A former Finance Minister, Prof. Kwesi Botchwey wants naysayers to cut successive governments some slack.
According to Prof. Kwesi Botchwey, unlike how some present it, the country has made some significant progress after independence.
“We’ve come a very long way in our development journey as a nation since independence. Of course we have made progress since then, a lot of it. To deny this is to do a great disservice. We have grown our GDP significantly, even our HDI has seen some improvements.”
He however said the country’s efforts, though notable is still lower than the world average.
“Behind all the sounds and furious claims and counter claims; which may not be borne out of facts, we clearly have not succeeded in liberating our full potential as a nation.”
“The counties with whom we started the development race are now knocking on the doors of the first world while we desperately cling to the more ranks of middle-income,”he added.
He said with the pace at which the country is going, it will not be able to move a bulk of its poor out of poverty in another generation.
He further proposed some solutions to the country’s economic woes.
Prof. Botchwey was delivering a public lecture on the theme, ‘On the State of the Nation’s Economy and Politics: 65 years after independence – The Path to Sustainable Development and Democratic Consolidation.’
The lecture, organised by the OneGhana Movement in partnership with the University of Ghana Department of Economics and School of Social Sciences was designed to provide a constructive platform for engaging and shaping solutions for the socio-economic challenges and prospects of Ghana.
