How Mahama's leadership transformed Ghana's economy in less than a year

 

Ghana's President John Mahama

Ghanaians witnessed the most uncomfortable, dire situation, arrogance, corruption, and heartless governance for a period of eight years, before all came to an end in 2024. During the eight agonizing years of state capture, widespread corruption, and the collapse of banking institutions, the impact took its drastic toll on the economy. However, after Mahama took control in less than a year, things have improved. What did he do?

 

In January 2025, President John Mahama took over the worst form of Ghana after a protracted period of horrible economic calamity that had emerged under Akufo-Addo's administration. A significant amount of debt, high inflation, and a weakening currency plagued the economy. Due to the severe challenges Mahama faced, Ghanaians had unfavorable impressions that he would fail, but they were disappointed.

 

His policies were part of a broader strategy to restore stability and reduce dependency on foreign aid. At the same time, he needs money to fund a wide range of activities, such as public goods and services, healthcare, and education. His policies and economic initiatives included rolling out a 24-hour economy to boost business activity, emergency services, and social protection programs like pensions and unemployment benefits.

 

Despite the nation's high debt, which has negatively impacted many institutions, such as the Electricity Company of Ghana and the COCOBOD, Mahama made every effort to address the unpredictable, intermittent power outages, or "Dumsor," that plague the country. It also promoted agriculture by putting policies in place that would allow the government to buy excess produce from farmers to prevent food waste.

 

A complicated combination of internal variables or domestic troubles that had developed in the eight years of extensive corruption and money laundering was the cause of Mahama's economic difficulties. However, he did steer clear of the harsh criticism and instead concentrated on finding quick solutions to fulfill several important pledges during his first 120 days in office, signaling a proactive beginning to his second term.

 

The quick nomination and parliamentary ratification of a complete cabinet, comprising 42 ministers and regional and non-cabinet officials, in less than a month, is one of the significant achievements. By appointing fewer ministerial and deputy ministerial nominees in the first 30 days than the previous government, Mahala has also made great strides toward establishing the Fourth Republic's leanest and most efficient government.

 

Additionally, he organized the National Education Forum to realign policy direction in the education sector and started the National Economic Dialogue, which brought stakeholders and experts together to create a long-term recovery program. To counteract environmental degradation, social and environmental initiatives have also been created, such as the "Blue Water" and "Tree for Life" programs.

 

The One Million Coders Program and the Mahama Cares social protection framework were also introduced to help vulnerable groups and develop young people's digital literacy. The National Cathedral project was scrapped, Hajj tickets were lowered from GH¢75,000 to GH¢62,000, and university residential facility costs were lowered from GH¢3,000 to GH¢2,500, among other noteworthy accomplishments.

 

The government has also revived investigations into the murder of investigative journalist Ahmed Hussein-Suale and launched new ones into the violence around the 2020 election, including the shootings in Ayawaso West Wuogon. Prominent politicians have been arrested or questioned in 280 incidents of suspected corruption since the establishment of the Operation Recover All Loot (ORAL) preparatory committee to look into corruption.

 

The creation of the Gold Board to legalize the nation's gold trade and the reorganization of inefficient State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are two other measures Mahama has taken to modernize state institutions. To encourage job creation, the government has initiated the Adwumawura Program and provided seed funding for the Women's Development Bank. To further establish Ghana as a popular travel destination, the Black Star Experience, a flagship tourism and cultural revitalization initiative, was launched.

 

President John Mahama reaffirmed "the need for Africa to move beyond aid dependency amid U.S. aid cuts and rising trade tariffs" in a recent interview with Time Magazine, which was based on the ideas and philosophy of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first Ghanaian leader. He called the $156 million cut in USAID spending on governance, education, and health a "wake-up call" that would eventually encourage African countries to become more independent.

 

The Ghanaian leader acknowledged the short-term challenges but said Ghana had adjusted its national budget to make up the difference, adding, "We're fine, but not so in some other countries," where school feeding and other programs have been affected. Under his "Resetting Ghana" agenda, the cedi has strengthened by 30%, and inflation has been cut in half, leading to affordable prices of commodities throughout the country.

