Major Problems Facing Ghana Today
Ghana or the Republic of Ghana is a west African country located at the western coast of Africa. Unlike its neighboring countries, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ivory Coast, Ghana is an Anglophone (English-speaking) country. Ghana borders the Gulf of Guinea to the south, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east and Ivory Coast to the West.
Ghana has a total land area of about 238,535 squared kilometers and a population of about 25 million people with the population growth rate around 1.8%. Majority of the total population of Ghana live in big cities and towns such as Accra the capital town of Ghana (Accra contains about 2.3 million people), Kumasi the capital of the Ashanti region( Kumasi contains about 1.8 million people. Kumasi is also the home of the Golden Stool of the Ashanti empire), Sunyani the capital of the Brong Ahafo region, and Tamale the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana.
Ghana is the first sub-Saharan African country to gain independence (from colonial rule) in 1957 from the United Kingdom. Ghana became a republic on first July 1960. Lake Volta which is the largest artificial lake in the world is found in Ghana.
Ghana is one of the most culturally rich countries in all of Africa with several ethnic and racial groups living together. Akans the most dominant ethnic group in Ghana today form about 45.3% of the total population followed by Mole-Dagbon (about 15.2% of the total population), Ewe (about 11.7% of the total population), Ga-Dangme (about 7.3%), Guan (about 4%), Gurma 3.6%, Grusi 2.6%, Mande-Busanga (about 1%), other (about 7.8%).
Ghana's life expectancy of 62 years is far better than in most African countries. About 75% of the Ghanaian population above age 15 can at least read and write which is better than in most African countries (although education in Ghana especially girl-child education falls below expectation compared to countries like Kenya and Botswana).
Ghana just like its neighboring countries is blessed with abundance of natural resources such as gold, silver, manganese, bauxite, timber, petroleum, fish, rubber, salt, limestone, industrial diamonds, etc.
The two decades of political stability in Ghana has helped the country a lot in almost all sectors of its economy. However, despite the significant improvement in agriculture and other sectors of the economy, Ghana like most African countries faces many challenges including poverty , hunger, and diseases. About 60 percent of the Ghanaian population are into Agriculture. Most farmers in Ghana like in most African countries (such as Nigeria) are subsistence farmers who grow crops and rear animals just to feed themselves and their families although some farmers (especially those in the western regions) in Ghana do attach cocoa farms to their regular subsistence farms. Eventhough cocoa is a cash crop, not all farmers in Ghana benefit from cocoa farms and in times of crop failure, most families especially those in the rural areas go hungry.
Despite Ghana being the second largest producer of cocoa beans in the world (Ivory Coast is the current world's leading producer of cocoa beans), most people living in the rural areas especially women and children go to bed hungry in Ghana especially in times of crop failure. Most villages in Ghana lack good drinking water, hospitals, basic sanitation(lack of basic sanitation especially improper sewage disposal remains a major problem even in Accra the capital of Ghana), quality education, etc.
The northern parts of Ghana unlike the rest of the country get very little rainfall in a year which leaves the upper East, the upper west, and the Northern regions of Ghana mostly dry and dusty. This doesn't favor agriculture at all. Rainfall in the northern parts of Ghana is often unpredictable and causes floods which destroys the few crops and animals in the fields.
Lack of good drinking water was a major problem in these upper regions of Ghana but the former president Jerry John Rawlings and the NDC government did great for some of these areas by providing them with boreholes and pipe-borne water which has helped a lot in the eradication of the guinea worm and other water borne diseases in some of these areas (although more help is still needed). Not all areas in these regions have access to good drinking water. The NDC government under former president Rawlings also helped a lot in extending electricity to a few of these areas. Once again, great help is need because not all villages and towns in Ghana have electricity. Most small villages and towns in Ghana still live in darkness.
The current NDC government under president John Evans Atta Mills is also helping a lot in extending quality education to most villages in Ghana. Again more help is needed because most children of school-going age in rural areas of Ghana are out of school. The recent oil discovery in Ghana if managed very well can help speed the Ghanaian economy a lot.
Youth education especially girl-child and sex education in Ghana has helped a lot in breaking the cycle of new HIV/AIDS infections in Ghana. In 2002, there were at least 260,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana with about 21,000 HIV/AIDS deaths recorded within the same year. These numbers have reduced a lot with the help of girl-child and sex education programs in Ghana. Once again, more help is needed especially in the Northern parts of Ghana where girl-child education remains very poor.