Ghana Journalist Blames IMF World Bank for Dependency
"Privatisation led many of these establishments, factories that were built for us, to be privatised," Cudjoe testified.
LILONGWE, Malawi — A Ghanaian journalist testified Thursday that structural adjustment programs imposed by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have created dependency cycles and violated Ghana's sovereignty, writes Winston Mwale.
Speaking as a victim, Kizito Cudjoe, a business and finance journalist, told the Africa International People's Commission that structural adjustment programs are "a set of economic policies that are introduced by the IMF and the World Bank to act as sort of conditionalities for countries... to comply before they give loans."
These conditions often include currency devaluation, trade liberalization and privatisation, Cudjoe said during the two-day commission examining Africa's debt crisis.
He said Ghana has repeatedly faced these programs since the 1980s, leading to detrimental outcomes, including massive job losses through the privatisation of state-owned institutions and factories.
"Privatisation led many of these establishments, factories that were built for us, to be privatised," Cudjoe testified.
The resulting unemployment has forced people to seek alternative employment, sometimes turning to illegal activities like unauthorised mining, he said.
As an advocate during the event, Dr. Lyla Latif questioned Cudjoe, arguing that structural adjustment programs violate international law, specifically the right to development and economic sovereignty.
"The UN Charter expressly states that every state has the right to its economic sovereignty, its territorial sovereignty, which means it has the autonomy for its fiscal sovereignty," Latif said.
Latif contended that when international financial institutions dictate economic policy, they assume governmental roles and should bear legal responsibility for the consequences.
Cudjoe cited Ghana's cocoa sector as an example, noting the country exports raw cocoa beans but imports finished chocolate products due to policies preventing domestic industrialisation.
He called for reforms requiring loans to be "people-centred rather than... wrestling on the credit."