If You are living in a big city in Ghana and you are comfortable with the money that you spend to be alive, then it’s either because you’re a cultist, a ritualist, or a corrupt politician.
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The cost of living is hunting every living thing in Ghana. Day in and day out, people’s lives have been constantly drained by the amount of money they spend on food, internet services, and fuel (gas).
Before I say anything, I think all Network Service Providers in Ghana should have AK-47 Machine guns on their front desks. Because this work they are now doing is not smaller than armed robbers' work. So they should stop disguising themselves.
Only this month, I have already spent money on internet bundles more than anything. Even food, When it’s not like I do hotspot for my entire extended family. And if you ask around, everyone is crying about these overpriced internet services, except a few drug sellers and ritualists. (People who have done money)
And the most annoying thing is that after paying all this money, the kind of internet you’ll still get will be useless. On a normal day, the number of times I press airplane mode to refresh my internet is more than the number of times I press any other thing on my phone.
I was not sure which one to rant about first, between the cost of food and the cost of internet services.
These days you’ll look at the prices of food and ask yourself again if you are really hungry.
Everyone is already aware of the overpriced trash food in restaurants, what about the new rates that roadside fast food joints are now charging for jallof rice and chicken? As I’m talking now, even an egg, a common embryo is expensive to buy. And it's not as if the rice is plenty, if I give this same amount of money to maame in my hometown, she will give me three plates of rice and big chicken and even squeeze egg inside for me. But in this city, you’ll spend the same amount on food and you’ll still be hungry and malnourished.
As for the issue of the price hikes of fuel, it’s shameful to talk about. Ghana is one of the few countries in the world that are blessed with crude oil reserves, yet the amount we pay for fuel here is insane. The most annoying thing about this fuel issue is the velocity at which the prices increase. Before you close your eye and open, the government will have already added a dollar or more to the price of petroleum. It’s crazy! Just within four years, fuel prices in Ghana have gone from 6 Ghana cedis per liter to 14 Ghana cedis per liter. And it’s still going!
There are more annoying factors that contribute to the high cost of living in a city in Ghana, but because I’m a patriotic citizen and I don’t want to open my country’s nyash to all of you, I’ll stop at these three. I’ll not mention the ridiculous prices homeowners charge for rent.
Rather, I’ll suggest some possible ways we as Ghanaians can rectify these problems.
One of the most important sectors that contributes massively to our countries GDP is agriculture. Investing more in agriculture will help our farmers produce more food all year round. If we don’t have to worry about importing rice and tomatoes from Burkina Faso 🇧🇫 I believe we won’t have to worry about the price we pay for a plate of rice and chicken.
Another thing the government can do to minimize the cost of services in the country is reduce the amount of taxes they impose on these companies. If theses companies pay less taxes to produce their products and services, I believe they won’t charge average Ghanaians insane rates for services
This is my second post on this weekend’s topics, thanks to the Easter holidays and of course @galenkp for the interesting topics