 

In less than a year, if the NDC government has accomplished this and, more significantly, has taken the fight against corruption to a new level, resulting in the arrest and questioning of some politicians, then President John Mahama should be commended. The only thing left Ghanaians are anxiously waiting for is to imprison all corrupt politicians found guilty, which will assess whether he is a serious and sincere leader who would keep his word.

 

My honest suggestion to Google about the articles on my blog

 

Worldwide, thousands of people are losing interest in Google.

Google has long been the primary search engine used by millions of people, but an increasing number of people are noticing that the quality of search results is progressively decreasing. The search function is becoming less useful, and journalists, SEO experts, and regular users are complaining that Google is increasingly promoting its services and advertisements rather than providing objective information.

 

People need to work to support themselves and eat to survive, and for their businesses to succeed, practically everyone relies on Google search engine optimization for increased visibility. Google has established guidelines, including search engine optimization guidelines, for its users to adhere to to rank highly in search results. Nevertheless, you may follow all of these guidelines and still obtain a small percentage of daily visitors.

 

When you encounter these issues, it's not because your content is poor; rather, the search engine firm views a lot of topics as inappropriate or unfavorable in terms of business, since it impacts their advertising business. You must realize that you will be subjected to the oppression and suppression by the search engine if you have produced articles that Google views as unfriendly for business.

 

That's the issue I'm having right now. To protect the US government, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and businesses’ adverts, Google finds hundreds of my articles unfriendly. This has not only affected the search engine optimization rank but has also reduced the blog's page views from thousands to hundreds.

 

As the criticism against Google mounts, the search engine company has failed to alter its approach. Since there aren't any fierce rivals in the market, the business can afford to put its own interests ahead of search quality. As a result, there is a growing need for alternative search tools. Although I will always do my best to abide by Google's guidelines, I have the best recommendation for them.

 

It doesn't make sense for the search engine company to purposefully deprive my blog of readers. If there are articles on my blog about their immoralities, abuse of office, or unsuitability for business adverts that they don't want readers to read, they can exclude them from their search engine and index the URLs of the articles they find appropriate for business. This is the best suggestion I can give. 

The ICT advantage: Fueling development and business in Africa

 

The Internet, a global system of mobile, telecommunication, and satellite communication technologies, have a huge impact on Africa, not only in terms of commerce but also in terms of enhancing community, education, and personal health.

 

The Black continent is positioned to emerge as the future continent. African nations must, however, go through a digital transformation to accomplish this goal, since economic digitization is essential to their growth and competitiveness.

 

The continent is becoming a more significant region in the current geopolitical structure of the world because of its geographic location, abundant natural resources, human capital, and promising market potential.

 

The days of global businesses encountering obstacles due to a lack of modern technology are long gone. The African continent's economic and demographic advancements are contributing to its growing significance in the framework of international relations due to the facilitation of modern technology.

 

It is undeniable that Africa is gradually benefiting from the new demonstration of modern technology and interacting with the developed world, as the process of digitalization has impacted all African nations, regardless of their economic development levels.

 

Most importantly, it is opening the door for many people to pursue education as highly skilled ICT professionals while also lowering the amount of labor required to accomplish the same amount of work.

 

Experts estimate that by 2025, Africa's Internet economy will generate roughly $180 billion, or 5.2% of GDP. FinTech, AgroTech, e-commerce, InsureTech, HealthTech, and CleanTech will be the most sought-after sectors. Africa's iGDP1, which measures the Internet's contribution to GDP overall, is still only 1.1%, according to McKinsey estimates, compared to other growing economies; this is 50% less.

 

Africa is thought to have the world's youngest population. The United Nations estimates that its youth make up about 70% of the continent's total population. 

A crucial technology for the present and the future is digital connectivity for e-commerce, communication, education, and innovation, especially given the youthful population and the widespread use of the internet.

 

Africa does, however, confront difficulties like a debt problem and a lack of foreign direct investment.

You Can't Fight The Truth To Save Your Business, Instead, Fight The Crime

The truth is powerful than a corrupt magistrate

 

In every decayed society, the one that speaks the truth is seen as a dangerous person. We must acknowledge the fact that wrongdoing in politics today is accepted as a norm. Politicians, health institutions, companies, and even the police, who are to fight crimes and protect citizens, are committing crimes more than hardened criminals confined permanently behind bars.

