Ghana in Focus: Hopes and Aspirations for 2025

This weeks edition of Ghana in Focus looks at the hopes and aspirations for 2025 following the NDC's historic landslide victory.

The political landscape is shifting, and many are eager to see what this government will prioritise during its term. With complexities like economic instability, rising costs of living, and pressing social issues, the new administration has a challenging road ahead. With Mahama's leadership and support from Vice President Naana Opoku Agyeman, it's vital to evaluate the sectors that need immediate focus in order for Ghana to thrive.

One of the most critical issues facing the nation is its economy. With Ghana grappling with a cost of living crisis and inflation rates that do not accurately reflect the true rise in prices for essential goods, Mahama's government must tackle these economic hurdles head-on. Official inflation statistics place rates at around 25%, but many believe that on-the-ground realities tell a different story. The skyrocketing prices of food—some items have seen increases of over 300% in just three years—pose a serious threat to the everyday lives of Ghanaians. 

The new administration will face particular challenges in the area of debt restructuring. Ghana has entered international agreements in pursuit of crucial loans, which come with the requirement to restructure debts that have burdened the economy. The country's debt-to-GDP ratio has been dangerously high, indicating unsustainable financial practices that must be corrected to avoid future economic collapse. 

Health is another major area that requires urgent attention. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the numerous weaknesses in Ghana's healthcare system, highlighting a dire need for investment. Basic medical equipment and facilities are lacking, leading to unnecessary casualties and health crises within the population, especially among children and young adults. The new government needs to not only address the inadequacies but also widen access to the National Health Insurance Scheme to ensure all Ghanaians are provided with adequate healthcare, while also focusing on prevention through public health initiatives and education.

Agriculture represents both opportunity and necessity for Ghana's vision towards 2025. It's evident that reliance on imports for food is untenable; the nation's fertile lands can provide for its people if given the right supportive policies and infrastructure. Initiatives that promote self-sufficiency in food production should be introduced, like the famous Acheampong era "Operation feed yourself" programme

Moreover, a massive concern for the future of Ghana lies in illegal small-scale mining, which poses significant threats to the environment and water sources.

Chapters

• 0:05 Hopes and Aspirations for Ghana
• 11:46 Debt Restructuring and Environmental Crisis
• 21:09 Focus on Agricultural and Health Development
• 31:01 Global Healthcare Crisis in Africa

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in Focus. Myself Kwame, ghanaian broadcaster, writer, journalist, podcaster and entrepreneur, and in this week's edition of Ghana in Focus, it's hopes and aspirations for Ghana in 2025. So we'll talk more about that coming up, but before that, just to remind you that if you like what you hear, please subscribe to Ghana African Focus on YouTube. This year we're looking to target at least 100 subscribers on YouTube. So this year we want to get as many subscribers 100 at least on YouTube. And also we are on Spotify. So look out for Ghana African Focus on YouTube Press subscribe. It's free to subscribe and hit the notification bell, meaning that every time we upload a new podcast, youtube will notify you. Likewise, we're on Spotify. So just look out for Ghana stroke Africa in focus on Spotify and hit the follow button, meaning that every time I upload a new podcast on Spotify, spotify will notify you Again. This year we want to get near to a thousand subscribers on Spotify. So if on Spotify, we've got 565. So you want to get to a thousand to tell your friends, your family, social media networks about Ghana. Stroke Africa in focus, your powerful podcast for news views, information on Ghana and news views and information on the African continent.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Alright, so let's get into this week's podcast looking at hopes and aspirations for Ghana 2025. So on January 7th this year, john Jumaane Muhammad was sworn in as Ghana's new president after winning a landslide election in the December 2024 elections, and so there's a lot of hope in Ghana that things will get better under John Jumaane Mahama and the NDC government, and the science so far look good, look positive, and the ministers have been vetted in the last couple of weeks. So that is going to be finalised in the next week or so and you will see a new government begin to do its work, and so we're going to name five key areas that are very important for Ghana this year and that we hope that, and that we hope that the new NDC government under John Jumaane Mahama and Vice President Nana Opoku Ajman who, by the way, is Ghana's first female vice president yeah, so we hope that the government of those two will take Ghana from where it is now you know, an economy. Take Ghana from where it is now in an economy struggling, a lawless country, a country where there's no rule of law, a country that cannot feed itself, a country that's got a bad system of education, a country that needs urgency for structure, where that they can get these things at least to lay the foundation, because four years is not a long time. Mohammed's only got four years, so four years is not a long time. Muhammad's only got four years, so four years is not a long time to really put your footprint and your stamp on everything. But at least if you make the foundation strong, then you know the building of the rest of the house should be okay, and so I want to concentrate on five key areas that, for me, john Jumaane Mahama, nana Apukwa Jumaane and the entity government should focus on. Obviously, he goes about saying the first is the economy of Ghana, and that is linked with the cost of living crisis and also the city, and so, as you should be aware by now, ghana's economy is in a very, very dire, dire situation. The last MPP government basically ransacked Ghana. Yeah, they didn't come to enrich Ghana, they came to reach themselves, and so Ghana's debt has tripled, and I come to that also as part of the economy, you know, in the last eight years. Yeah, and John Jumaane, mahama and the NDC are going to inherit an economy, a very, very bad economy, that's basically in its knees and, as I said in my review of 2024, the first NDC budget, which would be late March and April, but definitely before Easter that will give us a very, very strong indication as to how the NDC government under John Manny Mahama and the Finance Secretary, the Finance Minister, is now being instituted and his name is Dr Kassil Attaforsen. He was a former Deputy Minister of Finance in the last Mahama government and is also a qualified economist as well, and so that first budget is going to be a very, very important budget because, like I said, budget is going to be a very, very important budget because, like I said, that is going to pave the way for the rest of the you know, four years under this NDC administration. So the economy is a life support machine and it needs waking up.

