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Will ‘Financial Mismanagement’ Compromise Ghana’s Good Name?

Will ‘Financial Mismanagement’ Compromise Ghana’s Good Name?

From The Guardian

Ghana has a reputation as a poster-child for democracy and a haven of stability in west Africa. The international community has form in simplifying the image of west African countries this way. Mali was once described, not that long ago, as “one of the most enlightened democracies in all of Africa.”

Cote d’Ivoire was, after independence from France, regarded as an “economic miracle” – the financial powerhouse of west Africa, a label which glossed over the potential, eventually realised, for electoral and ethnic disputes to send it into a downwards trajectory of civil war from which it is still recovering.

In some respects, the net beneficiary of instability elsewhere in west Africa is Ghana. Only in some respects – because in a region where goods, people and weapons flow freely across porous borders, instability in any west African country is to the detriment of all the others. But Ghana has emerged, by comparison to its neighbours, as one of the very few countries where elections are managed smoothly, and where electoral disputes are resolved by judges, not armed factions.

This political track record rightly inspires enthusiasm both in and towards Ghana. Stable governments, combined with its lucrative deposits of oil, gold and agricultural commodities, have made Ghana a key destination for foreign investors. This week’s Economist Summit in Accra – Ghana: turning potential into opportunity – is one of numerous international meetings in the Ghanaian capital in recent weeks bringing together businesses, governments, and existing and potential investors.

Read more at theguardian.com