Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr has said Ghana should be ashamed for resorting to constant borrowing from the West instead of working to reap maximum benefits from its natural resources.
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Ghana should be ashamed for constant borrowing – Kwesi Pratt
According to him, Ghanaian cocoa farmers have been cheated for so long a time that it sometimes become frustrating for these farmers.
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“We should be deeply worried and ashamed that in spite of all the resources we have, if we still can’t make ends meet, we should be worried,” he remarked.
Last week, Ghana succeeded in issuing its fourth Eurobond after it was forced to cut back on initial figures to get a better rate for the bond.
Kwesi Pratt observed that managers of the nation must be blamed for failing to negotiate great deals on the raw materials exported to the international market.
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He asked, “if we are producing gold and we are getting less than 3 percent of export, why won’t we borrow? Why won’t we allow European leaders whose countries are much smaller than ours both in terms of resources and land space to kick us around?”
“If we were getting even 50% of the value of gold being exported from this country, will it be necessary to go for Eurobond at whatever percent; will it be necessary? It’s incredible!” he fumed.
He further stated that exporting cocoa beans in its raw form “doesn’t make sense” because no economy can be effectively managed if the huge chunk of the nation’s exports are raw materials.
Kwesi Pratt stressed that a country that has to borrow before running its economy must take a critical look at its management system.
He suggested that it is high time government took steps to widen the tax net to rake in more revenue to support the economy.
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“We have always been talking about widening the tax net. Just a reform of our tax system – the amount of money it will bring in. We have been talking over the last 20 to 30 years about widening the tax net. We’ve spoke about it so much but nothing has happened to widening the tax net. I am not talking about increasing the level of taxation but just widening the net,” he said.
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