Ghana: Poverty on the rise despite interventions by the Church – Bishops lament

The Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference is lamenting what it describes as the continuous increase of poverty and hardships in the West African Country despite the numerous interventions made by the Church.

The Bishops at the opening of their 2022 Plenary Assembly in the Apostolic Vicariate of Donkorkrom said the development is resulting in an increase in vices in the country.

“Poverty and hardship are on the increase despite the interventions the Church has made to the
the economic life of the people,” President of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Philip Naameh said in what will become his last keynote address as leader of the Church in Ghana on November 7.

Ghana is currently having a tough time with its economy as there seems to be no end in sight for its challenges while the debt stock has hit unsustainable levels.

At the moment, Ghana’s inflation skyrocketed to 37.2% as of September 2022, the highest in the last 21 years.

The cedi has also lost value to major trading currencies, especially the dollar, in the last ten months and currently trading at almost GHc14 to a dollar.

Fuel prices are almost hitting the GHc 20 per litre mark, compelling transport operators increasing fares almost every week.

The development has led to calls for the resignation of Ghana’s Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta.

On October 25, some Majority Members of Parliament asked Ghana’s President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to remove his Finance Minister and the Minister of State at the ministry, Charles Adu Boahen, from office.

The move, the group said could help restore confidence in the Ghanaian economy.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu also filed a motion for the impeachment of the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta.

The Minority in the Ghanaian house of legislature called on their counterparts in the Majority Caucus to throw their weight behind the motion to garner the two-thirds majority of 183 MPs needed to push for the Finance Minister’s removal.

Despite the calls, the Ghanaian President insists there is no basis for him to sack his Finance Minister.

According to him, Ken Ofori-Atta has discharged his duties “excellently” and he cannot relieve such a person of his position.

President Akufo-Addo is reported in local media after an interview with OTEC FM to have said he has full confidence in the Minister who is his cousin.

He insisted that Ofori-Atta cannot be blamed for the current economic woes the country is facing.

On Saturday, November 5, hundreds of Ghanaians took to the streets in the capital, Accra, to register their
displeasure over current economic hardship in the country.

The protesters, clad in red and black, marched through some principal streets demanding the immediate resignation of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamadu Bawumia.

The over three hours protest dubbed “Kume Preko” commenced from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle through the 28th February Road to the Liberia Road and ended at Independence Square.

The protesters carried placards with various inscriptions such as, “resign or be impeached, Sika mp3 mismanagement, Electronic Transfer Levy Act, 2022 (Act 1075) is a killer law, new constitution for a new generation.