Another Ghanaian came up with an ingenious way of producing clean diesel fuel from plants. This diesel is better for the environment--yet he too received no support from Ghana government or the international community. The list of potential runs long. Why will government not get behind some of these folks and drive Ghana's own industrial revolution. Some complain that solar panels are expensive. Ok how about harnessing biogas. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Ghana has come up with so many research and inventions--each a potential revenue generation avenue for Ghana--yet most of their research gathers dust on shelves. There seems to be a broken feedback loop between government and research and development in Ghana. This should be fixed.
Third, each year the nation of Ghana loses tax revenue from trade misinvoicing to the tune of an estimated $386 million per year. These are from under and over invoicing of export and imports among others. Plugging these leakages can save the nation so much money--enough to go around. Sadly, even when patriotic Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas provides government with video evidence of customs and police officials bankrupting the nation through illicit processes, no serious actions are taken to reprimand culprits or plug leakages. This leads to the assumption that there are entrenched positions in government--the present or former--who benefit from these leakages.
There has been much talk about the depreciating cedi which leads me to a fourth avenue of revenue generation that government can explore. All telecom companies in Ghana are owned by foreigners much like Ghana gold extracting industry. These transnational entities periodically transfer colossal sums of money out of the country. It is colossal because most Ghanaians use mobile telephony because landlines are not as easily accessible. Each time the transfers takes place, Ghana's fragile economy reels. This is same for other transnational corporations in Ghana. Government must revisit and renegotiate agreements so that these transfers do not cause such instability to Ghana's economy.
Finally it's time Ghana's government gives Ghanaians a stake in their national resource. It was surprising to learn that Ghana's share in the gold mining corporations within its borders is currently 0%. Also some of these telecom companies should be given to indigenous people so that the money stays within Ghana's economy.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
