The issue of inequality, poverty, and social injustice in Ghana is structurally ingrained. This systemic problem has been exacerbated by the growing rate of unemployment among the teeming youth who form the majority of the population coupled with bad economic and social policies of government. Though successive governments have made efforts in the provision of basic services and access to social benefits, the efforts have not made enough inroads in bridging the inequality in the system because they are inequitably distributed. Oxfam International (n.d) posits that inequality is making Ghanaian women more likely to be poorer and to have fewer assets. For instance, their likelihood of owning land is half that of men. They are also far less likely to be affluent than men. Recent trends indicate that the richest people are reaping an increasing proportion of the rewards of progress. Poverty reduction has not been spread evenly, particularly between men and women, the North and South despite the tremendous progress made in reducing poverty in recent decades. This has led to a growing rate of inequality, poverty and social injustice among the population, which is causing a serious national security issue. This development is contrary to the commitment of the Ghanaian Constitution to secure for all manner of persons, the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness, and to provide adequate means of livelihood, suitable employment and public assistance to the needy. The majority of the policies of the government are making the poor more impoverished instead of bridging the inequality gap. The United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) indicates that 500 million women lack access to menstrual products and adequate facilities for menstrual health, a reflection of how deeply inequality is gaining momentum in the world.
According to Oxfam International, one of the wealthiest males in Ghana makes more money in a month than one of the poorest women would make in a thousand years. Though 1,000 extra millionaires are believed to have been created between 2006 and 2016, nearly 300,000 people could not be lifted out of poverty in the same period due to increased inequality stemming from government policies. For instance, the recent introduction of mobile money tax, which seeks to tax transactions aside from the transaction charges charged by the network providers is deemed a regressive tax. This is because the majority of Ghanaians especially the lowest income earners and the very poor use this mobile money platform, therefore taxing a 1.0% levy on the cumulative daily transfer of more than ghc100 is just to exacerbate the plight of the underprivileged. Also, the passage of the Income Tax Amendment Bill, Excise Duty Amendment Bill, and Growth and Sustainability Amendment bills into law is equally going to aggravate the sufferings of ordinary people.
According to a 2020 report from the Ghana Statistical Service, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI); around 2 in 5 Ghanaians are identified as poor beyond monetary deprivations — or an estimated 14 million Ghanaians are “multi-dimensionally poor, that is monetary poverty, lack of formal education and basic infrastructural services (United Nations Development Programme, 2020). The inequality between rural and urban populations and regions remains a challenge, with the incidence of multidimensional poverty in the rural areas being more than twice (64.6%) that of the urban areas (27.0%). The level of inequality and poverty in Ghana is evident in the Ghana Statistical Service 2022 report on multidimensional poverty which indicates that the multidimensionally poor population increased from about 13.6 (44.1%) million people in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022 to 14.4 million (46.7%) in the second quarter (Q2). The survey showed that nine areas (Ahafo, Western North, Bono East, Upper East, Upper West, Oti, Northern, Savannah, and North East) had more than half of the population being multi-dimensionally poor, with percentages ranging from 53.0 to 77.6 per cent. The top 10 multidimensionally poor districts in Ghana have a population of 951,227 people living in multidimensional poor households. About 6.4 million persons are believed to be simultaneously food insecure and multidimensionally poor. Health insurance and better washroom facilities are among the indices of multidimensional poverty with the greatest levels of deprivation. About 14 million Ghanaians do not have health insurance coverage indicating a huge inequity in access to healthcare.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service (2023) among paid workers in the country, women earn 34.2 per cent less than men. They highlighted that the gender wage gap is lowest among paid workers with tertiary education or more where women earn 12.7 per cent less than their male counterparts. The wage gap is highest among workers with basic education (60.1%) followed by workers with no education (54.0%). When comparing sectors of employment, the gender wage gap is highest in the private informal sector where women are paid 58.7 per cent less than men. This is followed by the private formal sector with a wage gap of 29.9 per cent. The public sector, where women are paid 10.5 per cent less than men has the lowest gender wage gap.