Speaker 1: 6:06

You know the cost of living in Ghana, which is part of the economy, is at massive proportions. Inflation in Ghana, officially, is at 25%, but personally I think it's tripled up because if you look at food, food inflation in Ghana alone, food in Ghana alone, the price of yam, tomatoes, onion, cassava, rice, plantain this busy food supply has risen in some cases in the last three years by more than 300%. So how can we say inflation is 25%. When every day you go to market to buy food, price changes. Even cement. Cement in 2022 was around about 40 cities. Now a bag of cement in Ghana is now 110 cities, yeah, so in two years, it's actually doubled, nearly tripled. And you want to say in 15 years, 25%? I don't think so. I do not think so.

Speaker 1: 7:11

And so this was created along with the greed of Guineans, because, let's be quite frank here, not all but some Guineans are very, very greedy. They put a market price on a lot of the things that they sell because they want to make quick profit, and we know, yeah, that there is some profiteering going on within parts of Ghana. That is why things are very, very expensive, particularly food items. Yeah, because Ghanaians are greedy and they are the only people who want to be rich overnight when doing a business, it didn't work like that. You got to work at your business to make it, develop it and grow before you can even break even, let alone make, you know, big profit.

Speaker 1: 7:57

But Guineans want to make big profits and this is this is into their greedy mindset, whereby you know just one tuba of yam, one tuba of yam where I go to Canadian market, agbosian market, the world famous market. A tuba of yam that used to sell 10 cedars of tuba is now selling at 80 cedars of tuba. 80 cedars, that's £4, £4. Even in the UK. I don't think you buy a cheaper than for four pounds. Yeah, so, having gone where the thing is grown, how people are saying it, for a commitment of four pounds. It tells about this, and there's some profiteering and mocking going on. And so, because of the high costs of particular food items in Ghana, this has created a cost of living crisis whereby many Ghanaians are struggling to make ends meet, struggling to put food on table, struggling to have free square meals a day. Yeah, and the government of John Jumaane Muhammad must address this cost of income because it is killing the soul of Ghana Again.

Speaker 1: 9:14

The Ghanaian city yeah, under the last MPP Akufo-Addo government, it tripled from, even within the tenure of the NDC, from 6 Guarani cities when Akufo-Addo was re-elected in 2021, it more than doubled to 15 Guarani cities. Yeah, as he was leaving office. Today, just a month after he left office, not even a month yet, the Guarani cities is still hovering around 15. Just a month after he left office, not even a month yet, the guy in the city is still hovering around 16 cities to a dollar, and so the NDC government must again look at the rapid depreciation of the city and use measures in place. Use measures to ensure that the city is stabilised because, you know, the last government bought dollars yeah, to stabilise the city. And you can't do that. You can't buy a dollar year after year, year after year. You can't buy a dollar and expect the city to remain stable. That is artificially, you know, strengthening the city when there are many, many other ways, like I mentioned before, for example, getting gold reserves to strengthen your currency. And so you know, we hope that the NDC is able to use prudent economic reforms, economic challenges, to make the city appreciate against the dollar and hence stay above the city, because when the city stabilised, that's going to make inflation go down, which, in turn, will make the cost of living crisis more easier for the Ghanaian population, because right now, like I said, things are very, very difficult in Ghana and we are looking forward with great anticipation to the budget in March or April to see where Ghana goes economically from here. So that's the economy, and that is very, very pressing in terms of what the current NDC government must focus its attention on Second issue is debt restriction.

