A good month's wage is the size of a brick and not much lighter. This hurts the quality of life in Ghana. Prices are rising faster than wages. Three-quarters of Ghanaians die from preventable diseases. Foreign investment is nonexistent.
Many ordinary people are worse off and, like elsewhere, the gap between rich and poor is widening.
Such demands are typical. And this is in Ghana, a country celebrated by development experts as an island of tranquillity, a haven from the civil war and rampant crime that has engulfed much of sub-Saharan Africa. In the '90s, when much of Africa fell into disorder, Ghana moved toward democracy, scaled back its military, opened up its press, encouraged the spread of civic organizations and got its public finances into better order, following the stern advice of the International Monetary Fund. Even Jerry Rawlings, Ghana's president, who originally came to power in a coup, has agreed to peacefully give up office next month following national elections. Economic setbacks that make it another face of world capitalism in crisis.