General News of Monday, 30 October 2023

Source: Eric Obeng Boateng, Contributor

Victor Smith highlights urgent concerns about Ghana's economic turmoil and governance lapses

Former Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Victor Smith Former Ghana's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Victor Smith

Ambassador Victor Smith highlights urgent concerns about economic turmoil and governance lapses, depicting Ghana as a nation at a critical juncture, urging for change in 2024.

In a remarkable and candid statement, former Ambassador for the United Kingdom and Ireland, Victor Smith, has raised a clarion call on the state of affairs in Ghana.

Declaring that the nation has descended into turmoil, he invokes the words of Edmund Burke, cautioning that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Victor Smith paints a grim picture of the country’s dire situation, denouncing it as “a complete mess.”

Incompetence and recklessness:

Ambassador Victor Smith minces no words as he characterizes the current administration as incompetent, reckless, and unpatriotic.

The state of affairs in Ghana, as he describes it, is obnoxious.


According to him, it is a blistering critique of an administration presiding over the worst economic crisis in a generation.

Quoting Yeats: The centre cannot hold:

Channeling the words of William Butler Yeats, Ambassador Victor Smith warns that "the center cannot hold. Ghana faces mere anarchy,” and the consequences are visible in various aspects of life".

Socio-economic chaos:

The Ambassador highlights the widespread chaos in Ghana’s socio-economic landscape. Roads, healthcare, education, and the economy itself are all in disarray.

He calls out the administration’s broken promises, attitudes, arrogance, and alarming levels of corruption. Notably, he points to the self-inflicted wounds of the ruling party, the NPP, in their battle for leadership.

MPs’ silence and inaction:

Ambassador Victor Smith expresses profound concern that Ghana’s government appears to have given up on finding solutions to the nation’s challenges.

He points to the lack of competence and capability, as well as the government’s alleged deceitful path to power. Most troubling, he says, is the complicity of the people’s representatives, Members of Parliament (MPs) who he claims are not taking bold, caring, or patriotic action to halt the nation’s downward spiral.

A call for resilience:

The Ambassador calls on Ghanaians to rise above their current state of despondency and to resist being cowed into submission by complex legalities they may not fully understand. He urges those who can to step forward and make their voices heard.

Urgent parliamentary action needed:

Ambassador Victor Smith concludes with a dire warning that Ghana’s democracy and the nation itself may not survive the turmoil and unrest currently gripping the nation.

He proposes that Members of Parliament immediately convene a special emergency session to pass a vote of no confidence in the executive and empower the Speaker to assemble an interim administration.

This, he believes, is the only way to prevent further decline and prepare for fresh elections.

"The message is clear: Honorable MPs, act now or be prepared to face the consequences. Leaving the people to their own devices may spell disaster for the nation", he said.

Ambassador Victor Smith’s impassioned plea is a stark call to action, and the eyes of Ghana, and the world, are now focused on the nation’s leaders to see how they will respond to this urgent appeal.