The coronavirus pandemic highly exposed the level of inequality and poverty in Ghanaian society, in the area of social amenities provision to income disparities as the majority of students could not utilize the online learning platforms created to keep up with academic work due to the relative lack of access to electricity, most importantly internet connection in their communities, and mobile devices and computers as well as the inability to afford data cost. While the financially sound parents paid for home tuition for their wards, the majority of students were forced to engage in economic activities because their parents could not afford to pay for home tuition. The economic inequality in Ghana often manifests during an electioneering period when the majority of the population out of poverty trade their vote for food items that would not even last them two days if they were a large size family and in some cases monies as low as Ghc50, Ghc100, and Ghc200. This activity perpetuates and increases inequality, poverty and social injustice among the Ghanaian population since their action ends up electing politicians who are incompetent, self-seeking and have no clue or desire to implement proper policies to better the lives of the lot. This phenomenon raises serious questions of rights and social justice. The general repercussions of inequality, poverty, and social injustice are inimical to the overall development of the country.
Inequality
Inequality is one of the most important issues in development seen as unjust from most philosophical perspectives. The evidence indicates it is deleterious to general well-being, social stability, economic growth, and prosperity. Inequality may be among individuals, groups, or nations. Depending on the goal, inequality may be described in a variety of “spaces” or dimensions, such as income, assets, capabilities, happiness, or opportunities (Stewart & Samman, 2014). Some inequality is necessary to reward talent, skills, and a willingness to innovate and take entrepreneurial risks. However, the excessive levels of economic disparity that exist today thwart development and advancement while neglecting to invest in the potential of hundreds of millions of people (Oxfam, 2014).
Inequality refers to an absence of equal dignity, status, rank, privileges, rights, or opportunities with others. The lack of equal chance and rights to seek success in one’s chosen sphere regardless of social factors such as class, race, religion, and sex. Inequality is the phenomenon of unequal and/or unjust distribution of resources and opportunities among members of a given society (Yee Koh, 2020). To Oxfam (n.d), inequality is the unequal and unfair distribution of resources, opportunities, and power that shapes the quality of all of our lives. Economic, gender, ethnicity, class, health, sexuality, and other types of inequality are only a few of the many that combine to make life more unfair for certain individuals. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), library inequality can refer to economic inequality which is the difference in how asserts, wealth, or income are distributed among individuals and/or populations. It is also known as the wealth gap, income gap, wealth disparity, wealth and income inequalities, or the gap between the affluent and the poor. Inequality may also apply to other gender-related problems including violence against women and gender discrimination in social institutions. In all the various forms of inequality, its rippling effect is poverty and social injustice thereby making economic inequality the subject of most inequality discussions.
Poverty
In simple terms, poverty is not having enough money or access to resources to enjoy a decent standard of living; be that the lack of access to healthcare, education, water and sanitation facilities, etc. According to ElBaradei (2014), cited in Neirotti (2015), “Poverty is losing a child to illness brought on by unclean water; poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom; and finally, poverty is the most lethal weapon of oppression.” Other arguments made by El Baradei include that poverty is “the most lethal weapon of oppression” and that it is “hunger, lack of shelter, being sick and unable to see a doctor; not having access to safe, and clean drinking water. Wherever there is poverty, social injustice is perpetuated, or better still social injustice makes a certain class of people receive preferential treatment relative to poverty. According to the United Nations, poverty is not just a lack of income. It’s a lack of education, food, healthcare, shelter, political inclusion, choice, safety, and dignity.
Figure 3: The accommodation facility of a privileged family (A) and that of a deprived family (B).
Social Injustice
According to Maus (n.d.), social injustice occurs when the dominant population is made aware of the injustice that others experience as a result of their relative standing within the power system. Social injustice is also the way unjust actions are done in society. Social injustice occurs in a situation where the equals are treated unequally and the unequal are treated equally (Chinemerem, 2016). When a group with wealth, power, or authority gives preferential treatment to its group over members of another group, social injustice occurs. Economic inequality has been the major cause of social injustice in Ghana, wealthy people are given extraordinary treatment everywhere they find themselves.
Development
Development defies a single definition because to the economist development is all about the expansion of the productive capacity of the nation. The politician also perceives development to mean the building of schools, hospitals, the construction of roads, etc. In all, there seems to be an improvement in the affairs of the state. Development can be holistically defined as the qualitative and quantitative improvement in the standard of living of people in a society. It is a process of change from a less desirable kind of society to a more progressive one. It must be noted that development is a process. Improvement in a nation’s economic and social situations is what is meant by development. More specially, it refers to improvements in the way of managing an area’s natural and human resources to create wealth and improve people’s lives (Shah, n.d).
