As Ghana's economic problems worsen, the lack of safety nets hurts the most vulnerable people there.
The working class and low-income households in Ghana are currently suffering from the worst economic crisis in decades.
Ghana's Accra - Many of Ghana's 33 million citizens enjoyed "Kofi Brokeman," a street vendor snack of roasted plantains and peanuts, daily. Then, prices started to increase, in some cases nearly tripling to 5 Ghanaian ced0.43 centsents) for each slice. Locals then humorously changed its name to "Kofi Richman".
For Lovelace Ayittey, 59, who sells the snack on Lagos Avenue in Accra's affluent East Legon neighbourhood, the situation is anything but amusing.
She told Al Jazeera that "the price of the plantain bunches has increased sharply from 10 to 50 cedis." "I cut them to the same size, but I have to suffer the loss and clench my hand," Ayittey claimed that last week she had to discard 800 cedis ($69) worth of unsold plantains.
The cost of life is soaring as the country in West Africa struggles with a deepening economic crisis.
For many years, Ghana promoted itself as a country with a sound economy and many opportunities. Since 2019, it has promoted itself as a haven for Africans living abroad, focusing on them with a campaign of pan-African fellowship and celebration, whose end-of-year highlights locals now refer to as "Detty December."
But the numbers support the opposite.
According to a World Bank survey published in June of last year, 850,000 Ghanaians have now joined the six million people who are already living in poverty. Year-over-year inflation increased from 14 to 54 percent between January and December 2022, hitting highs not seen since the early 2000s. The Cedi's value against the dollar has decreased by more than half.
Today, a large percentage of low-income households spend more than half of their income on food. As a result of the significant increase in fares, customers and drivers' partners now argue for trotros, a common mode of transportation.
The Kenkey Index, a project monitoring the price and size changes of kenkey (dumplings), a staple food high in carbohydrates, discovered that costs were rising as the sizes shrunk. The most popular price has increased from 3 cedis (0.26) one year ago to 4 cedis ($0.34) now.
Comfort Asamoah, who has been selling toothpaste, toilet paper, and other items on the pavement outside the Tema Station market in Accra for the past 30 years, can no longer afford to eat kenkey and fish.
She now eats banku (cooked dough) and soup for one meal each day instead. She said, "I have to convince myself mentally that I am satisfied [with my food choice]."
However, she added, "The cost of transportation to get there compared to how much you got wasn't worth it." "Yes, there was some food distribution from the government.
Since the government's free senior high school program has reduced her expenses for her children's education, Asamoah is appreciative of the program. She still needed roughly 4,000 cedis ($345) for supplies and to give her two girls some spending money. She had to have one daughter stay at home since the hardships of the COVID-19 era destroyed her resources.
For the 17th time in the nation's history, the administration of President Nana Akufo-Addo requested a loan from the International Monetary Fund in May.
On March 30, 2020, a food vendor waits for clients as Ghana conducts a partial lockdown to contain the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19). Reuters/Francis Kokoroko
There are no safety nets
More people have been pushed into poverty than have been taken into account, according to Dorcas Ansah, the NGO WIEGO's (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing) coordinator in Accra.
Half of all employees in the Greater Accra region are employed in informal jobs, including domestic workers, market vendors, street vendors, and others. WIEGO works with these workers.
Informal employment also accounts for 89% of employment in the country. However, these workers are generally not covered by pensions, do not receive cash transfers and do not benefit from anti-poverty programs. “Informal workers are also essential workers,” Ansah said. “During the Covid-19 pandemic, markets across the country had to remain open and their workers were at risk.” Yet they received little support.
The 2021 WIEGO survey found that only 5% of workers received food aid from the government. Overall, more than half of workers reported skipping a meal or eating a smaller variety of foods.
The government says the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine - which has driven up prices for some food, fertilizers and fuel - were the main causes of the economic problems. However, the World Bank report highlights that the economy “entered a real crisis in 2022, after recovering from the Covid-19-induced slowdown in 2021.” The report finds that the authorities “failed to implement significant and lasting reforms needed to restore debt sustainability and public finances.”
Most Ghanaians blame government corruption for the crisis.
According to Afrobarometer research, 83% of people believe funds have been stolen related to the pandemic. As confirmation, they cite the Auditor General's report showing that $80 million was spent on vaccines that never arrived and the fact that Ministry of Information officials paid themselves unauthorized hazard pay.
The World Bank also noted in its report that the government was “unable to implement significant and widespread spending cuts.”
All this happened at the same time as insufficient investment to help the population cope with economic shocks. Ghana's debt service expenditure is four times higher than education expenditure, eight times higher than health expenditure and 14 times higher than social security financing.
After a visit in 2018, Philip Alston, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty, found that Ghana invests only 1.4% of its gross domestic product in social security, compared to other countries in the region that spend 50% more. Alston said existing programs “will likely benefit much more from internet access than those living in poverty.”
For example, since 2014, the government has spent less money on the National Health Insurance Fund program than was intended. In 20211. The National Health Insurance Authority has allocated 9 billion cedis ($164 million) for this purpose, but only 1.39 billion ($120 million) has been released.
Ayittey, a salesman of “Kofi Brokeman,” often visits Korle Bu University Hospital for diabetes treatment. Although he has insurance, he told Al Jazeera he spends 100 cedis ($8.60) per visit.“The drug is covered by insurance, but there are fees for the equipment, laboratories and other services used.”
elderly and disabled people told Alston that the money they received from another program, Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), was 64 cedis (US$5.50) then, but had increased to 128 cedis (US$5.50) this year. $11) increase – “They covered a maximum of two.” weeks out of an eight-week pay cycle.