Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Mavis Hawa Koomson, has asked Ghanaians complaining about the high cost of living to go to Canada if they think rent is expensive in the country.
According to her, there is a global surge in the cost of living, saying her recent visit to Canada revealed to her that renting in Ghana is far cheaper than Canada.
Speaking on the maiden edition of Onua FM’s morning show, Yɛn Nsɛmpa, with Nana Yaa Brefo and JB, the Awutu Senya East Member of Parliament indicated that Ghana is doing better than many countries considering the global economic downturn.
“People have been complaining that rent is expensive in Ghana. They should go to Canada. For a month you pay over 2,000 Canadian dollars. That’s for a single room not even a chamber and hall. Things are hard now and there is high cost of living everywhere and when you compare Ghana to other countries, Ghana is doing far better,” she said in Twi.
Reacting to a question that living conditions in Canada are better than that of Ghana and should not compare the rate of rent in the two countries, the lawmaker said “the cost of living is not better in Canada than Ghana. That’s what you think.”
Madam Koomson touted the works of the government especially during the COVID-19 era when world economies all over were faced with challenges, indicating that the government of Ghana did well by sharing food items to Ghanaians.
In response to the assertion that Canadians were given stipends by the government at the time of the pandemic, the legislator said the government couldn’t replicate same in Ghana because distributing money wasn’t going to be enough.
According to her, the government had no choice than to purchase bulk items with the little resources to distribute to the citizens at the time.
She explained how she had to top-up the items from her own pocket sometimes to ensure her constituents had enough.
“During COVID, the things that came to my community were not even enough. I had to add my personal resources. In my constituency, we gave food out to the people. Canada they were given stipends because government was not paying them. But in Ghana workers received their salaries,” she shared.
If you think rent is expensive in Ghana, go to Canada and see – Hawa Koomson#OnuaFM #YεnNsεmpa pic.twitter.com/H2SnPCjqMB
— Onua FM (@onua951fm) February 20, 2024
The Awutu Senya East MP was recently given a total media blackout by the Ghana Journalists’ Association (GJA) for failing to cooperate for investigations to be carried out on an incident involving an assault about a journalist from her outfit.
The ban was lifted after she obliged with the directives given to her by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
GJA gives Hawa Koomson total media ‘blackout’ until further notice