Development is a process that results in expansion, advancement, constructive change, or the addition of elements that are physical, economic, environmental, social, and demographic. The purpose of development is a rise in the level and quality of life of the population, and the creation or expansion of local regional income and employment opportunities, without damaging the resources of the environment. Development is visible and useful, not necessarily immediately, and includes an aspect of quality change and the creation of conditions for a continuation of that change (Society for International Development, 2021).
The Relationship Between Inequality, Poverty and Social Injustice
Inequality creates a class system in society between the bourgeoisie and the proletariats. The ruling class is the very few well-to-do people that own the factors of production, employ and pay the proletariats a meagre for just survival. The proletariats cannot survive without their meagre pay, this makes their livelihood largely dependent on the bourgeoisie who are not ready to equitably distribute resources to better the lives of the masses. This situation creates economic inequality, which further makes the masses worse off hence the creation of poverty. No society can surely flourish and be happy if the majority of the people are poor and miserable. The existence of inequality especially economic inequality happens to be the worst form of inequality that makes the poor poorer since their meagre income is nothing to write home about and cannot afford a decent life. The ruling class decides how resources should be shared among the proletariat in an inequitable manner and what each person should be allocated after which they (i.e. bourgeoisie) decide on what to allocate to themselves. Poverty then erupts from inequality, especially economic inequality. It is argued that poverty is a creation of economic inequality, which is superintended by the ruling class. Poverty makes people find themselves underprivileged in society and suffer discrimination on all fronts concerning enjoying social benefits. Ones the people are made poor due to economic inequality they are by default treated unjustly in the sharing of national resources and provision of social amenities and services. Discrimination is found in assessing education, housing, employment, voting, lending and credit, land use, health care services, transportation, public accommodations, and government benefits and services. The underprivileged people who happen to be the poor folks and the masses are mostly located in deprived areas and are deprived of access to quality social amenities such as good roads, portable and safe drinking water, recreational facilities for wellness activities, functional electricity, quality education, quality healthcare, libraries, public housing etc., therefore, the existence of social injustice. Societies inhabited by the ruling class are privileged to enjoy quality social amenities and services by their wealth and position while areas inhabited by the proletariats are underprivileged. The whole relationship can be equated to a vicious cycle kind of thing, inequality creates poverty, poverty results in social injustice, and social injustice further deepens inequality, which then creates poverty and results in social injustice in that cyclical manner.
Figure 4: A depiction of the relationship between inequality, poverty and social injustice.
How Inequality, Poverty and Social Injustice Impede Development
Inequality, poverty and social injustice relate to producing low-quality human resources that impede development in general. This happens as economic inequality creates poverty and subject the masses to social injustice they are deprived of quality education and education that will help produce skilled and semi-skilled human resource needed to utilize a country’s natural resources for development. When it is only a few privileged people get access to and can afford quality education, the majority of the human resources will end up unskilled and hence will lack the ability to think critically, creatively and innovative to contribute to national development. This further makes the economy highly dependent on importation since a creative mind for production and innovation will be lacking therefore the country cannot develop as no country has ever developed without production and exportation. There cannot be development without quality human resources, which is undeniably the vehicle or driving force of development and attained through quality education. Without quality human resources, natural resources will go to waste and a country will continue to dream of development but can never actualize it. Again, the lack of or low-quality human resources negatively affects productivity in a country by reducing the gross domestic product and by extension thwarting development.
Inequality, poverty and social injustice create social instability, which goes a long way to impede development. This happens because once the majority of the people come to appreciate the inequality in the system, become underprivileged and are deprived of a decent life they are likely to react in the form of strikes, demonstrations, riots, revolts, clashes, public nuisances, criminal activities and other forms of civil unrest to communicate their displeasure in the system. A typical example is the Arab Spring, which is believed to have been instigated by the youth’s dissatisfaction with the governance system and the wide gaps in income levels. These activities (social unrest) destabilize the entire country and increase social problems while limiting social progress. These activities do not propel development as social instability drives away investment, reduces productivity because the time for production is used for civil unrest activities and in an extreme case truncates project execution and may even end up destroying properties because when people have reasons to believe they have nothing to lose or stand to lose nothing, causing mayhem becomes their ultimate option especially when they believe that is best to cause the change they are after. The argument of social instability impeding development stems from the position that no rational investor will invest in an economy where there is persistent civil unrest and the chances of losing investment to war are high. Also, social instability impedes development because, without production, an economy cannot thrive so when civil unrest activities break down productivity it is by extension hindering development.
