By Christian Agbodza FCMI MA

According to Honourable (Hon) Akoto Osei MP, we should not blame the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Ghana’s economic woes. This was reported on Ghanaweb’s General News of Friday, 2 May 2014 sourced to citifmonline.com.

Hon Osei MP, who is the Minority Spokesperson on finance, urged us not to blame the nation’s economic problems on the IMF. He said that IMF can tell us what to do because we are members of the IMF. He says that it is not the IMF that is producing inefficiencies in Ghana’s Governance. He says it is not the IMF that collects revenue from Customs. He says that it is not the IMF that is promoting corruption in Ghana. He says that it is not IMF’s policies that are causing the problems facing the economy. He says that the IMF only gives balance of payment support to support member countries.

In short Hon Osei MP taking a closed-economy view of Ghana’s economy rather than an open-economy view is saying that Ghana’s problems are caused by Ghana’s internal institutional and systemic weaknesses. Accordingly the way forward is for Ghana to deal with its own institutional and systemic weaknesses and stop blaming international support agencies, like the IMF.

I am writing to contest the pro-IMF posturing of Hon Osei MP. His policy position is informed by the fact that he is a conservative democrat. This means that when all is said and done, he and others like him - the conservative [minority]-liberal [majority] elites – who have governed Ghana since 1992 want a Ghana in which the resources of Ghana only benefit either a privileged few (NPP) or a small minority (NDC). For Hon Osei it is even better if those few domestic elites come from a particular ethnic grouping. The TUC is right when it says that policies conditionalities of the IMF are not for the benefit of the Ghanaian economy.

Ghana must always blame IMF and must never stop blaming IMF for its economic woes.

The purpose of the IMF/allied transnational organisations is to ensure that Ghana’s institutional and systemic weaknesses are never solved. Ghana must never stop blaming IMF because IMF is a mortal enemy of Afrika’s total liberation, unity and development.

The IMF has never stopped interfering in Ghana’s policy affairs by telling us what to do as Hon Osei MP says; hence as long as IMF continues to tell us what to do we must blame them whenever things go wrong.

It is the IMF that ensures that Ghana is never in a position to collect enough revenue from Customs etc. so that Ghana shall continue to depend on the IMF and its sister imperialist agencies.

http://www.conventionpeoplesparty.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/field/image/Dormaa%20Chiefs.pngIt is the IMF that is promoting corruption in Ghana; it does this by ensuring that Ghana’s economy always supports foreign interests rather than the domestic interests of all the Nationalities who own Ghana – Akan, Dagomba, Ewe, Ga etc. Ghana’s economy is corrupted because the economy does not serve the interests of the Nationalities and People of Ghana as set out in Chapter six of the Constitution of Ghana: “…for the establishment of a just and free society.” It is the IMF’s policies that are causing the problems facing the economy. The IMF does not only give balance of payment support to member countries as Hon Osei MP alleges.

The fundamental reason why Ghana must blame IMF is what the IMF does. The Honourable Member from Old Tafo fundamentally misunderstands the IMF when he says the IMF only gives balance of payment support to support member countries. This is factually incomplete.

The IMF itself says this is what it does: “The IMF works to foster global growth and economic stability. It provides policy advice and financing to members in economic difficulties and also works with developing nations to help them achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty.” We implore Hon Osei MP to do his best to understand what this really means.

So because the IMF does these things, when Ghana is not growing; is economically unstable; not implementing policies that solve its institutional and systemic weaknesses; suffers from unsustainable financing problems; finds itself in perpetual economic difficulties; is macro-economically unstable and therefore unable to achieve macroeconomic stability and reduce poverty, let us blame the IMF.

The IMF working alongside other international agencies like World Bank have no fundamental interest in a World Order in which Afrika is united, strong and globally respected. Beyond blaming the IMF, Ghana the star of Afrika must rise once again, working in partnership with the Giant of Afrika.


References:
1. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=307955
2. http://www.imf.org/external/about/overview.htm
3. http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/republic/constitution.php?id=Gconst6.html
4. http://www.conventionpeoplesparty.org/

Writer: Christian Agbodza FCMI MA (Econs) is a Member of CPP UK & Ireland. Christian is also Chair of the Consciencism Study Group, London. Consciencism is the philosophy and ideology of development with specific reference to the African Revolution. It was first published in 1964 by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and revised in 1969.