Background
1. Recently, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has been shoring up gold reserves to strengthen the local currency under a regime of reorganizing the export of artisanal and small scale-mining (ASM). This action, in tandem with those of some central banks across the globe, has contributed to the rising price of the metal at the global marketplace (see Ian Salisbury @ the Barron Daily, May30, 2025). However, sustaining this momentum will necessitate altering resource accumulation practices in the global economy. Why this is the case remains a matter of the unwritten rules of operations at this marketplace dating several centuries. The following highlights briefly underlying nuances and the specific steps for sustaining the currency levels.
Preservation of Transnational Inequities
2. A fundamental feature of operations at the global marketplace is any transaction has to conform with the unwritten rules of inequity – the status quo whereby value-added products are not exported from Ghana and the mentality must remain primarily raw not to tilt the scale. A relationship of junior and senior partnerships must be maintained at all cost, otherwise, the quality of life and purchasing power shrink for the drivers.
Acknowledging the Realism of Economies
3. Economies are either advanced or developing but not the same. For example, the US and Ghana are different in several ways and so the currencies cannot trade for 1 ghc to 1 dollar regardless of the amount of gold in stock value. Realism has to determine value of currency beyond boosting reserves and reorganizing the export regime of ASM. The policy formulae may be in the right direction but product value is determined by the reality of finished product and raw materials at the marketplace.
Mutual Preservation of Imbalances
4. To meet global demands, a section of the Ghanaian populace perceives nothing wrong with polluting water bodies, farmlands and engaging in suicidal activities including mining underneath dwelling places in communities. The state is rendered ‘toothless’ to take a more decisive action given some public officials and grassroots leaders are at the forefront of this menace, and global capital is infused to encourage such an abominable practice. The entire country is thrown into a situation of imbalance with Nature just to satisfy demands at the global marketplace.
Redesign the Composition of the Modern State
5. A necessary step to cure this malaise, sustain the long-term strength of the cedi, and ensure a win-win solution at the global marketplace is to redesign the composition of the modern Ghanaian state. This will entail sharing of power and governance between modern and traditional leadership with the former responsible for national affairs and the latter handing local government at the grassroots. Operationalizing such an idea will involve: among other actionable undertaking, open acceptance and embracing of the idea among the educated elites who are at the forefront perpetuating present inequalities of the global marketplace; constitutional reviews and amendments, awareness, and sensitization campaigns; leadership capacity uplifting and adaptation enhancement. etc. These proactive measures are the requisites for the country’s participation at the global marketplace to yield envisaged benefits for all with assured peaceful and smooth operations
About the Author: Dr. Kofi Anani is the Founder and Manager of the Blended Knowledge Solutions Network dedicated to utilizing blended knowledge -local and global for transformative development in Africa www.bksnetwork.org). He has spent more than two decades working in International Development. He has served for five years as the Executive Secretary of the Ghana Refugees Board (2015-2020). Prior to this assignment, he worked in Development Finance at the World Bank Group in Washington, DC, and Post-Conflict Reconstruction at the United Nations Mission in Kosovo. Dr. Anani is the author of the recent publication, Leadership in Independent Africa, Six Decades On: The Blended Representation Principle as a Cause for Afro Optimism, (London: Zed, 2024). Details of the views expressed here are contained in this publication. He can be reached at 233544611282 or [email protected].