The huge savings gap which emanates from inequality, poverty and social injustice leads to inadequate capital accumulation which undermines development because when the populace cannot afford a decent life and lives from hand to mouth they cannot afford the habit of saving and investing so the very few privileged people and the ruling class will be the only people capable of growing wealth which cannot propel development in a country. For holistic development all hands must be on deck otherwise development will always be unattainable. Adequate capital accumulation is an ingredient to development because there will be a general increase in the wealth of a country where there is economic equality, poverty will reduce drastically for social justice to prevail and by default, people will be able to afford saving and investment to accumulate more capital which will in-turn increase the general wealth of the country. Once the general wealth of the country increases, the country can afford to equitably provide quality and accessible social amenities for all.
Inequality, poverty and social injustice in many cases contribute to conflict (i.e. violent conflict), which eventually generates civil war and leads to the destruction of lives and properties thereby undermining development. Whenever groups of people have reason to believe that the existing arrangement for sharing national resources is unfair to them, they may protest. When some people or a section of the people in the country enjoys a large amount of the national cake while others do not enjoy some or enjoy a small amount, those who do not enjoy the national cake may seek justice through violent confrontation with the established order which may lead to the destruction of lives and properties. It is indeed natural for people to protest when they see that some people live in affluence while others live in poverty (Obeng, 2015). Development cannot coexist with war because in conflict areas especially violent conflict, productivity and all developmental activities are halted. That is farmers cannot go to farms which will eventually lead to food shortage and deprive the country of access to foreign exchange earnings through the exportation of agricultural products and even their finished products; artisans cannot go to work hence the gross domestic product will hugely be affected; market women cannot sell therefore revenue cannot be generated through taxation in the informal sector; investors will flee such a country while potential investors will shy away. All these and many more contribute to impeded development because the country may end up losing all the potential human resources and capital resources needed to convert various natural resources for development.
Social vices which are a major obstacle to development become very common in societies where there is inequality, poverty and social injustice. In countries where inequality is very high, the resultant effect is poverty and social injustice which mostly push the populace into social vices such as examination malpractices which ripple effect is low-quality human resource; and drug abuse/addiction which also negatively affect human resource by impairing their capabilities or confining them in psychiatric hospitals; stealing and armed robbery which either end the lives of the potential workforce needed in the productive sector in prison or dead. Human resource is instrumental to development hence when the potential workforce ends up as drug addicts and social miscreants, creative thinkers for development will be lacking. A country requires creative and innovative thinkers to be able to transform an economy for development therefore incidence of social vices deprive a nation of the needed human resource capable of developing capital resource to utilize the natural resource for development. A country highly noted for social vices like armed robbery and stealing does not attract foreign investors and even scares local investors from putting their money in such a country. This is supported by the position of Oxfam (2014) that inequality threatens society by way of perpetuating and increasing poverty by condemning people to stay poor for generations and deepening social injustice. Their argument stems from the fact that the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks survey has found “severe income disparity” to be one of the top global risks and a body of research has also shown that economic disparity is connected to several health and social issues, such as violent crime and mental illness. This is true across rich and poor countries (for instance, Germany, Spain, United Kingdom, China, United States of America and Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Zimbabwe etc. respectively) and has negative consequences for the richest as well as the poorest people therefore inequality hurts everyone through social vices and conflicts etc.
Human capital inadequacies or deficiencies manifest when there is high inequality, poverty and social injustice, which largely undermines development. This is because when the masses cannot afford quality education and proper healthcare due to income inequality and poverty or quality education and proper healthcare is provided for only a selected few, the majority of the potential workforce will have a deficiency in skills, knowledge, abilities, good social attributes, good personality and health attributes. Human capital is argued to have a major impact on development by increasing productivity though some critics argued that it is flawed and overly simplistic. The argument of human capital improving productivity thereby propelling development is very legit. The human capital theory posits that human beings can increase their productive capacity through greater quality education, health and skill training (Ross, 2021). Nickolas (2021) equally argued that human capital that is, the knowledge, skill sets, and experience that workers have in an economy provides economic value since a knowledgeable workforce can lead to increased productivity and development. Based on the human capital theory a point can be made that when there is deficiency or inadequate human capital due to inequality, poverty and social injustice, the effect is productivity slows down, consumer spending and business investment reduces thereby obstructing development. This is because proper investment in human capital produces a populace with quality education and better skills which tend to provide them with higher earnings. The higher earnings of workers increase consumer spending and business investment, which are key drivers of economic growth and development. For instance, it is estimated that consumers are responsible for more than two-thirds of the economic growth in the U.S. economy. As consumers become employed or experience wage increases, they tend to increase their purchases of clothes, cars, technology, homes, and home goods such as appliances. All of that spending creates a positive ripple effect leading to improved employment in various industries such as retail, auto manufacturers, technology stores, and homebuilders etc. The spending also leads to higher Gross Domestic Product growth throughout the economy (Nickolas, 2021). The increased Gross Domestic Product growth from consumer spending leads to improvements in business conditions. As companies become more profitable, they tend to invest more money into their businesses to create future growth and by extension development. Therefore, human capital inadequacies or deficiencies deprive a country of attaining the development that comes with investing in human capital (Nickolas, 2021).
