The Sources of Growth

I have watched with keen interest the claims by this Government for the relative economic success this country is enjoying over the last decade. Mr Arthur Kennedy must be told that the best performing sectors that are driving the growth is the result of at least two decades reforms. The explosive growth in the Financial sector is the result of the various FINSAP reforms over the years coupled with the coincidence of good reforms in Nigeria. The growth in the service sector especially in the Tourism and Telecom sub sectors are the fruits of about a decade of persistent reforms and innovations which the NPP alone cannot claim for itself. Lets try and do a simple arithmetic of the $16bn nominal GDP being bandied about.Out of this figure , we are told $4bn comes from inwards remittances of underemployed Ghanaian living abroad while the telecom sector alone contributes not less than $3bn to the economy.The financial sector contributes not less than $3bn while the mining sector add about $1.5bn.These figures adds up to $11.5bn. These figures account for the lopsided nature of the growth which is the result of the widening income inequality as noted by the 2007 Human Development Report. the NPP has to be more ambitious and stop this glorification mediocrity.

BATTLE FOR THE SOUL

The Religionist Lobby in Ghana Extend Their War Into the Classroom The Bishops, Reverends, Pastors, Evangelists, Apostles, Prophets, Prophetesses Prayer Warriors etc in the church crazy nation of Ghana are on the warpath. They are cross at what they describe as “the Godless nature of the new Educational Reform” Apparently the new Education Reform had deleted the ‘Religious and Moral Education’ (RME) course from the Elementary school syllabi. The Catholic bishop Conference of Ghana issued a strongly worded statement condemning the omission. Furthermore they instructed the heads of all catholic sponsored but government assisted schools to implement a strict daily regime of religious teaching. The powerful Christian council of Ghana -which is a pressure group comprising all the churches on Ghana (and is an awful lot of them) - has joined the fray and has demanded the reinstitution of the RME without delay. My opinion on this issue is that the battle is really one to convert young impressionable minds into Christianity. At such a young age it is pretty easy to pump religious dogmas into the heads of people and you’re sure it will stick for a lifetime. I quite remember that my brush with RME during my school days was a dominated by passages from the bible and overt Christian proselytizing. The burgeoning church industry sees it survival in the young ones coming through and it is desperate to lock a steady stream of followers for the future. However what the Religious Zealots forget is that Ghana is a Secular Constitutional entity than guarantees the religious freedoms of all manners of persons with any form religious believe whilst the state maintains a neutral religious posture .However the reality of RME is that it teaches Christianity to young impressionable minds using the platform provided by a supposedly religious-neutral state. Again the threat by the catholic Bishops to compel head teachers to enforce catholic values is taking it too far.