Professor Aaron Mike Oquaye, a former speaker of parliament, has cautioned that import dependence must be severely reduced to prevent Ghana’s return to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
He claims that if the inefficient use of natural resources and existing reliance on imports are not corrected, Ghana may be forced to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance within the next six years.
Speaking at the second R. S. Blay Memorial lectures with the title “Consolidating Democracy and the Rule of Law in Contemporary Ghana: If Justice R.S. Blay were with us using the Law as An Instrument of Social, Political and Economic Engineering,” Prof. Oquaye emphasized the pressing need for a thorough and technocratic discussion on Ghana’s strategy for harnessing its natural resources.
Speaking about recent crises and their effects on the world economy, Prof. Oquaye emphasized that drastic action must be taken to reduce Ghana’s reliance on imports and fully utilize its mineral resources, or the country will continue to be vulnerable to the IMF’s intervention.
“We need to review how we use our natural resources. We ought to consider ourselves less dependent on imports. We will suffer if we must import Ukrainian wheat for our bread, but that is today’s awful situation for our country. We all go to the Tema or Takoradi Ports every day to buy our food and clothing, so the problem of import dependency needs to be addressed right away. Otherwise, every six years, we shall visit the IMF.
“Now that Ghana has contacted the IMF 17 times, what do you think men like R. S. Blay would think about Ghana after that? We would, in my opinion, require a fresh strategy for a national orientation. What is occurring to our bauxite, diamonds, and gold? Are we using oil to its fullest potential if we have it? What kind of oil contracts do we have? Who drafts the agreements? Do they have the necessary knowledge? Who gives the contracts their approval?
