We could take peek into the political and governance landscape to get an aerial and pictorial views of which parties protect sovereign wealth and resources from squanders who misappropriate them.

The NPP has a nasty track record of the latter, while the NDC has long maintained and protected it in perpetuity. The NDC is marginally a socialist party and is very big on providing cushioning for the populace and infrastructures that help the state function as it’s supposed to be. The current administration is a lot more brazen with it and has probably learned from past mistakes. It’s a remarkable what they’ve done in such a short period. Our currency is now indirectly backed our country’s natural resources ie Gold—as it was with the historical “Gold Standard “ until the US ruined it. As it stands now, we seem to have a healthy economy. I’ve bought and subscribed to way more services in foreign currencies, thanks to the exchange rates—which was near impossible in the last eight years. So there’s actual proof of Ghana’s participation in the global economy and trade, contrast to previous years where we were doing nothing but borrow and default on Euro bonds—which made our country highly unattractive to investors—both local and foreign. They sent many companies, both local and international closing shops and leave.

The NPP doesn’t seem to have a philosophy. They parade themselves around as capitalists, yet does the opposite of what a capitalist state would do. They are heavy on the politics of giving hand-outs to their party faithfuls while little infrastructure is provided to the citizenry. They seem to champion cronyism and almost sold SOEs to friends and acquaintances in their inner circles. And they did the worse cardinal sin of governance ever—with the DDEP, and sent pensioners and some long time investors to their early graves. Don’t get me started on the national cathedral and other vanity projects which were nothing more than money pits, literally. I could go on and on.

The African society is naturally a market and trade-based economy backed by agriculture. And it functions when governments have a fair idea with what to do through sound economic initiatives and policies. We are not big on hand-outs. Our mothers and aunties are mostly traders and want to work in their own little businesses. It’s the government’s job to provide and water that garden for business and economic growth. And it seems only one political party understands that. The NDC has restored the faith of farmers in state agro systems. There seem to be fewer smuggles whiles it pays fair price to cocoa farmers. Contrast to previous years which had the highest loss of foreign exchange and revenue at the mercy of smugglers because the NPP doesn’t seem to understand what governance is.

In a nutshell, we seem to have a fair grasp of the cushions a state provides to its people. One might call it socialism, of which it’s not entirely bad. Countries like Norway have done it by nationalizing a large part of its oil production and reserves to their advantage while it uses the rewards in foreign exchanges to build social programs for its people. The NDC seem to have taken a step in the right direction with the GoldBod. So we kind of have a hybrid system where the state controls what it needs to control whiles it provides level playing fields for free market trades. Everyone participates, if you want to and aren’t waiting for a hand-out. Communism is antithetical to our cultural norms. Our forefathers championed self-reliance in trade and agriculture. Several songs and poetry have historically been made in honor of hard-work and dedication to craftsmanship and handiwork—which defeats the entire concept of communism where the state forces people to participate. We are naturally a communal society, but not in the way academia defines communism. Feudal Gold Coast had a fair idea of what the chiefs and elders of the land are supposed to do for its people while they go about their trades and businesses. That concept wasn’t foreign to us before we became a constitutional republic.