Speaker 1: 11:46

Now, under the MPP government headed by Nana Ado Akufo-Addo and Dr Aladji Mahmood Bamia, in Ghana, for the first time in its history, entered into debt restructuring that had a profound effect on people's pensions, people's savings and also people's investments, particularly their bonds, government bonds, and so this debt restructuring. Bonds, government bonds, and so this uh debt restriction that resulted. That was the result of too much borrowing, too much spending and not enough investment created a situation whereby Ghana had to go to the IMF to get a loan. Yeah, and one of the conditions of getting that $3 billion was debt restructuring. So just the other day, ghana has now come to an agreement with its external creditors to try and restructure debt. Now again, you know, come the budget in March or April. Arthur Fawcett and the NDC government must look seriously at this debt restructure, because the debt restructure is also another fundamental reason why the NDC economy is not doing what at the moment? Because you know if you can't pay your debt, you ain't able to borrow money. And if you can't borrow money, why? Where are you going to get the money to build infrastructure like schools, roads, hospitals, etc. And so it's incumbent on Castle Atterforsen, the new Finance Minister and the government of the NDC to really, you know, restructure Ghana's particular external debt in a way that does not overburden the government, that does not overburden the population and that C makes our debt to GDP ratio more manageable, because right now, the debt to GDP ratio in Ghana right now is something around about 76%, which is very, very high at one stage it was about 105% yeah, and so the new NDC government needs to ensure that sound economic management, sound economic principles and prudent and wise decisions are made to ensure that Ghana's debt is structured in a way that it is manageable and does not eat into, you know, ghana's you know's domestic income as well. And so this is another key issue that is affecting Ghana, particularly within its ability to go into the international market, is debt restructuring, and so if the new government is able to get Ghana's debt restructuring to manageable levels, ie under 60%, then that will bode well for the next few years. Yeah, so that's debt restructuring.

Speaker 1: 15:10

Another key issue that the government needs to highlight is GAMSA, or Illegal Small Scale Mining. As you may recall, if you are a regular listener to the podcast, I've done a few podcasts about Gamsay and, as you are aware, gamsay this illegal small-scale mining has destroyed all but two of the waterways in Ghana, which, in turn, has treated our water. And you know, if things are not done to tackle this menace, ghana will be importing water in just five years' time, 2030. So the government unlike again the Akufo-Addo government that failed to tackle small scale, illegal mining yeah, because it's own people, mpp people were involved in small scale mining. Even the chairman of the Asante region of Ghana, mpp chairman of Asante, chairman Wuntibi, was shown on a commercial base which I think is called a Bremppong FM, showing off his gold bars, saying that this is real money, not paper money, but the gold bars that I've got is real money. And how did he get the gold bars? Because he's engaged in small-scale mining, illegal small-scale mining.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Yeah, and so you know, this menace of small-scale mining has to be stopped by the NDC. They cannot afford because, like I mentioned, it's not just the water bodies at risk, it's not just our health at risk, it's the future of our children because, like I said before, newborn babies in Ghana, particularly in the manning areas, have been born with no mouth, have been born with no nose, have been born with teeth on their shoulders, have been born with no hands, with no genitals, with no genitals, with no penis, no vagina. This is the result of the toxic chemicals like mercury, lead, aluminium, arsenic, cyanide in the water that, unfortunately, people in the mind areas are drinking, yeah, and this is what's resulted in these in the water that, unfortunately, people in the mine areas are drinking, yeah, and this also resulted in these uh, kind of um, you could say unhealthy births that are going on. And so, you know, the government must, by any means necessary even means, has it means having to bring in the soldiers and, like I said before, if I was a president of Ghana, I would do a pretty shoot to kill Because you operating in a small scale of mining. That is a form of terrorism, that is a form of genocide, that is a form of ecocide, yeah, that you are committed and that is treasonous in some countries. And so our policy of shoot to kill because you're engaging in small scale illegal mining is damaging the environment, destroying our land, polluting our water bodies, and that, for me, is a form of terrorism. And so I urge John Jumaane Muhammad and the NDC government to use any means necessary to flush out those wicked people who still insist on this small-scale illegal mining.

