A WELL-DESERVED APPLAUSE FOR EFFECTIVE COVID-19 MANAGEMENT

The whole world is saddled with a pandemic that is a veritable threat, not only to our very existence as human beings or Ghanaians, for that matter, but global development.

This cannot be denied by anybody. And it is without regard to where we sit as political animals in Ghana.

From Thailand and Indonesia, through India to China, managing the pandemic has been quite a task for every nation, with the US, China, Brazil, UK and other top European economies not excluded.

So dire is the situation that even several very well-endowed countries are returning to ‘lockdown economies,’ unsure about which social protection programmes to initiate to ignite recovery.

Significantly, some of these countries are along the same tropical belt like us here in Ghana and Africa, for that matter. Yet, it appears that we may be doing something extra that may not be within their grasp.

Repeating a great feat

Ghana, like most other global economies, both great and small, was among the rest of the teeming nations which underwent the lockdown. As we would, however, recall, we dusted ourselves and took precautionary measures by adhering strictly to the World Health Organisation and Ghana Health Service safety protocols, and scored among the first in Africa and even Europe.

Along with that feat came credible, unassailable reports that we were in the list of the fastest growing economies before the pandemic struck. Ghana was being recognised by the world as a modest player and major partner in global business and development.

Unlike Ghana in 2012, up to 2016 under John Mahama, whose administration had lost international credibility, the government under Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had friends knocking on our doors as partners in business and national development.

COVID-19 support

It is therefore refreshing that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other development partners continued to offer us support to strengthen our structures and initiate social protection programmes. As we would admit, that worked and the fear that businesses would lay off workers and jeopardise livelihoods distilled.

That support also helped in reinforcing our grip on our agricultural initiatives, including enhancing our position as key regional food security actors.

In commending Ghana for our effective management of the Covid-19 pandemic, the IMF noted that we had managed to weather the storm by engineering strong policies, which, in its opinion, are key in enabling us perform better next time.

That is enough encouragement to spur us on in retaining our position as a fast-growing economy. But that also means that we have to work harder by re-enforcing those structures to enable us fix the things that we need to fix in effectively delivering our developmental goals.