The host of Accra based Citi FM\u2019s morning show, Bernard Koku Avle has said that income inequality poses a big problem for Ghana\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n
According to the 2017 GJA Journalist of the Year, an economic system that is not inclusive creates a feeling of anger in those who are excluded from its benefits.<\/p>\n
Mr Avle made this known in an interview in his office on Tuesday, 6th August.<\/p>\n
Income inequality is the extreme concentration of wealth or income in the hands of a small percentage of a population.<\/p>\n
\u2018It is a very big problem for the social structure we have, because there are a lot of people who feel that if democracy doesn\u2019t deliver development for them, it\u2019s not really worth it,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018If an economic system creates people who are excluded from the benefits, like in 2011 Ghana\u2019s GDP grew 14 percent, \u00a0most of that money went to the private companies that drilled the oil,\u2019 he added.<\/p>\n
The award winning host made it clear that if Ghana\u2019s economy is the \u2018world\u2019s largest grower\u2019 and \u2018yet people don\u2019t get jobs, people don\u2019t have social services provided, what you are doing is that you are just creating resentment.\u2019<\/p>\n
Moreover, he was emphatic that it is \u2018dangerous\u2019 for a society to create people who have \u2018nothing to lose.\u2019<\/p>\n
However, he pointed out that the reason why income inequality do not receive much coverage in the media is because of the gradual and less obvious manner it develops.<\/p>\n
If there is an \u2018accident\u2019 or an \u2018earthquake\u2019 everybody can see it, \u2018but if the number of people who are getting poorer is increasing gradually every year\u2019 you can\u2019t see that.<\/p>\n
According to him, that is because \u2018it is not sudden, specific and not less complex\u2019 and not that journalists are not interested.<\/p>\n
He said income inequality is \u2018one of the biggest problems our economy faces\u2019 and it is \u2018like the movement of ice on the mountain. It is moving every second but nobody sees it until it approaches you.\u2019<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By: Kofi Boateng<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"