Government needs to get into survival mode – Ken Thompson

Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance, Ken Thompson, says it is about time government channels its expenditure into sectors that will improve the condition of living in Ghana.

He was referring to the ballooning public debt and expenditure amidst an economic downturn and its resultant economic hardship on Ghanaians.

The CEO listed the health sector, education sector, security and food sectors, and the private sector as key areas the government must focus on.

“From where I sit Ghana needs to move to survival mode now and we need to focus on how we make the ordinary Ghanaian survive. It is survival mode now. The point I’m trying to make is that we can’t afford not to do anything now and let’s focus on supporting in this survival mode the ordinary Ghanaian,” he said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.

Ken Thompson said it was imperative for government to ensure basic health care for all Ghanaians.

He called for investments into health infrastructure, the health insurance scheme and other health-centered programmes to ensure quality healthcare delivery.

Speaking on education, he reiterated calls for the scrapping of the boarding school system.

“We cannot afford this boarding school system, it’ll kill us, it is killing us. I mean, go to any school… it’s pathetic. We can’t afford it,” he added.

According to him, in its stead, the government can introduce a new system where parents who want their children in boarding schools can pay hostel fees to the school among others.

“And if you want your child to go to Adisadel or Achimota, we can have a system where you pay for the hostel fees… And if you go to countries with good educational systems the people that go to boarding school pay through their nose and the rest go to public schools which are community-based,” he said.

He called for more investment into security as well.

He said the rise in violent extremism outside of the country’s borders is a matter of grave concern and must be prevented from spilling into the country.

“Security is important because we’re aware of things that are happening outside our borders and we don’t want an overspill to disrupt the little peace that we have, and let’s not take that for granted,” he said.

On food, he said government must do more to ensure food security and arrest the rapid food inflation that continues to double food prices every few months.

“I mean food inflation in Ghana now is nearly 50%, I think it’s probably more. That means that nearly every 12, 13, 16 months or so prices double. There are Ghanaians that are going to bed hungry as we speak every day. This is survival. And if our politicians don’t understand it, we’ve got to make them understand,” he said.

“As for the list of expenditures to cut, the list is so long I don’t want to go there, but focus on getting us to survive, focus on getting ordinary Ghanaians to survive , focus on not lying to us, focus on showing us that you understand the issues and give the private sector room to work.

“I mean as private sector there are so many obstacles and we lack inspiration. If you want to do business in Ghana you give up. What is wrong with us?” he added.

Source: Ghana News