Relating to crime, people that commit serious offenses, such as child rapists, molesters, and serial killers, are considered dangerous people in society, but politicians are equally dangerous too, since bad policies and clandestine activities of governments, gradually take their toll on the common people.

 

Society is fighting a fruitless battle against crime because those that set the laws are the lawbreakers themselves and both the politician and the law enforcement officers are all committing crimes. 

 

Crime is a business to the police, governments, health institutions, politicians, and pharmaceutical companies, etc, the reason crime is thriving very rapidly in every part of the world today. 

 

The law doesn't fight the crime, it promotes it and fights the one speaking the truth because he is seen as a threat to their corruptible deals and sources of money. Since many support crime than the truth, the truthful person becomes the most dangerous person in society.

 

The websites of respected health institutions, are filled up to the brim with false health information. Our children in schools are learning false medical doctrines and advertising companies are making money from false medical information provided by companies and health institutions.

 

They neither care about the truth nor about false medical information. What they care about is the money provided by companies and health institutions for their deceptive and false medical information to be trumpeted into the brain of the people that bats, bushmeat, and poverty are responsible for Ebola. 

 

Lies and deceptions are endangering the public, and the rich, the poor, celebrities, etc, are scared to speak against because nobody wants to be called a traitor or wants his career to jeopardize but as long as you have refused to speak the truth, you are already a traitor to humanity or mankind.

 

Probably, this is one of the reasons, despite how famous and rich some celebrities are, they look miserable like a church mouse and often leading many to commit suicide. You can be rich but if your heart is far from the truth, your money can't give you happiness.

 

To the politicians, governments, and health institutions, it's necessary to deceive the public about man-made diseases and biological weapons for global depopulation. The media, including CNN and the BBC, have all joined the false campaign about biological weapons for decades, despite having so-called qualified health journalists.

 

Unless you are a heartless person, without conscience, and far from God, you can have a sound sleep in your life by committing such heinous crimes against humanity followed by lies and deceptions and feel comfortable with it.

 

When I'm talking the truth, they say I shouldn't but the fact is because Africa is the victim of almost all the US-engineered biological weapons, including, HIV-aids and Ebola, advanced countries weren't interested to discourage the US government from such clandestine acts, instead, they supported the American government.  

 

But now, look at the world, everyone lives in fear, under psychological torture, after China sent a message last year from Wuhan to the US government that, "Anything you can do, we can do it better and deadly." 

 

Unless it's a secret plan with China to carry out this deadly pandemic to depopulate the world, if not, then warnings to America to stop such illegal activities on mankind would have prevented the impact of corona calamity today. As said earlier, Africa suffers most, therefore, advanced countries' leaders don't care.

 

However, today everyone cares because the coronavirus impact is heavier in European countries and the United States of America than in Africa. The impact has affected our economy, schools, finances, accompanied by loneliness, depression, suicide, and other health problems.  

 

Nobody should hate me for writing such articles because I really find it senseless to write an article to promote beers and chocolates. 

 

All of us have a responsibility to make this world a better place, we must discourage crime and promote the truth. That's the key to peace and a better world.

THE ROUTE TO EUROPE WITH AFRICAN PRODUCTS

Africa's textile export to Europe and the US

Are you a successful farmer, manufacturer, or trader aiming to export your product to Europe? There are trade preferences that the European Union is offering to the developing world. 

To export any product to Europe, there are many issues that the exporter has to take into consideration. 

First of all, find out if your product will sell and if yes, which countries you need to export your products to, and the standard of the labeling requirements for the products within the European Union.

Diverse and confusing labeling rules remain a trade barrier between Africa and Europe, and probably with other smaller economies around the world.

Opportunities exist for unique labeling standards and to make sure that national and international rules are clear and that the process that develops them is predictable. 

Diversifying exports and switching to higher-value goods is identified by many, not least Africa need to trade if it is to make money for the development of other infrastructure on the continent.

Until recently, agricultural trade for Africa has generally meant exporting readily available, little-processed commodities such as coffee, tea, or cocoa. 

Many of these agricultural products are of low value. In addition, they are frequently vulnerable to swings in the world market price, which can leave a country's economic base in a very precarious position.

