Ghanaians in the U.S. up in arms against their govt

By K. Buadu, Washington D.C.

A large crowd of Ghanaians matched in front of the United States Department of States in Washington DC in August 6, 2014 against the government of President John Mahama for its incompetence and corruption.
The crowd chanted, “stop borrowing and fix the economy” , “John Mahama is more deadly than Ebola”, “corruption is killing our country” as they danced and matched in front of the building where the final day of the US Africa Summit activities were taking place.
Nana Akyaa Mcbrown who took a day off work and came with her young daughter to protest, said, “I’m here to protest against the incompetence of President John Mahama”.
Asked if the demonstration will cause a chance in the current activities they were protesting on, she responded in the affirmative, “definitely” and continued “we are the people, we have to match for changes if things are not going right in the governance of our nation”. She continued, “President Mahama is the most corrupt president in the history of Ghana and we want to let him know that we are not satisfied with his governance of our nation”.
Another protester Amponsah Stonash expressed a similar sentiment, saying “ Ghana’s economy was brought from low income to middle income with annualized growth of over 10% for eight continues years by the previous Kufour Administration, but since then due to the incompetence and corruption of the current administration, the economy is not growing, jobs are not being created, utilities have gone up several times, petroleum prices have gone up over five times and the Ghana cedi have lost over 40% of its value against the world’s major currencies this year alone and continues to fall.
A recent article by Alanna Petroff in August 4, 2014, on CNN’s website titled “Obama’s favored African nation hits the skids” summarizes Ghana’s current plight, it explains “The small West African nation (Ghana) who won many admirers for growing rapidly and reducing poverty. The poster child for progress in Africa, hailed by Obama in March 2012 as a “wonderful success story,” is now struggling. Growth is slowing, despite rising oil output. Government borrowing and inflation are rising, and the currency — the cedi — has lost about 40% of its value this year”. The article further stated “Ghana’s economic growth could slow to about 4% this year and next, down from 7% in 2013, as a consequence, said Capital Economics’ Shah”.
President John Mahama said Ghana is seeking the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it tries to stabilize the Ghana currency and ailing economy. This talk of bailout comes less than a decade after $3 billion in debt was wiped off Ghana’s books as part of an international relief initiative after the then President Kufour newly elected opted to place Ghana under the highly indebted poor countries paving the way for successive years of economic growth.

Posted by on Aug 20 2014. Filed under top stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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