Military interference bane of development-Pianim

August 30, 2008 pg 14

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
AN economist, Mr Kwame Pianim, has blamed the military interference in Ghana’s political leadership and lack of a national vision as the bane for the country’s socio-economic development.
He said Ghana could have developed as the Asian countries, such as China, Malaysia and India, that started on the same economic standing with Ghana had it not been the interferences in the leadership of the country.
Mr Pianim who was speaking at the fifth in the series of Ghana@50 lectures organised by the Department of Economics of the University of Ghana, Legon, in Accra on Wednesday, said despite the interferences Ghana had made some progress.
The economic development lectures seek to discuss pressing socio-economic challenges confronting the nation with the view to finding solutions to them.
A financial economist and investment banking consultant, Dr Sam Mensah, delivered the lecture on: “Interest Rates Anomalies in Ghana and Implications for Economic Growth”. The theme for the lecture was “Ghana’s Quest for Sustainable Growth and Development Strategies”.
Mr Pianim who chaired the function told the Daily Graphic after the ceremony that the first President of the Republic of Ghana could not stay for a long time to execute his development agenda.
He said subsequent governments could not also finish their respective terms to be able to make any meaningful contribution to the development of the country, saying that “the governments stayed for about 18 months and 12 months”.
Mr Pianim who was the former Chairman of the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) said it was only former President Jerry John Rawlings whose Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC)/National Democratic Congress (NDC) governments stayed for about 20 years and the about eighth-year administration of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President John Agyekum Kufuor that enjoyed stability.
He said despite the political interferences, Ghana’s economic structure had developed with the country making progress on the economic front and churning out more graduates.
“Something good is happening in Ghana. We have not done well like China, Malaysia and India because we were not given the opportunity”, he stressed.
Mr Pianim the Asian Giants had developed rapidly because they responded to the global supply and demand changes with a disciplined workforce.
He said Ghana could develop as the Asian Tigers if Ghanaians changed their attitude and retune their minds to efforts at developing the nation.
He challenged Ghanaians “to avoid making big mistakes and get things done right”.
Dr Sam Mensah who is also the Technical Advisor at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning expressed happiness at developments on the financial sector but indicated that certain areas, including the real interest rates and prime rates had to improved upon.
He urged Ghanaians to change their investment strategies by investing their money into other investment areas rather than saving the money in banks.
Dr Mensah said most discussions on real interest rates in Ghana were based on ‘naive’ models, and indicated bank credits were high because savings rates in the country were very low.
He said if customers were literate in financial or banking nuances, they could bargain well with banks to have reprieve in bank credits.
Dr Mensah said there was more room for more innovative instruments on the banking market.
He noted that the 91-day treasury bill was higher than the Bank of Ghana prime rates, and called for a re-examination of the situation.