Therefore, exporters from countries like Tanzania and Ghana have been riding the rollercoaster of fluctuating world prices for coffee and cocoa for decades now, and the IMF and World Bank, as economic partners, but Africans can gain more from export trade to Europe.

What are the rules that organic products need to comply with to be exported to Europe? On 1 January 2009, new EU regulations went into effect for the production, control, and labeling of organic products; however, some of the new provisions on labeling did not take effect until 1 July 2010. 

In June 2007, the European Council of Agricultural Ministers agreed to a new Council Regulation on organic production and labeling of organic products. This new Council regulation contains clearly defined goals, principles, and general rules for organic production.

Export documentation, ensuring a smooth passage; organizing the right paperwork can make the export process much simpler and smoother. This applies if you are exporting tonnes of goods for sale or just taking a few samples to a trade show in Europe.

More importantly than ease of movement, not having the right paperwork can result in an importer not being able to accept the goods and the exporter not being paid. Certified export documentation is required by many countries. 

It is important to understand some of the most commonly used documents and when they are required, to export successfully.

Certificates of origin verify the place of growth, production, or manufacture of goods that contain a certification by an empowered authority. 

A Certificate of Origin is a document, required by foreign governments, declaring that goods in a particular international shipment are of a certain origin. 

Even though the commercial invoice usually includes a statement of origin, some countries require that a separate certificate be completed. 

Custom offices will use this document to determine whether a preferential duty rate applies to the products being imported. Certificates of origin are also important because of trade agreements and regulations that might apply to goods coming from the United States.

The data required for a certificate of origin is generally the same as for a commercial invoice. Basic information includes a description of the goods, the gross and net weight of goods, the number of packages, mode of transportation, date, and origin of the shipment, and an address for the seller and buyer. 

The certificate will also include a brief statement as to the origin of the goods. A few countries require specialized, unique certificates of origin that might include more detailed information and/or require a specific wording for their origin declaration.

While some countries require certificates of origin for all products, others may only require them for certain types of products. Almost all Middle Eastern countries require that certificates of origin accompany all shipments. 

Most Latin American and European countries, however, only require the certificate for certain products, such as textiles. Certificates of origin are generally unnecessary in Asia unless requested by the importer. African nations run the gamut of requirements.

WHAT ARE THE IMPORT TARIFFS FOR MY PRODUCTS?

Importers are expected to pay an import tax on virtually every item they import, but few know how much they owe until their shipments arrive in Europe. 

Many importers are overcharged by European Customs at the border because they did not purchase a copy of the European Harmonized Tariff Schedule and properly classify their imports. Import taxes are based on the type of item you are importing and where it’s coming from.

Getting started? And you need assistance in determining if a certificate of origin is required for a particular country, please contact the Export Helpdesk website: http://exporthelp.europe.eu/

Having enough information before you start will do you a lot of good and save you costs, too.

GOOGLE ENHANCES AFRICA'S ECONOMY ON THE INTERNET MARKET

Google: The giant search engine plays a significant role in Africa's business



Africa's unstable economy and continuous ethnic conflicts are major causes that prevent its development. Many potential investors do not trust or have any confidence when it comes to business in regard to Africa.  


Despite the continent, low internet connectivity and obstacles in the infrastructure, Google, one of the world's internet giants, wants to expand its services to Africa.

Even though Africa lags far behind other big emerging markets in the internet market and despite the expense of internet service, Google executives say Africa represents one of the fastest growth rates for the internet in the world. 

According to the World Bank and research sites, Nigeria already has 24 million users. Other big users are South Africa and Kenya.

The amount of money invested by Google in its effort to get more people on the line is yet to be known. But Google says it has around 40 employees working on Africa-focused projects.  

Among the first major plans of Google on the continent, since setting offices there three years ago, Google Maps was the expansion of google maps. Five years ago, detailed online maps weren't very available. There are now Google maps of 51 African countries.

Other technology companies are also targeting the continent's market. Microsoft Corporation, International Business Machines Corp,  Cisco Systems Inc, and Hewlett-Packard Co have sales offices throughout Africa, selling office equipment and software to 
fast-growing companies.