Ghana in Focus: Why Ghana does not need USAID

The announcement of Donald Trump’s decision to halt USAID funding in Ghana has generated a flurry of discussion, igniting debates about dependency on foreign aid, the implications for Ghana's economy, and the future of self-reliance in Africa. In this episode of Ghana in Focus, we tackle these pressing issues, exploring whether ending this aid could present a unique opportunity for Ghana to redefine development from an African perspective.

At the core of this discussion is the longstanding dependency that many African nations, including Ghana, have developed on foreign aid. The fact that Ghana receives around 150 million dollars annually from USAID has been seen by some as a crutch. There’s a growing notion among critics that such aid is often laden with strings attached, conditioning nations to conform to the mandates of donors rather than invest in home-grown solutions. This leads to questions surrounding sovereignty and self-determination, which our discussion ventures into deeply.

Furthermore, an analysis of where these funds actually go reveals a disheartening truth. Nearly half of the annual USAID budget is allocated to health programs, which at first glance may seem beneficial. However, upon deeper scrutiny, it becomes apparent that this money also finances administrative costs and salaries for foreign agency employees. Consequently, a significant portion of aid does not directly benefit the local population, prompting the question of whether these funds are truly effective or merely perpetuate a cycle of dependence.

As such, the conversation shifts towards the pressing need for Ghana to cultivate its internal resources. The staggering figures concerning corruption within the public sector, amounting to 2.5 billion dollars each year, juxtaposed against the 150 million in foreign aid, signify that self-sufficiency is not only possible but essential. If the government can rein in corruption and illegal activities such as gold smuggling—costing an estimated 5 billion dollars—the country could feasibly sustain its own development without reliance on international aid.

The episode further encourages listeners to rethink what development means from an African standpoint. Trump’s departure from traditional aid models can be viewed not simply as an ending but as an unprecedented opportunity for African nations to devise strategies rooted in their own context. By leveraging local research and grassroots initiatives, Ghana can begin to address the actual needs of its citizens rather than adhering to externally imposed frameworks for growth.

In conclusion, Trump’s halt of USAID funding can be perceived as a wake-up call for Ghana to chart its own model of development

Chapters

• 0:04 USAID Withdrawal
• 12:02 African Self-Reliance Post-Usaid Withdrawal

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome to this week's edition of Ghana in Focus with myself Kwame, ghanaian broadcaster, writer, entrepreneur and podcaster. And in this week's edition of Africa, ghana in Focus, it's the saga about Donald Trump and pulling USAID out of Ghana and Africa. Is this an opportunity or does it pose a threat? So that's this week's discussion. We're going to talk about health, but because of this hoopla about USAID and Donald Trump, we'll put health to next week. And so, before we go into the podcast, if you love what you hear, please share with your friends, family, social media networks. Please subscribe to africa or ghana african folks on youtube. We want to get at least 100 subscribers this year. Please subscribe to ghana african folks on youtube. It's free to subscribe. It's with anything. And also, when you subscribe on YouTube, just click the notification bell, meaning that every time I upload a new podcast, youtube will notify you. Again, with Spotify as well. Look out for Ghana AfricanFolks on Spotify and click follow, meaning that every time I upload a new podcast, spotify will notify you. So far on Spotify, we've got 570 subscribers, we meaning that every time I upload a new podcast, spotify will notify you. So far on Spotify, we've got 570 subscribers. We want to get to about 1,000 this year. So please tell your friends, family, about this great, interesting podcast called Ghana Africa in Focus.

Speaker 1: 1:40

All right, so let's get into the podcast, talking about the hoopla in Ghana and around the continent about Donald Trump's decision to not suspend but basically to permanently for now halt, all US AID programs in Ghana and in Pasifika. For me, I think it's a fantastic thing that Trump has done, because, you know, this aid so called aid that the European gives us is not free. There's always conditions attached to this aid. Yeah, and these conditions make you dependent on this aid. Yeah, and these conditions make you dependent on this aid for your survival. And, as the great master Garvey said, any nation that depends on the white man for their survival sooner or later dies. And this is a classic example of how African governments like Ghana have allowed these Western bodies like USAID to become part of the fabric by, you know, using their aid money to put into things that Ghana can do itself. So I'll do some research.