Corruption, which is argued to have killed more human beings than civil war, breeds well in societies where there is high inequality, poverty and social injustice. This does not propel development but rather hinders developmental effort. When people come to realize the huge economic inequality in their environment, they find solace in engaging in corrupt practices as a means to afford a decent life and bridge the inequality gap. These corrupt practices kill available human resources needed for development. For instance, passengers die on roads in the hands of corrupt civil engineers who construct substandard roads or use inferior materials in order to recoup the money they used in bribing their way to secure such contracts. Similarly, Chene (2014) suggested that corruption has a detrimental, direct effect on economic growth and development at the macro level. In the West Africa subregion, there are been several coup d’états and civil conflicts as a result of accusations of corruption. Through its impact on several elements that spur economic growth, including investment, taxes, and the volume, composition, and efficiency of public spending, corruption has an indirect impact on a nation’s economic performance. There are a long-identified number of channels through which corruption may affect economic growth and obstruct development (Mauro 1995; Tanzi 1997; Gupta 2000; Gyimah-Brempong 2001, among others) cited in (Chene, 2014):
- Corruption distorts incentives and market forces, leading to misallocation of resources.
- Corruption diverts talent and resources, including human resources, towards “lucrative” rent-seeking activities, such as defence, rather than productive activities.
- Corruption acts as an inefficient tax on businesses, ultimately raising production costs and reducing the profitability of investments.
- Corruption may also decrease the productivity of investments by reducing the quality of resources. For example, by undermining the quality and quantity of health and education services, corruption decreases a country’s human capital.
- Rent-seeking behaviour is also likely to create inefficiencies, fuelling waste of resources and undermining the efficiency of public expenditure.
How to Address Inequality, Poverty and Social Injustice in Ghana
The increasing inequality, poverty, and social injustice in Ghana have far-reaching consequences on the country’s development. Inequality is a fundamental cause of poverty and a tool for deepening social injustice. The acceleration of inequality has damaging repercussions on society, with many falling behind on living standards and growing discontent among the “have-nots.” (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2020).
Ghanaians need to understand that inequality is not inevitable and should not be used to justify the ineptitude of those who call the shots. Public policy can help reduce inequality and address poverty without slowing the country’s economic growth (Powell, 2014). Governments can make choices that prevent inequality. They have the power to make decisions that will allow people to live comfortably. However, governments worldwide are making choices designed to protect the power and wealth of a privileged few while removing the power of everyday people. Oxfam (2014) argued that from Ghana to Germany, South Africa to Spain, the gap between rich and poor is rapidly increasing, and economic inequality has reached extreme levels. By failing to listen, provide opportunities, and invest in vital support systems, governments are rigging the system in favour of the rich, widening the gap between the rich and the poor (Oxfam, n.d). Hard work appears no longer the path to wealth because the poor work much harder yet keep getting poorer. The gap keeps widening as a result of the government’s bad policies that favour the rich and leave everyone else struggling. Poverty and social injustice in Ghana are largely occasioned by inequality from the onset, most especially economic inequality hence to address poverty and social injustice is to tackle inequality first.
