Economic crunch: Ghanaians are going berserk, rioting and anarchy likely next year – Nunoo-Mensah

Former Chief of Defense Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier-General (Rtd.) Joseph Nunoo-Mensah has opined that no country and foreign organisation will help Ghana climb out of the economic ‘deep hole’.

According to him, international organizations and European countries are also grappling with their own challenges such as climate change which has led to wildfires.

He said in an August 11 interview on Joy News that the country and its leaders ought to wake up and devise strategies to counter the effects of COVID-19 as well as the Russia-Ukraine war on the economy and food production.

He said attention ought to be focused on agriculture, particularly, the production of food; warning that failure to do so could lead to rioting and breakdown of law and order in the first three months of 2023.

“We are now in August. In the past, it was supposed to be the month of plenty. Fish everywhere…Winneba, by this time herrings 4 for a pesewa, a penny, and new maize appearing. But if you look at the conditions today in Ghana in August, if we don’t take care and do something about this situation, come early next year, come January, come February, come March there will be serious serious problems for us which might lead to riots and even total breakdown of law and order,” Nunoo-Mensah said.

He added that Ghanaians should not be taken for granted with the assumption that citizens are generally peaceful and won’t resort to rioting.

The retired military officer suggested that hunger makes human beings do things that hitherto they will not have, stressing that the time has come for a multiparty approach to addressing the current economic crunch confronting the country.

In his view, food is going to cause a crisis if not addressed at present.

“Human beings are more dangerous than animals. In 1994 we had the Rwandan crisis the Tutsi and the Hutus and what happened was horrible. Don’t say as for Ghana we are a peaceful people. A hungry man is an angry man. He behaves like an animal. I am saying this issue is getting out of the reach of the current government…the president [sic]. We need to assemble people to sit down and look at Ghana from a holistic position, not from NPP, NDC angle because the way I see it food is going to cause a major crisis,” he stated.

Nunoo-Mensah further mentioned that the current economic crisis is causing many Ghanaians, especially young men to go berserk.

He said what was happening in the country was very worrying since he has never witnessed such a challenging time.

“Let’s put politics aside, what is happening is dangerous. Babies are being born. I saw a woman selling water with the baby dangling behind her. I said to myself ‘if my mother dangled me like this in Winneba at the beach would have become Chief of defence staff?’. No. Many Ghanaians today…if you see many young men, they are going berserk, they are going mental. I saw a middle-aged woman at Danquah Circle…She took her clothes off naked. These are serious issues. An American embassy…I drive there almost every day…a young man naked from head to toe. This is unGhanaian. It never happens here so something is going wrong. We have to sit up and wake up,” he commented.

The economy has in recent times witnessed a downturn following what government says is a result of the ravages of the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

Economists have pointed to fuel price hikes, galloping inflation rate, and general increased cost of living as the basis for the claim.

The Ghana Statistical Service has pegged July’s inflation at over 31% – the highest double-digit inflation in years.