Speaker 1: 18:49

Yeah, because they all they care about is getting money for themselves. They don't care about the people of Ghana, they don't care about the environment. They don't care about the people of Ghana, don't care about the environment, don't care about the water pollution, don't care about land pollution. All they care is getting money. So these people must be killed by enemies, necessarily. Yeah, because Ghana is bigger than anybody, any one person. And we know there's people out there who, because now NDC are in power, they feel now it's their turn to do Gamsay. Because people have done Gamsay and now they're going. It's our turn now. No, no, no, no. If you do Gamsay, we'll look for you and kill you, because you are a terrorist to the country you are destroying or you are committing genocide and ecocide. And, like I said in one of my podcasts last year, what we are seeing in Ghana is a genocide and ecocide right before our very eyes, and so Mohammed must do any means necessary to destroy this country. Ghanim say illegal, small-scale mining.

Speaker 1: 20:01

Now, the fourth key aspect that Mohammed needs to tackle is agriculture. Again, despite the so-called planting food and jobs, the Nana Adadankwa Kufwado government, you know they failed in agriculture because and this is why food is expensive? Because if, if and if in the English language, is a preposition. So if planting for food and job was successful, then why is God importing everything under the sun, even basic food crops like tomato, onion, carrot, lettuce? In contemporary, we are importing every food item. Yeah, so the position of food into Ghana, which has then allowed high pay inflation in our food prices, is a failure of the NPP's so-called planting, food and job strategy. And so Mohammed's government must ensure that.

Speaker 1: 21:09

Firstly, ghana is food secure, and I did a podcast again last year, sabre Informer's Day, as to why Ghana needs to be food secure, to why Ghana needs to be too secure, because it is crazy that a country like Ghana, blessed with rich, fertile alba land, is importing yam cassava. You know, we're importing chicken, we're importing maize, we're importing wheat, we're importing tomato, we're everything. No, that cannot continue, because we're importing wheat, we're importing tomato, we're everything. No, that cannot continue, because all that money that we are spending importing food is money given to another farmer. So when you buy chicken from Europe, you are paying the European farmer. When you buy rice from Thailand, you are paying the Thailand farmer, giving them money. When you buy tomatoes from Italy, you're giving the Italian farmer money. So Bahama and Indonesia need to invest, and what I hear from the new Misa Valko is that he wants to do what General Champong did.

Speaker 1: 22:16

And General Champong for those of you who may be tuned to understand or don't know, general Champong was the those of you who may be tuned to understand or don't know General Champong was the military leader of Ghana between 1972 and 1978. And one of his key policies was operating feed yourself, whereby, general Kutu Champong, he advised every Ghanaian to get a parcel of land, even in your own backyard, and farm grow food. And this is what needs to happen in Ghana. There needs to be a pushing feed yourself part 2, whereby Ghanians are encouraged to get a parcel of land, whether it's a 1 acre, 5 acres, 10 acres of land, and grow your own food, because in Ghana we've got to eat what we grow and grow your own food, because in Ghana we've got to eat what we grow and grow what we eat. Simple, simple, yeah.

Speaker 1: 23:08

We can't afford to use our scarce resources to import food. We know there's a cabal that has an interest in importation of food, particularly that rice and other food staples. We know that there's people who have an interest in importation of food, particularly things like rice and other food staples. We know that there's people who have an interest in that, but that's only for their myopic concern. It is not in the nation's interest for guarantee to import everything, and so, for me, one of the key things I want to see Mahmoud's government do this year is embark on a strategy whereby we produce what we eat and we eat what we produce, and, as what we're hearing, to do a champon in this sense of pushing feed yourself part two.

Speaker 1: 23:59

And so again, we are looking forward to Mohammed's government to basically essentially subsidise Ghanaian farmers the way farmers subsidise in India, in the US, in the European Union, in China. Ghana needs to adopt that strategy by giving money, cheap loans or 0% interest loans to our farmers, giving them organic seedlings, not this GMO, because again, this is another issue that Mohammedine is so attacked. We don't want GMOs in Ghana, just can't modify food, because just can't modify food is basically poison that is designed to kill Africans, not just Ghanians but Africans. And we know GMO food. You know, even in parts of Europe they ban GMO because they know that it's dangerous to human consumption. And so, again, as part of agriculture strategy of the, the new NDC government, they must ensure that GMOs are irrigating again, because GMOs is not in our interest.

