#sebiticallyspeaking A renowned Ghanaian Pastor, Dr Mensa Otabil, has likened his country to a “sinking” ship, which needs a “decisive captain”, rather than an “overconfident” one, to steer the rudder out of the midst of “icebergs” to safety. The motivational Speaker told an audience Thursday night at a programme dubbed: “Festival of Ideas” that: “Our ship is going down, and we can’t pretend it’s a party”. Ghana has written to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for assistance in building confidence in her economy. The country’s currency, the Cedi, has depreciated by 23 percent, according to the Central Bank, since the beginning of the year. Inflation has also soared consistently, hitting 15.3 percent at the end of July. In his recent mid-year budget review, Ghana’s finance Minister, Seth Terkper, told Parliament that the major gold producing country’s “total public debt stock, which stood at GH¢35,999.64 million (US$19,150.78 million) as at end-December 2012, increased to GH¢52,125.91million (US$24,021.16 million) at the end of December 2013”. Terkper said: “Of the total public debt stock, external debt was GH¢21,545.72 million (US$11,461.71 million) while domestic debt amounted to GH¢27,132.7 million (US$12,559.45 million), representing 47.72% and 52.28% of total debt, respectively”. “…I hope the Captains of our ship don’t behave like the Captain of the Titanic to allow thousands to die just because he wasn’t prepared for the crisis”, Otabil said. The Founder and General Overseer of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) in Ghana, gave a gloomy picture of the former British colony’s economic prospects, vis-à-vis the current economic circumstances, when he spoke about “strategic repositioning” at the annual event. “We need a new leadership response in our national life”, Otabil suggested, adding: “We cannot continue partying, and we cannot assume that things will get better. We have to act decisively”. He said taking decisive actions at the national level can help the world’s second largest cocoa producer “avert the disaster”, which he said loomed. Otabil defined a decisive leader as one, who “follows rules and sees the urgency of a situation”. On the other hand, he said a country like Ghana, whose current economic misfortunes could be likened to the fate that befell The Titanic (largest passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her voyage to New York), does not need, at this time of her crisis, an overconfident leader, who “believes in his own stories until he sinks”, nor an overcautious leader, who “never knows what to do, [but] always hoping things will be better”.
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 06:38:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015