Letters
Market for gold winners rejected
I was quite surprised to read that the Minerals Commission of Ghana (Talking Drums, October 8, 1984) had rejected a proposal for the establishment of a government- controlled market for private gold winners.One would have thought that this suggestion would be given a try to see if it would have any impact on the rampant smuggling of minerals, especially gold, which has reached outrageous proportions in recent years. Any honest official of the Commission cannot deny the fact that it is the domestic low price of gold as opposed to the relatively lucrative and attractive foreign exchange market that has been making people smuggle it to sell outside the country.
It is also an open secret that the smugglers have now devised all sorts of ways to take the minerals outside without detection or with the collusion of the border and custom offices - all to the detriment of the economy.
By now it should have occurred to someone that shooting gold dealers and winners is not going to solve the problem and that something really positive ought to be done to ameliorate the situation.
I sincerely hope that the government would not behave like the proverbial ostrich and bury its head in the sand on this issue.
If the PNDC refuses to do anything about this the Ghanaian traders who pack the seat of Ghana Airways flights every week would continue to benefit from selling on the London gold market their expensive gold chains, bangles, ear-rings and other such ornaments which, technically cannot be classified as smuggled goods.
Pauline Awotwi, Milton Keynes.
Buhari responding to pressure?
I have closely followed the controversial case involving the Super Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji of Nigeria who lost a briefcase containing $42,000 in a hotel room in Vienna.Right from the start it was quite obvious that Alhaji Alhaji had no business holding on to his post since he had so flagrantly flouted the foreign exchange and bank account regulations of people in public office but to the utter surprise of all, he continued working, even though the reasons he gave for losing that huge amount of money did not, in any way, impress anybody.
I was therefore quite relieved when I read in the Talking Drums that he had been affected in the recent cabinet shuffle with a transfer to the Ministry of Economic Planning.
It is the view of many that if the Head of State appears to have used the opportunity to silence the critics, then he should have gone the whole way and removed Alhaji Alhaji because it is dangerous to leave the possibly erroneous impression that in a period of WAI some Nigerians can go against the law and go unpunished.
F. Olatunje, Roehampton.
Nigeria's economic survival and free enterprise
I would like to make a few comments on a well-researched article entitled Nigeria's economic survival - will it depend on free enterprise system?', written by Charles A Ikokwu and published in the Talking Drums of September 24, 1984.I thoroughly enjoyed reading the piece which attempted to unravel the knotty points in development in Third World countries and have become the focus of heated debate whenever they are raised.
However, I could not help noticing the inevitable contradictions which plague developing economics such as ours in his analysis. For instance, Mr Ikokwu states: "Nigeria needs a Miracle in 1984. Trade must not be restricted in such a manner as to create imperfect competition, allowing a few individuals to have enough impact on the economy to produce appreciable depressing or elevating effects on market prices...
"Monopoly can be tolerated in those areas of the economy which involve public safety - the utilities like electricity, water supply, the nation's road network and similar facilities.
"However, the government has no business selling beer, or controlling and managing communications. Does anyone care how much revenue the government would realise if a private enterprise was contracted to supply telephones to the public in Nigeria?..."
Therein lies the problem facing all developing economies where to strike the balance to achieve the best results. It is an open secret that NEPA, for instance, is hopelessly incapable of producing the vital electricity to run the machinery of production but because of its essential nature, the state feels reluctant to hand it over for privatisation where it properly belongs in this case.
In the same way the state would control sale of rice and beer precisely because these commodities, as well as others like them are imported and are not readily available due to foreign exchange constraints. The situation therefore demands some form of gov- ernment intervention if the ordinary citizen is to get his share of these so- called essential commodities.
The current oil price war unleashed by the oil producing countries heavily underscores the foregoing in that a country like Nigeria which heavily depends on oil revenue has been thrown into the deep end of economic problems in which case the government has to necessarily get involved.
Free enterprise is a good economic system but would it really work in the fragile economies of Africa?
George Irabor, Nottingham.
Waking up to reality?
I find your article 'Waking up to disaster' (October 22, 1984 issue) which compares the IRA with what you described as 'the soldiers who stage coups in West African countries' misinformed but as you stated in your last sentence, 'possibly the coup phobia makes one project one's fears onto occurrences that have no relationship whatsoever to one's experience.'Even if the IRA had succeeded in wiping out the entire British cabinet, the IRA has never aspired to taking 'physical control of the country' as you put it, rather they are committed to the total withdrawal of the British from their country, Ireland, more of an anti- colonial struggle at both political and military levels (although, of course, their military exploits are more spectacular and headline grabbing with all the backlash these invoke).
All British institutions are legitimate targets for the IRA and for that matter the INLA. All British political leaders and the British public in general are therefore possible victims except that some targets are more desirable than others for obvious reasons. This fact is reflected in the need for the British to close ranks against the IRA and INLA.
Chris Nsiah, Ilford, Essex.