Speaker 1: 25:04

Gmo is basically poison, under the guise of, you know, food sustainability. Under the guise of, you know, food for all. Under the guise of making food affordable. Under the guise of, you know, making garden food sufficient, making garnish insufficient. No, our ancestors, our foremothers and forefathers did not use GMOs. They used natural organic seeds, natural organic fertilizers, natural organic, you know, to plant food, and they were doing that for hundreds of hundreds of hundreds of years. And so I urge the new energy government not to be hoodrinked by so called international investors, by these GMOs, but by having the nation's interest at heart and investing organic food, because that is what I said is right for all these years, and that is the health of food, not GMOs. And so the new government needs to have a strong agricultural policy whereby Ghana grows what it eats and it eats what it grows. Simple.

Speaker 1: 26:15

And now my last key area where this new government needs to focus on their health. Health is very, very poor in Ghana. Even the so-called African people, their health ain't that good, but because they've got the money to buy private healthcare, then at least they can be looked after in terms of illness, but generally, the public sector healthcare system in Ghana leads not to be desired, and COVID, the pandemic, exposed the flaws in Ghana's healthcare system. If it wasn't for the loans or the money that Guyana received from the WHO that gave Guyana a lot of money to tackle Covid, a lot of people would have died in Guyana because of the lack of proper basic fundamental healthcare and, on another tangent, because of this lack of basic fundamental healthcare. This is why a lot of Ghanaian professionals in the healthcare sector, ie doctors and nurses nurses in particular have left Ghana in the last three to four years to go into US, canada, uk, australia, because, like I mentioned before in one podcast it's like this is a one podcast, it's the government and it's not NGC.

Speaker 1: 27:45

This is a Ghana government thing governments of Ghana, since the Champong, have not invested in healthcare. We haven't even got incubators for our children. We haven't even got breast cancer screening machines. We haven't even got breast cancer screening machines. We haven't even got prostate cancer screening machines. Yeah, because of these wicked politicians who believe that because they've got diplomatic passports, they can go to the West or Asia and get healthcare treatment. What about the rest of us, and so the government again must invest in infrastructure. I'm not talking about building hospitals anyone can build a hospital but we're talking about cutting-edge technology like cancer screening machines, like you know, dialysis. Again, this is nothing that Ghana is suffering from.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Because of the bad health care in Ghana, many Ghanaians are suffering from kidney diseases, even young people under 30. How can a 30 year old and younger get kidney disease? Yeah, so this is because of this lack of good food. I'm talking about the food that a lot of food that we eat is poison. This imported meat in particular, imported meat from the European Union, from America, is poison. That's why Ghanians are suffering from kidney issues.

Speaker 1: 29:06

And when your kidney goes, that's it, because the kidney is like the engine of a car. If you buy a car and the engine is weak, that basically you go in the car. So, again, like the kidney, the kidney is the engine of your body. If the kidney becomes useless is the engine of your body. If the kidney becomes useless, you basically you're gonna die.

Speaker 1: 29:28

And so Ghana needs to invest wholesale in our healthcare, particularly public healthcare, where the majority of Ghanaians go toans, go to for their medical treatment, and also they need to expand the reach of the NHIS, the National Health Insurance Scheme, by making it more accessible to many Ghanaians, and also to ensure that illnesses like cancer, like type 2 diabetes, like kidney failure, are included within the National Health Insurance Scheme Because, believe it or not, health is your wealth. A healthy people is a wealthy people. Yet without a healthy nation, ghana is not going to reach the target that it set itself In terms of building a nation that we all can be proud of, and so it is incumbent on the Mahama government and the NDC to ensure that we have a first class health infrastructure and that we have first class healthcare delivery, and that we have first first-class health infrastructure and that we have first-class healthcare delivery and that we have first-class wellbeing as well, because Ghanaians are dying at rapid rates. Okay, so that brings to an end this edition of Ghana In Focus with myself, kwame.

Speaker 1: 30:57

Thank you very much for listening to this edition of Ghana In Focus.

Speaker 1: 31:01

Don't forget if you like what you hear, please share to your family, your friends, social media networks, subscribe to Ghana Africa In Focus on YouTube, subscribe to Africa Ghana In Focus on Spotify and, if you want to donate to the show to help us continue the great work that we are doing, bringing you great news from Ghana, from Africa then you can donate to us.

Speaker 1: 31:26

You just go on the website, the Ghana In Focus website, and click on the donate button and you can donate as little as three euros a month to help us bring some great content. And so next week's show we're going to look at health and why there's a global healthcare crisis in the African family, worldwide. You don't want to miss out. You don't want to miss that. There's a deep, deep crisis globally within the healthcare that African people around the world are facing. Alright, so until next week thank you very much for listening with the healthcare that African people around the world are facing, all right, so until next week. Thank you very much for listening and we'll see you in the next edition of Ghana, africa in Focus.