Poor Not Sharing in Ghana's Progress

By ANN M. SIMMONS

March 21, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ACCRA, Ghana —

This small state perched on Africa’s Atlantic coast has set its sights on being the gateway to social and economic development in West Africa for the next century.

For 15 years, the government of President Jerry J. Rawlings has kept to a strict regimen to rebuild Ghana’s economy. Pro-business laws and programs have encouraged Western donors to pour millions into this mineral-rich nation.

Political stability, a good record on civil liberties and an active role in peacekeeping initiatives across the volatile continent have helped Ghana win friends--among them, the United States. On Monday, President Clinton will come here to launch a six-nation African tour.

But ask the residents of this capital’s slum district of Jamestown-GaMashie whether they have reaped any of the benefits of the country’s economic turnaround, and they answer with disdain.

“There has not been any improvement in our way of life,” said Addy Quansah, 48, a Jamestown fisherman for more than 30 years, who lamented that commercialization of Ghana’s fishing industry is ruining business for many small-scale seamen. “There is no assistance from the government, especially not for this community.”

Quansah’s life amid the maze of garbage-strewn dirt alleys and dilapidated stone shacks has been little touched by the winds of change that have swept through Ghana since 1983, when the government launched a program to liberalize and stabilize the economy. The initiative came after decades of flagging production and stifled earnings in potentially lucrative industries--hallmarks of a socialist-style, state-controlled market.

Rawlings’ government has been praised for lowering inflation and keeping a consistent annual economic growth rate of about 5%, in accord with a master plan forged with the help of the World Bank and other international donors. But staggering interest rates reaching 48% on loans, slow steps toward alleviating poverty and a failure to reduce the fiscal deficit are causing Ghana to slip off its mantle of economic excellence.

Ghana, a trailblazer in sub-Saharan Africa with its independence from Britain in 1957, is now finding its reputation as an African success story eroding.

“The star doesn’t shine quite as brightly as it used to, but in relative terms [Ghana] is still quite a strong performer,” said Peter Harrold, the World Bank’s country director for Ghana--a nation of about 18 million with an area slightly smaller than that of Oregon.

Clinton is not expected to come bearing huge financial gifts for Ghana. However, the U.S. has already shown a commitment to this country by pledging $55 million in aid for 1998.

“The Ghanaian-American connection has always been very strong,” said U.S. Ambassador to Ghana Edward Brynn, noting that about 3,000 Americans live in Ghana. “We’ve been trying to play a positive role in getting a country that has been quite well off since independence back on track.”

Brynn said historical and family ties between African Americans and Ghanaians, thousands of whom were exported to the U.S. as slaves, also give Ghana symbolic significance. And the country’s abundance of natural resources, such as gold, rubber and timber, makes it attractive to potential investors.

No American president has ever visited Ghana--or any of the other countries on Clinton’s 12-day itinerary: Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana and Senegal. The president’s overarching goal is to show Americans back home that sub-Saharan Africa is moving beyond the stereotype of a poor continent riven by disease, famine and bloody conflict.

But residents in the Ghanaian capital--rich and poor--seem far less preoccupied with Clinton’s arrival than with an energy crisis that has engulfed Accra in darkness for the last several weeks.

Insufficient water in the local dams has caused a sporadic supply of electricity to most city neighborhoods. Many businesses without generators have been forced to rent office space in large hotels or reduce their hours of operation--leading to a slowdown in output and huge losses in revenue.

With the mercury rising well into the 90s, even at night, many Accra residents are steamed, arguing that the government could have averted the crisis if it had learned any lessons from similar energy shortfalls in the past two decades.

“This year economic growth will not be as buoyant” because of the energy problem, predicted A. Akot Osei, a research fellow at the Accra-based Center for Policy Analysis.

Rawlings’ government has promised to achieve a balanced economy and a standard of living on par with that of Singapore by 2020, using science and technology in a free-market economy.

Economists estimate that to meet the so-called Vision 2020 goals, Ghana needs an annual economic growth rate of 7% to 10%. It must slash the fiscal deficit, relax investment regulations and develop an agricultural strategy to better exploit the country’s farming potential, they say.

Critics of the Rawlings regime are skeptical, and say Ghana’s urban and rural poor are fed up with promises.

Hilda Amiassah, 40, was laid off from her job as a telephone operator in 1987. She did odd jobs until two years ago, when she gave birth to twins. Now she is looking for steady work.

“I really want a job,” said the mother of four, whose family lives with Amiassah’s mother and depends solely on the sporadic income of her taxi driver husband. “I would do any work right now just to help make ends meet.”

“People have lost the [get up and] go; they are despondent and desperate,” said Kwame Pianim, an opposition politician who also runs New World Investments Ltd., a company of stockbrokers, portfolio managers, underwriters and investment advisors.

In Jamestown-GaMashie, population 90,000, residents crowd 20 to 30 to a room. The narrow alleys that weave through the labyrinth of low-level galvanized iron and stone structures serve as both walkways and open sewers. Weather-beaten colonial-era forts line the town’s main street, undermining the beauty of the glistening Atlantic on its shore.

Most in the community are unemployed. Some try to make a living selling carvings or odd items. Unskilled laborers lucky enough to find work usually earn the minimum daily wage of $1.20.

“The urban working class has suffered in this particular climate,” said Harrold of the World Bank. “They are the losers. Employment opportunities for the less skilled worker are lacking.”

For the last 13 years, Joseph Abbey has tried to earn cash by decorating wooden masks with beads for the tourist market. His profits have been marginal.

“There should be more vocational opportunities,” said Abbey, 34, who once dreamed of being a tailor. “Not everyone can be a professional, working for a big company.”

Many educated Ghanaians have opted to seek their fortune elsewhere. The estimated 3 million Ghanaians who live abroad send home substantial remittances. But opponents of the government argue that more incentives are needed to lure the expatriates home for good.

Supporters of the current government preach patience, arguing that a certain amount of pain is inevitable during any type of radical economic transformation and that at least the government is on the right path.

“The country seems to be moving in a certain direction, and the direction is positive,” said Teetee Weisel, a commercial specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Accra. “Development is not an event; it’s a process.”

Simmons was recently on assignment in Ghana.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Presidential Itinerary

President Clinton’s trip to sub-Saharan Africa is the most extensive by any American president.

1. Ghanam March 23

Visits a Peace Corps project

2. Uganda, March 24

Meets regional leaders

3. Rwanda, March 25

Will condemn 1994 ethnic killings and genocide worldwide

4. South Africa, March 26-28

Visits island jail where President Nelson Mandela spent 18 years as a political prisoner. Also tours Cape Town and Johannesburg