of relying on the human and material resources that God has endowed us with to provide better opportunities for our people.
The point must, however, be made that in the current globalised world the country cannot be an island, as we all need to collaborate or trade among ourselves for mutual survival and growth.
This brings in another school of thought which totally dismisses orthodoxy in the management of the economy because no single model is able to resolve the challenges of our times.
Whatever the viewpoint, there appears to be some unanimity that the country is richly endowed and that if the resources are applied well, poverty levels will reduce considerably.
In large measure, the development challenges we face as a nation appear to be the result of the misapplication of our own resources and whatever we get from donor nations. There is also the problem of lack of transparency in the use of our resources.
In the circumstance, the point has been made over and over again that we cannot forever continue to depend on donors for our survival and that is why whatever they give us in the form of aid must be used to change the development landscape.
While we gloat over our continuous reliance on the Breton Woods institutions, the DAILY GRAPHIC thinks the people should be concerned about how their leaders spend their taxes and donor money.
We should all make it our duty to demand that our leaders account for every pesewa that comes into our coffers.
In this light, The DAILY GRAPHIC shares the concerns of the Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, when he made the point that the government’s stabilisation policy, with the support of the World Bank and the IMF, was being done cautiously.
It may just be right that if the support is used judiciously, the country will be able to leverage opportunities for all Ghanaians in order to achieve the “better Ghana” agenda.
That is why whatever support we get from the World Bank, the IMF and other donors must be applied for the common good, that is, to fight poverty, create jobs and wealth, etc.
What some of those countries did was not to practise autarky or shut their doors completely to the outside world. Indeed, they invited partners who invested in their economy to create jobs and other opportunities for their people.
It is not enough to continue to bemoan our problems, for the time has come to put in place concrete measures to lift the economy out of the doldrums through the judicious use of both local and foreign wealth.
Since it is said that necessity is the mother of invention, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that our current challenges can galvanise us into thinking about alternative economic models that can transform our society for the better.
The DAILY GRAPHIC encourages the partnership with the donor community but the conditionalities therefrom must not suffocate the people.