Ghanaians behave like KG kids – Min. of Food and Agric

• Posted on May 7, 2015May 7, 2015
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Minister of Food and Agriculture, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, says Ghanaians behave like kids when it comes to doing what is right.

Like kindergarten kids, he said, “Somebody must hold a cane before we (Ghanaians) do what is right.”

This was when he sought to shield government from being blamed for the high interest rate and increasing cost of goods and services in the country.

He was reacting to the outcome of a stakeholders’ forum put together by the Trade and Industry Ministry in conjunction with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) on the high cost of credit and its implications for the country.

There was a general consensus that the country’s high interest rate was a result of poor management of the country’s   macro-economic fundamentals which they charged the government and the managers of the economy to address.

But speaking on Accra-based Citi FM morning show programme, Fifi Kwetey, former deputy minister of finance, said it is the responsibility of citizens to make a conscious effort to do away with the “pricing mentality that simply wants to go for the kill at the least opportunity” and that “…this habit of crossing our arms and expecting a miracle to happen from above is not going to take this country anywhere.”

He therefore disagreed to suggestions that government was responsible for the increasing spate of interest rate, blaming the citizenry and financial institutions as the causes of the problem.

For him, blaming an unstable economy on the government is unacceptable because even when governments work to stabilize the economy, interest rates remain high “so it’s not at all an issue about current instability – no!”

Instead, he said financial institutions in the country keep giving various excuses, ranging from high policy rate, treasury bill rate, high non-performing loans, as being the cause of the high interest rate for which reason “it tells you that there is something within our pricing that constantly ants to go for the kill.”

He described this as a “dysfunctional behaviour… that throws the whole economy out of gear.”

According to the agriculture minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Ketu South, the situation where Ghanaians continuously blame the government for the many problems the country faces is a means of “seeking justifications in order to excuse our cultural decadence…”

He stated that until “we look into the mirror and see the reflection of ourselves and accept that this is us in order to start to collectively make a move forward, we will continue turning around in circles.”

Fifi Kwetey therefore stressed the need for a national discourse to tackle the problem.

“What we can do is to talk about it…We don’t build a nation without consciousness. All over the world, nations are built when citizens awaken to their responsibilities. Obviously, this awakening can start with a conversation that is not supposed to stop at the level of government. These are things that people need to start taking responsibility for. There are things that government definitely wants to do but there are things that individuals need to take responsibility for. That responsibility must be assumed on both sides,” he emphasized.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu