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Newspaper headlines review and other matters arising in Ghana.

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Transcript
00:00 Hello there, welcome back on the News Review, well welcome back on the AM Show
00:05 and it's time now for the News Review. We're joined by former presidential
00:10 candidate of the Progressive People's Party, Bridget Jogbenuku. She joins us
00:16 shortly for a conversation. But before we do that, Endpoint Homeopathic Clinic
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01:23 end to chronic disease. But bringing us to the start of the news review, I'd like
01:28 to say a very good morning to Bridget Jogbenuku. How are you?
01:33 Morning Ben, I'm very well thank you. How are you? And good morning to your viewers and
01:40 I suppose listeners maybe. Yes, there are some who, you know there are those
01:46 who turn on the TV but their eyeballs are not on the images but they are doing
01:51 something else and they are listening to what is happening. So I think it makes
01:54 sense to say listeners as well. Anyway, it's good to hear from you like we
01:59 usually do when you're on the show. You're a businesswoman. How is business?
02:02 Yesterday we heard from the Finance Minister. He says yes on the back of
02:07 COVID-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian War we faced a lot of challenges, the
02:12 exigencies and all of that. But we shall come out of it and God willing things
02:17 are headed in a positive direction. Do you see that positivity out there? The
02:23 dollar, the exchange rate, inflation and all of that. You seem to be reciting
02:29 those words because you've heard them so much. I mean, just yesterday the Finance Minister mentioned them again.
02:36 I would assume that it was maybe the Finance Minister saying his words again.
02:42 Maybe the tone of your voice only makes the difference. You are reciting those words.
02:45 We've heard it so many times. It's become like a chorus and it's only the
02:52 Russo-Ukrainian War and COVID and it has nothing to do with our own policies and
02:58 how we've implemented them. Okay, if that is what they say. I mean right now where
03:03 we are, it's difficult. I mean if they say we've taken a turn for the better
03:08 and we see, you know, we are not feeling it. Food is still expensive. I mean the
03:14 basics are still very expensive. Inflation is still high even if it has
03:20 come down to 30 something percent. It is still high. You know, people are suffering.
03:26 So, well, we can keep blaming COVID and Russia, Ukraine or take a look at the
03:36 implementation of our policies and do something about it. Because you see, I
03:42 always say that as long as we are going to blame those external factors and not
03:47 take responsibility for our own actions, we are not prepared to do anything about
03:53 it. We're going to look at the obstacles and say these are the things that have
03:57 set us on edge and we won't do anything about it. So, yeah, Russia, Ukraine, we hear
04:05 you. But even if you are starting to recite it like that, then you know that
04:12 everybody has heard this line before and we really need to take
04:16 responsibility and see how we can do something about turning things around.
04:22 Hmm, interesting picture you paint. But what do you make of the finance
04:27 minister's delivery yesterday? The things he said? You know, Ben, I'll be very honest
04:34 with you and I knew you were going to ask me when they called me. I did not
04:37 listen. I did not listen because I knew that there would be that recital that
04:43 she just gave. I knew that it was going to be a sermon with many biblical
04:52 quotations. There's really nothing wrong with that. But I don't think that the
04:57 speaker himself believes in it. So he's preaching a sermon in which he
05:02 doesn't believe. I knew that it was going to be just another academic exercise
05:07 I mean, of course, it wasn't even delivered on the day or the dates that
05:12 it was planned for and had to be postponed a couple of times. And therefore
05:17 you are starting to see there's not very much seriousness put to those exercises
05:21 there. So at that point I was actually in an all-day meeting and therefore I missed
05:31 it. But I got excerpts of it from other channels and I heard the same recital
05:38 that you gave. I heard the biblical quotations to begin it. The one thing I
05:44 heard that I thought was actually quite funny was the fact that we are not going
05:51 to be taxed anymore. I mean, there's no more to tax unless you start taxing the
05:57 taxes, you know, there's no more which is happening in certain ways. If he had
06:03 said that some of the taxes had been repealed, like maybe the COVID tax, for
06:09 example, and a few others, the poor Ghanaian worker and trader would be a
06:16 little more comfortable. But if you say, oh, I mean, it's almost like you're
06:20 patronizing us to say, oh, we won't tax you anymore, you know. There's not
06:27 nothing more to tax. We are taxed out of our, you know, pockets. So yeah, for me it
06:36 was just another academic exercise. It was just another sermon in the house, not
06:43 on the mount. And I don't think that the preachers, not just the government,
06:51 the preachers of the sermon themselves, believe in it. It was something that had
06:55 to be done and they did it. I see. I find that interesting. So you actually
07:01 avoided the whole occasion because you felt there was going to be nothing,
07:06 nothing new in there. Some of the things the finance minister... I didn't avoid it. If I had been in my
07:12 office, it is likely that I would have, by default, heard it because I do
07:18 have the radio in the background. Okay. But I had to be in a meeting and it was
07:24 an all-day meeting so I did not listen to it. But when I had accept of it, and
07:33 of course, as I said, because it had been postponed a couple of times, I started to
07:41 feel that, you know, not much seriousness is being put to this budget.
07:45 Besides, I mean, looking at our economy and how broke we are, how is a budget... I
07:53 mean, what are we budgeting on? And I think one of the minority parliamentarians
07:59 mentioned it the day before. What are you budgeting on? What are you using to
08:04 budget? You don't have the money, you know. So it was okay. I'll hear the
08:12 excepts later and I heard a few of them. But as I said, the one thing that I thought I
08:17 heard which ought to have been encouraging but really didn't say much
08:24 was the fact that we aren't going to be taxed anymore.
08:27 Let's get into the papers. They also talk about the same bit. We'll get into the
08:33 Daily Graphic, the Daily Guide newspaper and the Economy Times. Let's start with
08:39 the Daily Graphic. Ghana elected to World Tourism Organization Executive Council
08:44 and we have a number of these organizations that we're on now. There's
08:49 also media budget review. Economy shows signs of recovery. That's according to
08:53 Finance Minister Ken Ufuriata. Are we recovering? You give your verdict. I'd
08:59 love to hear from you out there, those of you watching us. And I'll come to you,
09:03 Bridget, on that same point as well. New GDP target signals decline. That's
09:08 according to the minority. And yesterday in asking for, you know, the
09:14 suspension so that matters could proceed, the minority leader, Dr. Kassi
09:19 Latoforsen, started ferociously on that point. $300 million dispute. Court places
09:24 injunction on mining firm, the AG involved there. And then tertiary
09:27 students visit NCA. On the back page, E&I Ghana or Any Ghana partners give
09:34 scholarship to a thousand students. And Communications Minister commissions
09:38 rural telephony sites in northern region. So let's get into the stories now. I'll
09:45 start with a major one, giving us the banner headline. Now the Minister of
09:51 Finance, Ken Ufuriata, has said the implementation of fiscal adjustments and
09:55 sustained investments have contributed to the stabilization of our economy. He
10:01 said since the 2023 budget was presented to Parliament in November last year, to
10:05 date, the exchange rate had stabilized, inflation had softened, and interest
10:12 rates had declined, while plans for private investments had been announced
10:16 due to increased investor confidence in the economy. Presenting a mid-year review
10:22 of the 2023 budget to Parliament yesterday in fulfillment of section 28
10:25 of the Public Financial Management Act, that's the PFMA 2016 Act 921, the Minister
10:32 said the government would continue to pursue adjustment and work hard to build
10:36 and sustain a favorable macroeconomic environment. Now after an anxious wait
10:43 for the mid-year budget review, which was rescheduled twice, Parliament gave the
10:47 Minister the opportunity to address the House in fulfillment of the PFMA.
10:53 Briefly, before I come to you, Bridget, touching on the country's fiscal
10:57 performance within the last six months after the 2023 budget was read, the
11:02 Minister noted that the economy was back on track, and I'd like you to talk on
11:06 that when I give you the opportunity, back on track to a positive primary
11:10 balance. Notably, he said there had been a slower pace in expenditure execution
11:14 relative to revenue shortfall, resulting in an overall budget deficit on
11:20 commitment basis of 6.3 billion Ghana CEDs, that is 0.8% of GDP. He also
11:27 expressed the confidence that the prices of goods and services would reflect
11:32 the trend of economic recovery to ease the burden of families or on families
11:37 and enterprises. I found this point also very interesting. Confidence that prices
11:43 of goods and services would reflect the trend of economic recovery to ease the
11:48 burden on families and enterprises. If you look at the inflationary rate,
11:52 we're still hovers around 42%, and the cost of things out there, I don't see
11:57 this reflecting. Your take, Bridget? Well, he yesterday mentioned that inflation was
12:03 going to come down to, did he say 31? I think end of year 31. I mean, this is what
12:12 will happen. It's not happening now. The prices of things, I mean, if you go, my
12:18 food basket is still very high. I mean, if I went to tomatoes, for example, are
12:26 still very expensive, and that's one thing we consume a lot of. Everything is
12:31 still very expensive. Transportation is still very expensive. Fuel prices are
12:36 supposed to be going up today, and that will not reduce, you know, that when fuel
12:42 prices go up, all prices go up. So I don't know what he's talking about if
12:47 he's saying that, you know, prices are going to begin to come down. On the
12:53 contrary, if prices are going, if fuel prices are going up today, like I said, it
12:59 then becomes a very academic exercise. It's got to be done, so we are doing it,
13:03 and we've got to say something positive. It's good. Positive is good. It's
13:08 encouraging, but it's not true. It's not true that prices are going to come down.
13:13 Fuel prices are going up by a certain percent, between 4 and 11 percent, if I
13:19 read right, today. So if that is going to happen, prices are generally going to go
13:25 up. Prices are coming down, and it's when he says that the exchange rate's
13:31 stabilized. Yes, it's stabilized. It came down. It was maybe teetering on about 15
13:38 CDs to the dollar, thereabouts, and it came down. It got to 16 at a point. Yeah.
13:45 Came down to around 9 or so, and rapidly rose, and it's almost hitting 12 now, and
13:53 we've remained there. I have made some losses through foreign exchange, I mean,
14:00 but we've remained there, and it's high. When this government came to power, I
14:08 think the dollar was around 5 CDs or so, and we are now at 12. So if you are saying
14:16 it's stabilized, well, it's stabilized at a very high point. It's more than a
14:22 hundred percent. So these things are, you know, the finance minister, with all due
14:30 respect, is speaking academics. He's speaking theory. But practically, no, it's not
14:39 true. And you're a business person. You're selling, and you have people
14:43 coming by, so you can feel. Are people able to buy as they were before? And even
14:49 as you tell me about that, because you sell your Gary, if I'm not mistaken,
14:52 your Zoomi, among others, among other things. And then again, what picture does
14:58 that paint? Because, of course, this is our reality versus, for example, what some
15:04 have couched the Sicilia Dappa saga. The source of money, that one, the courts will
15:10 determine what exactly happens. But the general picture out there is, okay,
15:15 there's a small class, the elite, with chunks of money, and the masses have to
15:20 endure what is happening. What do you make of that situation? It's a pity, you
15:26 know, necessarily had a pasta guy. Wish I had called me then speak. But, um, yes,
15:33 that's what's happening. They don't know the reality. Uh, our our governments,
15:40 our leaders obviously don't go to the markets. They can afford. They have
15:45 affordability, so they don't know how hard things are for people when you have
15:52 to buy four pieces or four tomatoes for 10 cities. 10 cities is a lot of money
15:59 for anybody. Where did I go the other day where something was two cities? Yes,
16:05 I went to the Volta region over the weekend and we stopped in Timbuktu and
16:11 we bought my friend who traveled with us, bought the shrimps in the bag and
16:18 one bag was 50 cities and the other was 30 cities was only 10 between 30 and
16:27 50 cities. And the size hasn't changed from what we're buying it for five
16:31 cities and 10 cities.
16:32 Uh, just a short while ago. So now that delicacy that the bus would stop and
16:40 people would buy and you would, you know,
16:42 you know, my sister said it was poverty reduction strategy. You go there, you
16:47 feed into the economy by buying some of those things. Can't buy it anymore. If
16:51 we had what would have bought three, we bought one, you know, so things have
16:57 gotten very, very, very expensive. And those who can afford it obviously do
17:01 not realize that the people below are struggling. It's a struggle. We have
17:09 we've been impoverished. We've been impoverished by, you know, the Sicily
17:15 at the past saga, for example, how is it that one person has so much and
17:20 school kids, for example, I've been, but Bridget, it could be in sour money got
17:27 from donations at a funeral that has been said it could be her former her
17:32 brother. I'm just telling you what people have said. Her brother, Cooper,
17:35 who was the chief who used to be a cobbler that that's what people have
17:39 put out there. It could be a husband who is an a longstanding architect of
17:45 of great, you know, um, rebuke. All of that has been said. I mean, are you
17:51 discounting all of that? I'm not disputing it. All I'm saying is, if you
17:56 have all this money, why have you if if indeed it belong whoever it belongs to,
18:02 why are school kids suffering? Why are they begging that they are? They are
18:08 feeding. The daily feeding allowance should be only three cities a day. When
18:16 I bought what is it I bought also at a Timbuktu that was two cities and I was
18:20 I said, if you buy this for two cities, there's no accompaniment with it. I
18:24 can't remember what it was. But why is it that one person is keeping all this
18:30 when our Children in school are begging to be fed on just three cities a day?
18:36 Mm. You know, why is it that somebody has all this? And if they pumped it
18:43 into the economy,
18:44 exchange rates would not come down.
18:48 Why? You know, someone said someone said that if the claim was that and of
18:55 course, these are all things out there. If the claim was that the money
18:59 belonged to her brother who passed, then if that brother's Children come
19:03 right now and they say they want the money, what's going to happen?
19:06 Why is it in a bank? Why? Why don't you say there's the money in the back?
19:11 Here's your bank statement. Well, I mean, um, what can I say? This is
19:17 Ghana. But let's let's get into a related story and move away from the
19:21 daily graphic. So new GDP target signals decline. That's the minority
19:26 on the same media budget review. Now, the minority caucus in Parliament says
19:31 government's review of the 2023 gross domestic product target from 2.8%
19:35 to 1.5% signaled an expected decline of the country's economic fortunes
19:40 rather than the touted recovery. The Minister of Finance, Ken Ofereta
19:45 yesterday spoke eloquently about the bright outlook of Ghana's economy
19:49 towards the second half of the year as he presented the 2023 media budget
19:53 review in Parliament. But the minority leader, Dr. Kassia Latoufos,
19:56 in addressing the media after the minister's presentation said the
20:00 downward revision of the GDP target was an indication that the economy
20:05 was declining or shrinking and that it would affect jobs and the general
20:10 welfare of Ghanaians. Again, the minority caucus in Parliament has
20:15 described the city's supposed stability at present as merely artificial,
20:20 saying claims by the finance minister about the currency's supposed
20:24 recovery is not supported by evidence on the ground. In fact, Dr.
20:29 Fawcett stresses that the minister's claim that the economy had, quote,
20:32 "turned the corner" could also not be true and that the government
20:36 had rather deepened the woes of ordinary Ghanaians. That is the bit
20:43 in there. Maybe I should just throw in the fact, I don't know whether,
20:46 okay, so it is in the Daily Graphic. Niger's ousted president in high
20:51 spirits. That's according to the prime minister. I just want to chip
20:53 that in, especially with everything happening in our sub-region.
20:57 And now another nation that seems to have fallen, by the way,
21:02 ECOWAS is planning some sort of military action. The Nigerian airspace
21:08 has been labeled a no-fly zone and all of that. Niger's prime
21:13 minister, Oumoudu Mohamedou, has said there is no question of President
21:17 Mohamed Bassem resigning. He is currently being held in detention
21:21 by the military following a coup last week. And quote, he says,
21:24 "This is a seizure of power by force. It is not a voluntary departure
21:29 of the president. So there is no reason to talk about this resignation
21:33 issue," Mr. Mohamedou said in an interview with a French television
21:36 station. But with everything happening and the Wagner Group courting
21:40 Niger and everything in the sub-region vis-a-vis economic developments
21:46 among others, what picture does it paint, Bridget?
21:48 It's a very grave picture. Yesterday, somebody put on my platform,
21:56 our Legon platform, a map of Africa with the entire middle belt in red.
22:02 And all those countries had been taken over by the military, by their
22:07 military. And it's almost like a repetition of the late 70s and 80s
22:13 in Africa. Yes, we've gone back, haven't we? We have re-progressed.
22:18 And maybe it is because, who knows, maybe democracy obviously was
22:24 not working for them. And why hasn't democracy worked for them?
22:30 Because leadership and governance has been poor, has let the people down,
22:36 has let the youth down, because you have a bunch of idle youth waiting
22:43 to be influenced. And when they are, I mean, we saw what was
22:46 happening in Niger last week. It was frightening. And therefore,
22:52 leadership, the ECOWAS and their leadership must take an inward look
22:58 and address the issues of governance and leadership in their countries.
23:04 They must look at it and understand that their way of practicing
23:08 the democracy is not working. It is not that democracy is wrong.
23:13 It is the way it is practiced in these various countries.
23:18 When it disenfranchises people and the youth and they get disgruntled
23:23 and all they want to do is do things by force. If ECOWAS is thinking
23:28 of going to take over, you know, take out those military leaders,
23:36 they must be very careful because ECOWAS has been known to accept
23:44 or to overlook issues of bad governance in some of these countries
23:50 where in some cases, presidents want to extend their period of rule
23:57 or of governance and they come in and impose themselves on their countries
24:05 and sit in ECOWAS meetings. And the other leaders of the other countries
24:11 say nothing. Rather, when these co-leaders try to get into ECOWAS
24:19 and go for ECOWAS meetings, they are ostracized. But we must ask ourselves,
24:24 what are we doing wrong? Why is it that all these countries,
24:28 all of them, are being taken over by these forces?
24:34 And really, Bridget, we have very little time. We have to make tracks.
24:39 But really, if you look at the situation in all of these countries,
24:43 you see a certain thread. There's a theme that runs through the suffering
24:46 of the people. I've seen some pictures supposedly from Niger.
24:50 I cannot corroborate, so I'm not going to go ahead to say what they do.
24:52 They actually portray, but if they are true, it tells you what the elite class,
24:59 the political class, is enjoying vis-a-vis what ordinary people are facing.
25:04 And that is problematic. I don't see why our leaders cannot,
25:08 you know, comprehend that if you are living in a different,
25:11 it's almost as though there were two different Niger, two different Mali,
25:15 two different Burkina Faso. I don't want to mention any other names
25:19 before people take me on and say I am saying something.
25:22 But if you create certain scenarios, some things, if you are not careful.
25:31 Anyway, Tijani Isaka says, "The new proposal of using National Service personnel
25:35 in farming is a clear indication that planting for food and jobs didn't work.
25:39 The government must also know that health workers, that is nurses
25:42 and public health, who completed or graduated from 2020 have still not been posted to work.
25:47 Things are not working anymore for anybody." Tijani from Koforidia sends that.
