[ 2014-02-03 ]

Is Duncan-Williams' spiritual command to the falling cedi a bad joke?
Only last week I wrote an article here on how we
black folks sometimes allow our critical
faculties, our ability to rationalize and think
critically and have a pragmatic and scientific
evaluation of facts and the evidence to be drown
out by blind and unquestionable acceptance of
things that defy reason and logic and are packaged
and sold to us in the name of religion.

Everybody knows that the Ghana cedi has been in a
free fall and the government has proven incapable
so far in dealing with the situation. Investor
confidence in the economy is low and business
confidence in the country is reported to be at an
all-time low according to a recent report in the
Daily Graphic.

The cedi has already depreciated by three per cent
against the major international currencies this
month. The US dollar, which sold at Ghc2.20 on the
local foreign exchange market before Christmas
last year, now sells at Ghc2.60. The British
pound, which sold at Ghc3 now sells at Ghc4.20.
The euro and CFA are also selling at Ghc3.50 and
Ghc4.80 respectively. In 2013, the local currency
suffered 17-per cent depreciation. The
year-on-year depreciation shows a 21.96 per cent
depreciation of the cedi against the dollar; 28.88
per cent against the pound sterling; 23.98 per
cent against the euro and 25.54 per cent against
the Swiss franc.

To be honest, the Bank of Ghana recently injected
$20 million into critical areas of the economy as
part of efforts to shore up the cedi but this will
barely scratch the surface of the problem. The
government has proven inefficient in its handling
of the economy so when Archbishop Duncan -Williams
had the President, the Finance Minister, the
Governor of Bank of Ghana and other top leaders of
the government in his audience at his church
recently and he had advice to offer and some
commands to give, I was expecting him to command
the President and his team to put in policies that
will make the falling cedi to rise and to restore
investor confidence in the economy. I was
expecting him to command the President to fight
corruption in his government to restore people’s
confidence in the governing process, I was
expecting him to command the President to use
judiciously the monies being borrowed to invest in
the country’s infrastructure and its people so
that the country will be better positioned to
compete as a preferred destination for Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI) thus creating jobs for the
teeming army of unemployed youth in the country. I
and many rational thinking Ghanaians would have
loved to see the Archbishop issue commands in the
name of Jesus to the President and his team to
address all these issues and many others crying
for attention.

Instead he decided to do the unthinkable by
according to the news report spiritually
commanding the Ghana cedi to stop falling and
start to rise in the name of Jesus. What? Command
the cedi to stop falling? Was it meant to be a
prank or something? Have Ghanaian pastors lost it?
Is this pastor serious?

Read the relevant part of the news article below.
as captured by RadioXYZonline.com.

Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams has
spiritually “commanded” the falling cedi to
“rise”.

Leading his followers, in Church today (Sunday),
to pray for the recovery of the fast depreciating
local currency, the Presiding Bishop and General
Overseer of the Christian Action Faith Ministries
(CAFM) headquartered in the national capital,
Accra, said: “…I hold up the cedi with prayer
and I command the cedi to recover and I declare
the cedi will not fall; it will not fall any
further. I command the cedi to climb. I command
the resurrection of the cedi. I command and
release a miracle for the economy”.

Archbishop Duncan-Williams also led his church to
pray for President John Mahama, Finance Minister
Seth Tekper and Central Bank Governor Dr Henry
Kofi Wampah, for divine help and guidance to
salvage the cedi.

“In the name of Jesus, say Satan take your hands
off the President; take your hands off the Central
Bank and the Finance Minister. Say we release
innovation for the President, my God, the Governor
of the Bank of Ghana, Central Bank, in the name of
Jesus Christ the son of God, the Finance Minister.
Say we command new ideas, breakthroughs and a
miracle for the economy. Let the cedi rise in
Jesus name”, he led in prayer.

You see how the Reverend Minister let down his
flock and all Ghanaians? He missed a window of
opportunity to address the real issues and to be
on the side of the many suffering Ghanaians by
speaking the truth to power. He missed the chance
or failed to seize the opportunity to make a
difference. Jesus always spoke the truth to power.
Jesus was always on the side of his flock but
today’s ministers are self-centered just like
today’s politicians.

They are in bed together so they fail to speak the
truth to power. Archbishop Duncan-Williams should
have spoken to the people whose job it is to
stabilize the cedi and prevent it from falling not
to the cedi itself. The Ghana cedi has no ear to
hear him, and it cannot fall or rise on its own.
It is the policies of the government that can
cause it to fall or rise. The Archbishop probably
needs someone to remind him that, this is not a
matter of spirituality, it is common sense, it is
pragmatic policies that can arrest the fall of the
cedi. No amount of prayers and fasting can cause
the cedi to rise or fall.

Today, Government’s short-term borrowing costs
are going up again as a disturbing combination of
surging inflation, a tumbling currency and the
prospect of the budget deficit exceeding the
target drive down investor confidence. The cost of
91-day borrowing rose for a sixth straight week to
19.62 percent on January 24, when the last auction
of the bills was held. The yield on the debt rose
nearly one percentage point in the six-week
period, reaching its highest since November 1. The
yield on 182-day bills also increased for four
straight weeks since December 27 to 19.44 percent
on January 24.

The country’s public debt hit 46.1 billion Ghana
cedis as at the end of September last year. It
might have since increased again. It is important
to note that in the last five years alone, close
to $40 billion has been added to the public debt.
The critical question is, do we have that amount
of development in the country to show for that
massive borrowing? What future are we building for
our children and their children? Leaving them with
massive debts and nothing to show for it?
The public debt constitutes about 54 percent of
the total value of the economy and experts believe
the trend is unsustainable. They argue the debt
level is inching closer the critical 60 percent
mark, the IMF and World Bank benchmark for
classifying a country’s debt stock as
dangerously high and unsustainable.

The writer is a senior socio-political and
economic analyst based in Tokyo, Japan. He
welcomes your comments. He can be reached at;
do4luv27@hotmail.com

Source - Ben Ofosu-Appiah

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