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Depending on donors is no easy task for a government which wants to get re-elected

Ghanaians call it 'going HIPC': signing up to debt relief as prescribed under the World Bank's and International Monetary Fund's Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative. President John Agyekum Kufuor and his New Patriotic Party went HIPC within weeks of taking office in December 2000 and it is still their Achilles heel as December's polls loom large (AC Vol 45 No 8). HIPC ought to be advantageous; instead, it remains second only to January 2003's 92 per cent oil price rise in unpopularity with the voters. The NPP came to power calling for 'positive change', then found there was no money to pay for it. The area where Kufuor lives is now known as 'HIPC Junction'....

(This article contains approximately 1502 words)

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Keywords:

John Agyekum Kufuor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, HIPC pluses and minuses, John Evans Atta-Mills, Jerry John Rawlings, James Wolfensohn, Osei Tutu, 'Kume preko!', Kwesi Botchwey, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng, Côte d'Ivoire, Ato, Kwamena Ahwoi, United States, French, Xavier Darcos, Senegal, Mexico, Turkey, Asomdweehene, Asantehene