It is official! One out of every three Ghanaians cannot afford the basic necessities of life. According to a report commissioned by the World Bank, 30 percent of Ghanaians are poor, in spite of several years of rapid economic development in the country.
The disparity in the poverty range of the country could not have been wider. According to the report, while on the average, 20 percent of Ghanaians in the south are poor, a whooping figure of 63 of every 100 Ghanaians in the north have no means of acquiring the basic necessities of life.
The report, entitled “Participatory Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment (PPVA): Understanding the Regional Dynamics of Poverty, with particular focus on Ghana’s Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions”, added that so many people in Ghana are vulnerable and slipping into poverty.
The Lead Economist of the World Bank, Sebastien Dessus, told participants at the Bank’s Development Dialogue series in Accra, yesterday, that while poverty generally, was coming down in Ghana, it was rather going up in the north.
A Researcher of the report, who is also an official of the Participatory Development Association (PDA), David Korboe, stated: “The most consistent descriptor of poverty is the inadequacy of food supplies on a year-round basis, especially, in rural and semi-urban areas.”
According to him, in the rural communities, with particularly children, the elderly, disabled people, women and men, the report mentioned hunger as an experience characterising poverty.
The report, which described poverty according to communities studied, indicated that in the Shai area in the Greater Accra Region, poverty is “when you cannot feed your children without begging.” Even in the more fertile southern sites such as Alikrom, Atta-ne-Atta and Kokrompeh, the poor migrant communities from the north are afflicted by hunger.
In one community, poverty is also “when people cannot afford basic needs” such as financing their children’s education, healthcare, or the trousseau or bride-wealth needed for marriage.
Mr. Korboe, therefore, indicated that the sheer lack of income-earning opportunities during the long slack season was decried by able-bodied adult groups, both in the savannah, as well as among those who had migrated south.
The PPVA, therefore, identifies multiples of factors such as ecological, economic, social and institutional, as the drivers and sustainers of vulnerability in the north.
Touching on capabilities of the north, Mr. Korboe told the well-attended forum: “Frequent interruptions to children’s schooling adversely affect their life chances. Boys are frequently pulled out of school to hunt, work in the fields and pastures, or help repair flood damaged walls.” Girls may be required to skip school in order to assist their mothers in the market.
The PPVA further stressed that in the rural schools especially, the lack of trained teachers was striking, denying the poorest children the opportunity to receive competitive education.
Contributing to the discussions, Dr. Augustine Gockel, a lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School, said the sub-agricultural sectors were not driving growth in the agricultural industry, and therefore, called on the government to prioritise poverty interventions targeted at the north.
Source: The Chronicle
Then thats not that bad.
@maame,You think 1 out 3 being poor is not bad? WOW
its a very sad situation..God help our motherland
@cici, Amen.
why dont we all donate something together with GC to help people there each person taking an amount of 50 or 100 and help the ones that really need it and chris could you make it happen let me know
This goes to tell how greedy our politicians are…i bet none of these intelectual criminals called politicians is part of the poverty line.It tells us only about one thing..the country has enough to make anyone live a descent life but we allow these politicians to turn us against each other as they amass wealth in the noisy confusion. God bless our homeland Ghana !!!!
It’s not easy but i believe God will help each and everyone.
i even tot the numba is higher than 30%. pple spend more than 3 hours on radio discussing ya-na’s death while pple in the north don’t have the luxury to basic neccesities.
The country needs to invest more in the north, such as education and then building jobs, as well as attractive townships. This will attract more greater people to this part of Ghana.
It is very unfortunate. The mentioned parts of the country seamed to be abandoned and deprived of many opportunities the south and the other areas enjoy which make the north poor. Honestly, the youth at the northern part are less fortunate and futureless for the reason why these tribes are more and more out of politics and government offices. Some do say it has been a strategy for the majority moslems and indegenous not to have a say in the national mkatters because voices that have weight always come from the government. Automatically, the poor and schooldrop out cannot have a loud voice where diplomat and graduate are listened. Building schools and training centres does not mearn anything. Parents cannot afford to finance their children education. Now these are children the south calle Vulnerable. If the poor who, in this situation, is supposed to be a National burden is called Vulnerable then he is a gift of the nation and not a gift of the nature. It is a shame to say one comes from the north isn’t it?.