Deputy Minority Leader Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah says Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, warned Ghana against the ‘begging bowl’ and went on to predict that a deaf ear to his warning will one day plunge the country into an economic mess.

According to the Ellembele MP, 57 years down the line after his overthrow, Dr Nkrumah’s prediction has come to pass with Ghana now classified as a high-risk debt distressed country which needs external help to salvage it from crashing.

“The Great Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah predicted that the begging bowl will only lead us into indebtedness-well we now know”, the Deputy Minority Leader noted while eulogising Dr Kwame Nkrumah on the 57th anniversary of his overthrow on February 24, 1966.

A begging bowl is a term used in reference to an earnest appeal for financial help.

For Armah Buah, if Dr Nkrumah’s predecessors had heeded the advice of the former Ghanaian leader and also continued to build on his vision or policies and initiatives, Ghana and the rest of the African continent would have been a better place to live in than what the citizenry are experiencing today.

Ghana's public debt stock has now surpassed the dreaded 100% out of which 42% is domestic while 58% external debt, according to records by the Bank of Ghana.

This represents more than 100% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta is hoping to bring the ratio down to 55% by 2028 should the country get the external support that it is seeking.

Ghana is currently before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seeking a three-year bailout program worth $3 billion.

“We never appreciate the value of water, until the well runs dry”, Mr. Armah Kofi Buah quoted the American writer, scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, in support of his advice to Ghanaians.

He said it was through the leadership of Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah that the Tema Harbour and Tema Motorway were constructed.

He added that, it was through the policies and initiatives of the former Ghanaian leader that the Ghanaian currency, the Ghanaian Industrial Holdings Corporation (GIHOC), and the Volta River Project were all established.