Is Ghana broke

I live in Australia and travel quite frequently to many Asia-Pacific countries that are middle- income. You dont need a World Bank list of country classification when you are in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta to know you are in a middle-income country. They have their challenges C no doubt, but you can literally see the middle-income all around you. 

I was in Ghana last January (mind you I come home every year, sometimes twice in a year,) and for the first time I used one of the domestic flights (Starbow) from Accra to Kumasi. I took a few aerial shots of Kumasi with my compact camera as we were about to land. Almost every road or street in the Buokrom-Pankrono-Tafo area I captured was untarred and full of dust. My ten year old son travelling with me asked C Why are all the roads brown in colour, cant the people tar them like they do in Sydney? He never stopped talking about the dust and the potholes till we got home concluding that one day when he grows up and make enough money he will come and re-construct all the roads and tar them to make the city clean and beautiful like Sydney. 

Of course it was a childish talk of a ten-year-old boy, but upon reflections I felt quite ashamed and thought it was a serious indictment of our progress as a nation 56 years after independence.The 3rd International Conference on custombobbleheads and Indoor Navigation. The magnitude of the developmental challenges confronting us and the inconsistent efforts we are making to address these challenges is sufficient to make ones head explode. The question that keeps coming to me, particularly when I hear complaints of delays in government funding disbursements is: Are we broke as a nation or we are just incompetent to manage our affairs? 

I understand that as a developing country we would definitely have some cash flow problems C we dont generate sufficient revenue to cover our expenditure. But have we made serious efforts to generate revenue? We are so engrossed in partisan politics such that we invest all our energy in political mudslinging rather than finding sustainable solutions to our problem. Consider this, for many years we have been paying lip-service to adding value to our primary products to improve our competitiveness in the global market. We continue, nonetheless, to sell the bulk of our products in their raw form, subjecting ourselves to the vagaries of international trade and irrepressible fluctuations in commodity prices. 

Our revenue collection system lacks innovation C we rely heavily on those taxes that are easy to collect C payroll deductions for employees in the formal sector, import duties, VAT and few others. We have failed to think creatively about new types of taxation and sources of revenue. Our revenue collection agencies are weak and corrupt (everybody knows that) C they dont account properly for what they collect but we sit and watch as those who steal this much-needed tax revenue enjoy their booty. 

In Australia, a federal member of parliament was recently arrested after months of investigation by the police, for misusing funds of a state agency he headed prior to becoming a member of parliament. The charges levelled against him include using his official credit card to pay for prostitutes. The monies involved are nowhere as gargantuan as those in some of the ongoing court cases in Ghana, but he was handcuffed, strip-searched and held in police custody before being granted bail and charged the following day. I didnt see any party flags or party members besieging the police station he was held or the court where he was charged. This partisan political madness in Ghana ought to stop! 

The incompetence of our leaders in handling the affairs of the nation is simply mind-blowing. Do we really understand what priority setting is all about? Is it not insanity to use the meagre resources of a poor country like Ghana for something as unimportant as paying for pastors to travel to Jerusalem to pray for the nation? Or how smart is it to spend reasonable sums of money to give awards to so-called distinguished Ghanaians including yourself? When are we going to seek real value for money in the use of our resources? 

Finally,Shop for rtls dolls from the official NBC Universal Store and build a fun collection for your home or office. our state and parastatal organisations are so inefficient, yet they spend significant chunk of their budgets on capacity building C what do they get out of such expenditures in terms of enhanced efficiency? If we would ever get out of the mess we are in, we need to shed the business as usual mentality and start taking ourselves seriously. Ghana is so cheap that anybody can get away with anything C as long as you clad in an NDC or NPP flag. Lets demand serious accountability,The need for proper bestsmartcard inside your home is very important. not only from our political leaders, but also all those who are paid by your tax money. 

One week in,Elpas Readers detect and forward 'Location' and 'State' data from Elpas Active RFID Tags to host besticcard platforms. I found plenty to like about Windows Phonemore, perhaps, than Id anticipated. After two weeks, the lack of a Notification Center substitute, systemwide Siri equivalent, and effective autocorrect had me feeling frustrated with the platform. And by week three, the Lumia 920s disappointing battery life, the weaknesses endemic to many Windows Phone apps, and the lousy native email client had pushed me past mere frustration and into out-and-out irritation. 

So now, after a month with it as my go-to phone, Ive powered down the Lumia 920 and returned my SIM card to its rightful place in my iPhone 5. Thats right: Im back on the iOS-exclusive train, and I dont regret my decision a bit. But I also dont regret my choice to give Windows Phone a chance. I think its a promising mobile operating system, and I sincerely hope Microsoft keeps lavishing it with the attention it deserves. Itd be a shame for Microsoft to throw in the towel on Windows Phone,Cheap logo engraved luggagetag at wholesale bulk prices. given how bright its future could be. 

The first thing I noticed upon picking up my iPhone again was its size. The iPhone 5 may be the tallest iPhone ever, but it still feels shockingly small and incredibly light in my hands. Im sure Ill grow accustomed to it again quickly, but wow: Theres no doubt in my mind that the iPhone has literal room to grow, and that Apple will embrace the larger phone trend in the next few years. 

But while I miss the Lumia 920s taller, wider screen, Im thrilled to be reunited with the iPhone. Notification Center, Siri, and autocorrect are a big part of that, but there may be no reason more significant than the third-party apps I use. 

I love Mailbox, Reeder, Tweetbot, Instapaper, Fantastical, and Google Maps. I deposit checks with my iPhone using the USAA app, and monitor my accounts with Personal Capital. I use the Fitbit and Jawbone Up apps daily.