OUTRAGE AS GHANA PREZ UNVEILS STATUE OF HIMSELF

Ghanaians have been reacting with anger and mockery after the country’s outgoing president unveiled a giant statue of himself - branding it a huge waste of desperately needed funds. Nana Akufo-Addo has served the constitutional maximum of eight years (two consecutive four-year terms) and won’t be on the ballot in the West African country's 7 December election. One of his MPs says the new monument is a tribute to his achievements in office - among them, free secondary schooling. However, the country is in the grip of a debt crisis. Ghana has $51 billion in external debt. The national currency, the cedi, has performed poorly against the dollar, particularly since 2022, when it lost 55% of its value between January and October. And it’s not the first time Nana Akufo-Addo’s extravagance has riled Ghanaians. When he commissioned a $400 million state-funded national cathedral, critics scoffed that it was just an expensive swimming pool after rains flooded the excavated foundation.