“If I had a girlfriend, I would have loved to have some quality time with her at such a serene environment as a holiday treat.” That was the exact thought I had when I saw a very nice hotel somewhere in the Eastern Region being advertised on Facebook.
Anyways, why don’t I check it out? Who knows? I might be lucky with the woman of my dreams and pass by one day. I said to myself again and clicked the link they had provided to take one to their WhatsApp line if one wants to get more information about the place.
I asked about the rate, and they quoted in dollars. I became furious and asked why they were rendering services in dollars. They couldn’t respond again. I saw another hotel in the Central Region, and it was the same thing. I had searched online, taken their contact, and called. The lady at the other end of the phone told me the rates in dollars, and when I asked why they were pricing their rooms in dollars, she said I could pay the cedi equivalent. I asked her why they weren’t quoting the cedi directly, and she couldn’t say anything again.
Then, I made her understand that it’s places like her workplace that have contributed to the cedi’s incessant fall against the dollar. For those who know me personally, I spoke about the matter with passion and knowing my passion might be intense, I felt a bit sorry for her, but hoped that feedback like mine could inform future decisions.
The day Sammy Gyamfi’s issue occurred was my off day, and usually, when I’m off, I try as much as possible not to engage with news to ‘reset’ my senses for the subsequent days ahead after doing news back-to-back-to-back. So, the first thing I saw was Sammy’s apology the next day when a colleague posted on one of our news platforms. I went to his DM and asked what Sammy was apologizing for before he briefed me. Then I was like, “How big is this deal for people to be so angry as to warrant such an uproar?”
In fact, my only reservation about the entire brouhaha was the person involved, being Agradaa. I don’t hate her, but I equally don’t like her because she has duped so many people as a fetish priestess, only to turn around and deceive some section of the public she has influence over, claiming she’s now an evangelist preaching the word of God.
I know her followers and possibly some critical minds like myself who are also Christians will question whether I don’t know the story of Paul in the Bible. But it doesn’t require rocket science—the Prophet Isaiah in the Bible, nor Baba Fakunle, the soothsayer in Ola Rotimi’s ‘The Gods Are Not To Blame‘, to know Agradaa is a scam.
When the incident occurred, some elements within the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) got angry over the gesture, with some sharing my sentiment and asking how Agradaa could fall into the category of a needy person, as Sammy made us understand per his apology.
Others also felt the GoldBod Acting Managing Director deserved the backlash for how he treats foot soldiers. Yes, for some of us, we hear things. Some foot soldiers say Sammy treats them like second-class party members when he meets them. According to them, unlike Basintale, who gets close and interacts with them, Sammy acts like they don’t belong, and although he won’t snub them, his reception is unwelcoming.
Then there were the NDC faithful who had no issues with the development and defended Sammy from dawn till the matter died out, I should say.
There was also the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), whom after its several failed attempts to appear relevant before Ghanaians, following how low they took the country and the NDC government’s performance with just four months in office, thought this ‘frivolous’ issue was something they could capitalise on to score political points.
My own friend, Eric Akatsi Dumenu, petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to probe Sammy Gyamfi but later had to withdraw the request after realising it wouldn’t be easy to substantiate his allegations. But, as usual, he told us his life was under threat, and that was the reason he withdrew the petition. I had personally chatted with Eric and requested an on-camera interview on the petition on our channels, but he declined with the same excuse. As to whether he was telling the truth or not, “you and I were not there.”
Whether Sammy Gyamfi erred or not, people have their opinions, and they shared them in several ways, which I respect. I also have my opinion on the issue, as I’ve shared earlier, and people can agree or disagree with me. But in all these, there is one thing that caught my interest and informed this piece; the fact that this is Ghana, and the cedi is our currency.
The Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) is clear on the prohibition of pricing and payments in foreign currency. The provision says “Pricing, advertising, or making payments for goods and services in foreign currency in Ghana is generally prohibited. The sole legal tender in Ghana is the Ghana Cedi.”
If Sammy wanted to give out money, it should have been in cedis instead of dollars. I agree with that sentiment; and I share it too. But I asked myself, aren’t these same people aware that some individuals and organisations charge dollars for their services in this cedi-based economy?
Apart from hospitality industries who are mostly known to be doing this, some property owners are also renting out their properties in dollars. Sometime in 2023, when my landlord told me he needed my room for his son who would be returning from abroad, I had to find a new place.
Because estate agents were mostly not finding me rooms of my preference, I took some time off my busy schedule to join the search. A few metres from the Achimota Melcom, I saw an inscription on a small piece of wood that read “Rooms for Rent” with a contact number attached.
I called and inquired and was told that the one-bedroom apartment, commonly known as a “Chamber and Hall,” was priced in dollars. I asked the man who answered the call if the room was in the United States, and expressed my frustration.
I hung up the call before giving him the opportunity to say anything. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he had said ‘mede ohia rekeka nkwaseasɛm‘, to wit I’m speaking nonsense out of poverty. I’m sharing these stories so you will know that I’m not speaking about people trading in dollars as hearsay, but as something I’ve experienced firsthand.
Until the recent appreciation of the cedi against the dollar, the only times in recent years that the local currency usually gain prominence against the dollar is when Ghana goes for syndicated loan or we receive a tranche of an IMF facility when we are on a bailout.
The Bank of Ghana has a role to play in ensuring that Ghana’s economy is not dollarised. However, you and I know that they have failed to do so over the years. Some have alleged that the authorities who possess the wherewithal to stabilise the cedi through resilient fiscal policies on the forex market are the ones who benefit when the cedi depreciates, so they are not motivated to see the local currency appreciate, and hence their failure to clamp down on individuals and organisations flouting the rules.
I have a simple message for the Bank of Ghana, the governing National Democratic Congress, opposition New Patriotic Party and the Minority in Parliament.
Dear Bank of Ghana, if Ghanaians, particularly the NDC and NPP, are not going to mount pressure on you and speak out like they did in Sammy Gyamfi’s case, to fulfill this mandate of yours, I want to remind you that the Ghanaian economy is already dollarised, and the releases you’ve been issuing to caution the public without action are not yielding any results.
If you’re claiming oblivion to the things I’m talking about, evidence abounds in town where there are huge billboards of apartments quoting their rents in dollars. I see these things and sometimes pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming, because I don’t remember being granted a visa by the U.S. Embassy to say I’m outside Ghana.
You (Bank of Ghana) know those trading in foreign currencies in this country, and I wonder what stops you from getting them arrested and publishing their identities in the media for others to learn from it. If for nothing at all, the recent steps taken to keep the cedi stabilised are enough to show that this current administration has the political will to do it, and if we want to gain absolute control, the dollarisation must end.
To the foot soldiers of the NDC and party communicators who defended Sammy Gyamfi, especially those who said you were peeved because the currency he gave Agradaa was dollars and not cedis, as well as party communicators and officers who stood with him through thick and thin, Ghana needs you more than Sammy Gyamfi.
Must it always be about the interest of your party? What happened to the state? Was there no Ghana before the NDC came? Are Sammy Gyamfi and the NDC more important than Ghana? If you could organise your people to go on social media and other traditional media to defend the action of just one man to keep your party’s reputation intact, then you can do the same for the state by calling for the closure of those businesses and the arrest of individuals trading in foreign currency in the country.
Yes, he is your party man and you deemed it right to defend him, but why can’t you channel the same energy you used to criticise him for giving out dollars and also defend him against the calls for his dismissal, on the Bank of Ghana to crack the whip on these individuals and organisations running an American economy on Ghanaian soil? If you can defend your party man with such passion, I believe you can do same for Ghana because the nation should obviously come first before any individual.
To the NPP, and specifically, Henry Nana Boakye, (Nana B), National Organiser of the party, under your watch as Chairman of the National Service Board, the authority you oversaw was hit with a scandal costing the nation huge sums of money. Yet, you couldn’t organise a single press conference on the matter. But, as usual, because Mahama’s second term has been scandal-free so far, albeit only a few months in office, you thought you could project a swimming pool for us to believe it is a lake.
If you care about Ghana that much as you claim, your press conferences shouldn’t end with Sammy Gyamfi. They should continue with all the institutions and service providers charging dollars in this country. I know you know many of them and have probably patronised their services before and paid in dollars, yet you’ve never organised a press conference calling on the Bank of Ghana to arrest the owners of those businesses.
Being a good politician isn’t always about antagonising or critiquing your opponent, but also proposing things in the interest of the state. If it wouldn’t demean the opponent for your party to score political points, then there’s no need trumpeting, right?
Now to my dear Minority in Parliament, I want to plead with you to use these press conferences of yours to exert pressure on the Bank of Ghana to impose strict control on these individuals and organisations whose aim is to undermine Ghana by promoting the dollar against the cedi.
We all witnessed the energy with which your representatives on the Appointments Committee, led by the venerable Osahen Kwamena Afenyo-Markin, pushed tables and destroyed microphones in protest against the continuation of vetting of ministerial nominees few months ago. Have you ever considered how Ghanaians will applaud you if you channel the same energy—not in a violent manner like the one that damaged microphones—but positively, to push the central bank to take action on these enemies of the economy?
I want to conclude by saying that, the cedi is doing well so far, and I believe that if both the NPP and NDC devoted just one-tenth of the energy they employed on this matter to the cedi, including you the Minority, it would contribute, to some extent, to making Ghana the winner in the end, rather than Sammy Gyamfi, the NPP or the NDC.
The writer, Felix Anim-Appau, works with the online unit at Media General. The views expressed in this piece are his personal opinions and do not reflect, in any form or shape, those of the Media General Group, where he works. His email address is [email protected], and he can be found on X as @platofintegrity
READ ALSO: PLATO’S FOLDER: Dear Member of Parliament, do you think you deserve the ‘Honourable’ title?