Speaker 1: 3:02

The other day, and apparently Ghana gets run about 150 million dollars a year from USAID. Yeah, so before I go into the comparisons of that, 150 million does nothing. That's what Ghana should be getting from oil alone Oil receipts alone should be giving Ghana more than 150 dollars a month. Yeah, sorry, a year, 150 million dollars a year. Also, let's not forget that Guyanese in the diaspora send home each year more than 2 billion US dollars, yeah, yeah. So this 150 million dollars that we get from USA is nothing, so dropping issues, nothing.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Also, like I mentioned before in another podcast, public theft in Ghana every year for the last eight years has cost, cost Ghana over $2.5 billion a year. Yeah, and you want to cry about $150 million you're getting from USAID? I don't think so. So let's now move on to what this money is used for in Ghana. So this $150 million about $70 billion of that, which is basically nearly half of that money million dollars, about 70 million of that, which is basically nearly half of that money goes to education. Yeah, education programs in Ghana, I beg your pardon, health, sorry. So out of that 150 million dollars we get from USAID every year, nearly half of that goes into health programs and the rest gets into education, agriculture, economic growth and governance.

Speaker 1: 4:56

And so my thing is that is Ghana really going to suffer because we're not going to get 150 million dollars anymore, because Donald Trump has decided that the USAID is a fraud organisation. It's a corrupt organisation, and he needs to put a plug on that. The truth of the matter is that America is bankrupt. America broke just like. The whole of the matter is that America is bankrupt. America broke just like the whole of the Western societies. They're broke. They're in severe debt. Right, america has a national debt of more than $30 trillion. Britain UK has a debt of more than 4.5 trillion pounds. France, despite looting its African colonies, has a national debt of nearly 5 trillion euros. All these other countries within the European Union Spain, germany, belgium, the Netherlands all of them are broke, they're in debt, and so they have to find ways in which they can reduce this debt that is hanging around their neck like an albatross, and so-called foreign aid is one of the ways in which they can leverage find some leverage in order to spend that money back home. So what Trump is doing is saying that when he meant America first, america first, people don't really understand what he means. But this is, this is what he means.

Speaker 1: 6:34

So, rather than give a US aid money, right, that's not helping US citizens. Right, and that is fueling, you know, corruption from their part, because let's not make it. Yeah, ghana gets $150 million, right, really. But Ghana does not really get $150 million Because some of the money goes into admin costs. Some of the money goes to the country director of USID in Ghana. Some of the money goes to these white boys and girls you see in ghana, yeah, as as workers. Yeah, some of this 150 million dollars also goes into um buying four by four cars. Some of the money also goes to paying rent to the country director of usid and his and their staff. Because, let's not forget maybe, maybe you're not aware, but I know this for a fact Most of these so-called aid, these Western aid organizations in Africa, right, most of their big men live large right.

Speaker 1: 7:37

For example, the country director of USAID, right, he's on a six-figure salary a year and it's meant to be a charity. This same country director of USAID, right, he's on a six-figure salary a year and it's meant to be a charity. This same country director of USAID, right, lives in the 7,000 US dollar a month property in Accra. He got four by four. He got free cook. He got maid. He got chef, he got gardener. Yeah, he got a chef, he got a gardener, yeah. So this so-called aid money, why isn't really being used for the purposes of what it says it's supposed to do. So.

Speaker 1: 8:14

In Ghana, we get this $150 million from USAID every year goes to education. Health, which is mainly around HIV AIDS. Economic growth, which mainly is around HIV AIDS. Economic growth, which mainly is about propping up the city by buying US dollars. Rather than having gold reserves, we buy US dollars with some of that $150 million.

Speaker 1: 8:38

Agriculture, which is basically all about GMOs, and then governance yeah, does Ghana really benefit from this $150 million? Because our education is not all that. Our healthcare needs a lot to be desired, as I mentioned before. Our economic growth we are now in the IMF bailout, showing you that Ghana has not really achieved significant economic growth in the last decade. Agriculture so if this USAID aid was put into agriculture, are we food sufficient in Ghana? No, we're not. Food inflation is a major headache in Ghana. Like I said before, many Ghanaian families are struggling to make ends meet. Yeah, agriculture is not about organic foods. It's about GMOs Genetically modified organisms which damage the body, and so, for me, ghana has not benefited one iota From this $150 million that we get from USID and, like I said, it's a very good thing that the US has under Trump.

Speaker 1: 9:56

Trump is saying that he's going to withdraw this money from Ghana and Africa, and I'm happy with that. Why? Because it makes us less dependent on their aid. Because, like I said, aid is used as a tool, as leverage, to get control over you, yeah. And secondly, we don't need the money, but let me come on to this dependent thing thing, right. Ghana does not need.

Speaker 1: 10:19

And I said, secondly, we don't need the money, but let me come on to this dependent thing thing, right, ghana does not need $150 million from USAID, right, we don't need to depend on this money. Why? Two key reasons. One, like I said before, ghana loses the equivalent of $2.5 billion a year because of corruption in the public sector by public sector workers. Secondly, ghana loses 5 billion US dollars a year because of illegal smuggling. Yeah. So if the new NDC government is able to rein in corruption within the public sector by making it difficult for public sector workers to steal money literally steal money and also making it difficult for those wicked Ghanians who want to smuggle gold outside of Ghana, that means we will save at least 5 billion dollars. And you're crying about 150 million dollars when we can actually save 5 billion dollars. Right, and you're crying about one and you're crying about 150 million dollars when we can actually save five billion dollars.

Speaker 1: 11:26

Another reason why we don't need this money is, like I said, as, as ghana is, but borders african people, we need to be dependent sorry, we need to be independent of the white man. We don't need to be independent of the white man, we don't need to be dependent on them, and this $150 million that we get from America, it makes us dependent on this money. So, now that Trump has said we're not going to give you Ghana $150 million, what are you going to do now? How are you going to plug the gap? Well, I told you how you're going to plug the gap, but it boils down to that.

Speaker 1: 12:02

You know, ghana and other african countries need now to look inwardly. So, rather than look outward, look inwardly as to how we're going to. You know, get our own money to to fund education, health, agriculture, governance, agriculture, governance, etc. And so this, for me, this step that Trump has taken to take out USAID from Ghana and other African countries, is, for me, a very, very good thing, and it presents an opportunity for us, as African people, to be dependent, to be self-reliant, and this is why what's happening in Mali, burkina Faso and Niger is very, very innovative, because these three leaders, spearheaded by Ibram Chorwe, are saying that we are sick and tired of being your slave, we are sick and tired of being your subordinates. We are now taking our destiny into our own hands. So, rather than be dependent on you, we are being independent on ourselves. And so Ghana. This is what Ghana needs to do. So, rather than cry over spoiled milk or spilled milk that you are no longer going to get $150 million from USAID, this is a big opportunity now for Ghana to become self-reliant and, like I said before, we do not need $150 million from America for these programmes that I've just mentioned. The money is in Ghana. We can do that ourselves. All we've got to do is cut corruption and stop the illegal smuggling of gold, and we've got more than enough to cover the $150 million that we're going to lose from USID. Because, at the end of the day, it's about being independent and being self-reliant and being able to determine one's own destiny, one's own future, by having pragmatic steps about development.

Speaker 1: 14:07

Again, this thing that Trump has done, like I said, is a very good thing, because now the game has changed, because USAID and other European Western development companies. They were telling you what kind of development that you need. So now that Trump is saying no more aid, it now redefines what development is, what development should look like and what development should be from an African centred perspective. So now we can now use pragmatic strategic policies to incorporate our own framework in terms of what development is like, because, again, people don't know this. But when these people give you money, they dictate what areas, because they've got their own researchers on the ground and they've got their own people on the ground that do research in Ghana about the key sectors of our economy and where the money could be spent upon.

