Ken Ofori-Atta and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at Parliament for the 2018 Mid-Year Budget review
File photo: Ken Ofori-Atta and Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia at Parliament for the 2018 Mid-Year Budget review

A Finance Lecturer, Angela Azuma Alu has said the government has to put in more efforts to lessen the current economic hardship in the country.

The government as part of measures to salvage the economy has cut down expenditure by 13 percent and also stopped allocating fuel coupons to the government appointees by 15 percent.

Additionally, the government appointees are also paying about 13 percent of their salaries into the consolidated fund so that the economy is placed on a good footing but Ghanaians are yet to see any improvement with these measures.

However, speaking to GHOne News the Finance Lecturer indicated that the government must take tougher decisions in order to have a meaningful improvement in the economy.

“These are good initiatives but too little and insignificant though these are efforts. But it demands harder decisions and greater sacrifices than this and it’s time to put Ghana first and look at what will make Ghana look better. Not just what will make us look good.

She likened Ghana’s economy to “having a wound and you just put a little plaster on it without dealing with the root cause of it. So what is likely to happen is that the wound will begin to fester. If you don’t take care, maybe you may end up taking parts of the body if it gets infested badly.”

Meanwhile, the Dean of the University of Cape Coast Business School, Prof. John Gatsi has advised the government to open up for new ideas in order to salvage the economy from its present state.

According to the economist, Ghana’s current economic woes are as a result of the handlers of the economy using the same unachievable strategies over time.

“It is the same old strategy that we are doing that has landed us in this problem. The same strategies that are not working when you hear from the Finance Minister it’s the same strategy.

“So I think that that is where we have gotten to. We should remember that Ghana is just one country with people with different persuasions and orientation,” Mr. Gatsi told Starr News.

He advised that this is the time the government must be humble enough to bring together best brains and other ideas on board.

“Let us forget that in 2014 the NPP announced to its members that they shouldn’t participate in national consensus to revive the economy. Let us put away that kind of crying and pettiness and realize that the International community wants us to showcase that we have realized that we are in trouble. And in this crisis the solution is not in the hands of the President and his team alone,” the Economist advised.

Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM