Worrisome meanings of different data sets in Ghana’s Budget Statement and IMF COVID-19 loan document

1.          The revelation that “government shared different macroeconomic data with Ghanaians and IMF” has placed Ghana at a crossroad of falsifying concern (Ghanaweb, May 08, 2020). Three worrisome meanings in the realm of policy and decision-making can be construed from this palpable action as related to issues of: (a) credibility, integrity and authenticity; (b) transparency, accountability and participation; and (c) inherent frailty and hanging character of the administrative state. The downsides of these factors reassert the urgency of autonomous local government based on the Blended Representation Principle (BRP) of governance in Ghana.

2.           Undoubtedly, indicators of Fiscal Deficits, Primary Balance, Current Account Balance, Gross International Reserves, among others, speak volumes of the health of any economy. At any point, sharing two different data sets on these vital elements automatically subjects the country policy statements to the test of credibility, integrity and authenticity. And if found wanting, then the critical tenets of trust and respect for the governing operational procedures are thrown into the dustbin. The question remains which of these data set is right and accurate; and what else of government pronouncements is false. Not only does this action feeds into the negative narrative and corridor jokes of the twin Bretton Woods institutions that data from African countries are susceptible to “falsehood”, it undermines the goodwill of the country within the international community.

3.           Presenting a set of facts on the economy to citizens and thereafter the same set of facts presented differently to another audience means there is lack of transparency in dealings between the rulers and the ruled. The rulers are enamored to engage in such distortions by the absence or weak mechanism of accountability manifested in autonomous local government acting as institutional checks on national executive official behavior. Such an act may also be driven by the calculation that citizen participation in governance is mainly active in periodic elections devoid of systematic scrutiny of macroeconomic data by the broader public.   

4.           Government officials mainly get away with flagrant display of opaque actions because the administrative state of the country is inherently frail and hanging. This situation is an albatross on the necks of Africans as the nation states have been constructed and operated in response to the needs of the privileged educated few – a situation which requires urgent change to accommodate the needs of the majority.

5.           It is to induce such a change in the governing structures that the A&A Network and partners have persistently advocated the adoption and implementation of the BRP in Ghana. Simply put, the BRP ensures the mandate to govern is shared among partisan-based elected officials at the national level, and the traditional authorities at the local level. In a word, local government is administered under the leadership of traditional authorities, and national government under the leadership of partisan-based elected officials. For more information on BRP and related policy blogs, please visit the A&A Network (www.anani-afelenetwork.org).

May 08, 2020