Speaker 1: 15:16

We, as Guyanians, should be doing that research. So we should. We should have researchers in the ground because a lot of African Christians do research. So we should do our own research in Ghana and say what are the key areas that is affecting populations? What are the key indices that is affecting our country's governance? What are the key indices that is affecting our country's growth? What are the key indices that is affecting our country's governance? What are the key indices that is affecting our country's growth? What are the key indices that is affecting, you know, ghana's ability to transform itself from a dependent country and the country that is resource rich, into a country that can manufacture things and can be a first world economy.

Speaker 1: 16:03

And so for me, the game has changed in terms of now what Trump has said and he said that longer that Africa is a shithole right, he didn't think he meant what he said. So now the man has revealed himself that he doesn't give a a touch about Africa. He never has, he never will, and he's showing his true colours by removing USAID from Africa and from Ghana. And for me, well done, trump. Well, well done, because now we now can call the shots in terms of development. We can use our own internally generated resources yeah, from corrupt activities and from stopping gold smuggling. We can use some of that money now to develop an agenda which is in our national interest, not in America's interest, not in UK's interest, not in America's interest, not in UK's interest, not in Europe's interest, but in Ghana and Africa's interest.

Speaker 1: 17:06

It's far too long Aid has been used as a second carrot to say that if you don't do what I say, you ain't going to get this aid money. And we know that some of this so-called aid money has been tied in to the lgbtq agenda in that we'll give you aid, money, right to build a school, hospital, right, providing you buy into this lgbtq culture. Yeah, and that's not African culture. Like I said before, it is something that they want to impose on us, right? And because they think that they can bully us with this cheap money, then a lot of African countries succumb to this, and so, in closing, trump has done Africa a favour by removing US aid.

Speaker 1: 17:59

It now will make us more creative in terms of thinking of strategies that we can use for our own developmental agenda, as opposed to somebody else's developmental agenda. Two, it can make us more self-reliant in that we don't need aid money for our education, for our healthcare and wellbeing, for our culture, governance, etc. We can find that money by being creative, by using other resources that we can use to fund those vital programmes used to fund those vital programs. C, it makes us less dependent on the Western agencies, who use aid as a tool, a weapon, a weapon in their neo-geo-political games at Devon, africa.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Fourth, it made us self-reliant in terms of doing for ourselves, and all the great leaders that we've had, from Marcus Garvey, malcolm X, kwame Nkrumah, patrice Mumba to President Ibn Choui all of them have stated that, as African people, we've got to do for ourselves. Start begging the white man, start thinking he's going to come with money. You've got to do for yourself. And, lastly, it makes us rely on our own people, africa, rather than relying on the West and China, india. Because what will happen now? Because the USAID have now decided that it will not give any more aid to Ghana and Africa, that will open the door for Chinese and Russia to come in. But we've got to be smart as Ghanaians, smart as Africans, and say that Russia and China, they don't have a best interest at all. All they care about is their national interest. Yeah, and as Ghanaians and Africans, right, we've got to care what's in the best interest of Ghana and the best interest of Africa. And taking their aid money is definitely not in the best interest of Ghana and definitely not in the best interest of Africa. And so I welcome Donald Trump's decision to end USAID investments in Africa and Ghana, and it's high time that that happened, because for far too long, aid has been used as a stick and a carrot which beats up African countries and make them squirm to your developmental agenda.

Speaker 1: 20:28

And so I thank you for listening to this edition of Ghana in Focus with myself, kwame, ghanaian broadcaster, writer, podcaster and entrepreneur. Next week, we'll be talking about health, the global health crisis in the African community, and so until next week, please don't forget to subscribe to Ghana African Focus on YouTube, africa Ghana Focus on Spotify, and if you'd like to donate to the show to help us produce more great content from Ghana and from the African continent, you can go on the website. Just look out for Ghana Africa In Focus, and you can donate as little as three US dollars a month to help us with our running costs. And so, from myself, kwame, and from the crew here on Ghana In Focus, it's thank you very much for listening and until next week. Have yourselves a great week, whatever you're doing. Bye, bye for now.