Gov’t Can’t Be Blamed Wholly For Our Woes- Energy And Research Director

Executive Director for the Institute for Energy Policy and Research Mr. Kwadwo Opoku has stated that Ghanaians cannot blame the government wholly for our woes because the country is not a socialist country.

He explained that a socialist country has all spheres of the country’s economy controlled by the government where all decisions are made by the government. On the other hand, a capitalist country like Ghana is a free-range economy where most of the economic activities are controlled by the individual. As such, the government has a limited role in making decisions in taking care of these activities.

Mr. Kwadwo Opoku emphasized that due to the lack of education on the type of economic system the country is practicing has led to the constant blame on the government meanwhile the private sector plays a major role in the growth of the economy.

According to him, the private workers complain to the government when something goes wrong without complaining to their private employers, but the government does not control our day-to-day activities. The same way the government is being blamed for the rise in commodities prices while the government is not in control of those prices.

He further explained that the government as we say refers to the Ghanaian people but not to a particular entity. For this reason, the people are made to pay taxes in administering the country. He highlighted that most of the time, politicians pervert the system by giving promises they know it is not included in their responsibilities to the extent of promising people jobs which they know they cannot deliver.

Touching on the payment of salaries, he disclosed that half of the country’s total revenue is used for paying the salaries of government employees.

According to him, the total revenue of the country is about GHC 55 billion out of which GHC 32 billion is allotted for paying salaries which is not encouraging at all.

This obviously indicates that the country apparently lacks enough revenue for development and despite all these, people still look forward to the government for employment.

He stated, the government does not have full control in the deciding factor of the economic activities as a capitalist country.

“It is about time we decide to know the kind of economic system that will most suit the country, if we opt for socialism then the government takes full control to steer the economic affairs of the country”, he concluded.

Source: Opemsuo.com/ Effah Mensah William