25:51 Martha Quayson says, "Good morning. I want to find out whether veterinarians matter
25:56 in this country. Clearance was given in 2021 about recruiting veterinarians in 2022 and 2023.
26:02 We've not heard anything since then and graduates are just sitting at home."
26:07 To cap off the conversation, the Daily Guide newspaper,
26:10 Ahanta West MP denies resigning and then Pius Hajide contests Eswejaman NPC,
26:16 the former Deputy Minister for Information.
26:19 I'll focus on the finer in Economic Times as we wrap. 2023 GDP growth revised to 1.5%.
26:26 We've looked at that. Headline inflation pegged at 31.3%.
26:29 UK government supports Ghana with 3.9 million pounds to sanitize small-scale mining sector.
26:34 Whenever I see stories like this with sums of money and hard currency, pounds, dollars, euros,
26:42 I get concerned because Charlie, it's the money.
26:45 Economy Times, cost of credit to rise steadily. Cost of credit.
26:49 And go to the banks and see. This is one of the most difficult times
26:52 if you're a business person going for a loan. Trust me.
26:55 Well, our central bank by itself is broke. It is.
27:02 We recorded a loss of what, 60 billion? Yeah, 60 plus billion.
27:06 We've added about 20 plus percent to our debt stock.
27:10 Yeah. So we're having the banks, if our central bank is going into insolvency,
27:18 as I think it was Chosa who said, "If gold rusts, what should iron do?"
27:24 And to add to that, Bank of Ghana exposure, stock and bonds undergo 50% haircut.
27:30 The government has given a 50% haircut to non-marketable holdings of government to Ghana instruments,
27:35 including long-term stocks, a COVID-19 bond,
27:39 and overdraft in an attempt to restructure central banks' holdings of government debt.
27:43 So when you hear of all these things and the central bank's governor tells us,
27:49 "Look, we are getting there," and the finance minister also tells us, "We are turning the corner,"
27:54 then you begin to ask yourself, "Which corner exactly?" Final words, Bridget?
27:58 That's the theory. Final words?
28:02 Well, you know, it's gloomy. Wake up. I'm not talking about the weather.
28:06 Indeed, the weather is gloomy this morning.
28:09 It's probably a reflection of the state of the country and the economy.
28:15 But we wake up each day and we do our bit and we pray that, you know,
28:20 everybody keeps calm and everybody still has hope.
28:26 There's a lot of despondency, I know, but let's keep hope alive
28:30 and look forward to 2024 when we can vote again.
28:35 And, you know, all the best to everybody.
28:40 It's a struggle, but we will get there.
28:43 Heaven knows when we will get there.
28:48 Yes, yes. We must keep hope alive because the alternative,
28:56 if we go, we can't go the way of what any of the countries in the middle of Africa,
29:02 we cannot afford it.
29:04 Definitely not.
29:04 Those of us who were here when it happened and young as we were,
29:09 saw how terrible it was and we don't want that.
29:14 I mean, we've already re-progressed. If we should go that way, we've only gone further.
29:20 We must continue to pray for our leaders.
29:24 Right. And that we must continue to do.
29:27 I've said that if you've seen war, if you've seen civil strife before, like I have and you have,
29:33 you wouldn't want to go down that road.
29:36 But God grant our leaders, I call them misleaders, the grace, the favor, the wisdom,
29:42 the knowledge, the understanding to reflect and change because you keep doing the things the same way.
29:50 I sat next to a friend in church one day and when they said, let's pray for our leaders,
29:55 she opened her eyes and said, I stopped praying that prayer.
29:59 Wow. Let's not get to this.
30:03 Thank you so much, Bridget Jogbenuku, former presidential candidate of the Progressive People's Party.
30:08 Thank you so much and have a good day.
30:11 Right. And that's how we cap of the show. Sports is up next.
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30:47 And now they brought us to the end of the news review.
30:50 There's more from the Women's World Cup, among others, coming your way in sports.
30:56 [Music]
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