To resolve or mitigate the problems of inequality, poverty and social injustice as obstructions to development is to see to it that policymakers among other things:
Invest more in public education and healthcare by providing quality, affordable and accessible public education and healthcare for all the citizenry to alleviate poverty and promote social justice. This is because education is the most assured, better, tried and tested tool for poverty alleviation. Similarly, Sutter (2013) argued that inequality, poverty and social injustice could be mitigated by improving public schools and unifying them. There is no surer ticket out of poverty than a solid education. But that education has to be affordable, and quality and it has to be equally distributed. Education ought to be a powerful equalizer rather than a cause of division among the populace. Differences in education especially early education and school quality are the most important components contributing to persistent inequality across generations. In Ghana and even in most advanced countries, high-quality schools, which happen to be private schools are very expensive and are not equally distributed. Public schools are mostly filled with those from a low economic background while the opposite is for private schools. If public schools can measure up to private schools in quality, then that will be a plus for folks from low-income backgrounds. Investments in education, beginning in early childhood can increase economic mobility to reduce poverty, contribute to increased productivity and decrease inequality (Powell, 2014). The Ghana Statistical Service (2018) reports that households with uneducated household heads are also found to be the poorest in Ghana and contribute the most to Ghana’s poverty incidence. Therefore, the provision of quality, affordable and accessible education across all levels of education for all not only decreases inequality but also improves the general human capital base of a country and equips them with relevant knowledge and skills needed to succeed in the world of work to improve their economic fortunes thereby reducing poverty. Inequality begins with unequal education because, without equal educational opportunities, equality cannot rise to any other sector. Education for all (that is quality education) forms the base for prospects, and without that, inequality reigns (Howard, 2022).
Also, providing clinics, medics and medicines, can help to close the gap in life chances and give people the tools to challenge the rules that perpetuate economic inequality (Oxfam, 2014). This is because a sound mind resides in a sound body hence quality, affordable and accessible education needs the complement of a good quality, affordable and accessible healthcare to spark the fight against inequality. Education is known to be a very powerful tool for poverty alleviation but not just any education per se, rather quality education coupled with good healthcare, therefore, providing quality, affordable, and accessible education and healthcare for all through conscious investment will greatly reduce inequality, poverty and resolve social injustice for development to be realized. Free and quality public healthcare and education should not only be seen as fundamental human rights; they are also tools to mitigate the worst impacts of skewed income and wealth distribution bedevilling the world today.
Increase the minimum wage and reduce the income tax on minimum wage earners. One key solution to bridge the inequality gap, alleviate poverty to champion social justice is to increase the minimum wage to a reasonable amount to enable the lowest-paid workers to afford a decent standard of living. Increasing the minimum wage should be complemented with a huge reduction in the income tax on the wages of the lowest-paid workers or better still a threshold above which the reduced income tax is applicable. This is because increasing the minimum wage alone without reducing the income tax on the wage will mean a chunk of the wage will be deducted as income tax thereby the reason for which the wage was increased (that is to help the lowest-paid workers afford a decent standard of living) would not be realized. When the minimum wage is increased with a reduction in income tax it would improve the purchasing power of the lowest-paid workers who are the majority and improve their living conditions. With an improved purchasing power of the majority of the population, businesses will thrive because their goods and services will be patronized. Powell (2014) argued that higher wages for the lowest-paid workers have the potential to help millions of people out of poverty and increase a nation’s overall real income. Increasing the minimum wage does not hurt employment nor does it retard economic growth because when the minimum wage is increased, the purchasing power of the people increases and businesses profit thereby improving the economy for development to be realized.
Again, increasing the minimum wage and reducing the income tax of the lowest-paid workers would leave them with a reasonable net salary that would permit them to cultivate the habit of savings and investment to help move them from the hand-to-mouth lifestyle, by so doing alleviating them from poverty.
Tax the rich at a reasonable rate by making the tax code more progressive to fund various social intervention programmes aimed at bridging the inequality gap, reducing poverty and promoting social justice. The rich are getting a big break on their taxes even as their share of income and wealth has increased and keeps increasing dramatically and should be paying more taxes (Sutter; Powell, 2013; 2014). Too much wealth is concentrated in the hands of the few in both advanced and developing countries making inequality a global problem. The tax burden is falling on ordinary people (through numerous taxes on consumption in the case of Ghana, most recently the introduction of a tax on mobile money transactions a medium which is known to be mostly used by the poorer people) while the richest companies and individuals pay too little. Governments must act together to correct this imbalance (Oxfam, 2014). It begins with those in authority making just political and economic decisions that benefit the majority rather than the minority. The first step in tackling inequality is to increase taxes on the extremely wealthy. Although it is not the only solution to the inequality issue, higher taxes are a key component of it. It is time for governments to shed decades of ineffective dogma and sway from the wealthy elite. It is time for them to do the right thing: tax the rich more (Oxfam, n.d). The idea is not to take so much money that taxation, in and of itself, closes the income gap. It is to use that tax money to fund programs, like quality public education and healthcare, that could give everyone a fair shot at success in an economy that only serves the very wealthy (Sutter, 2013) and also establish factories to provide employment. Specific commitments must include: shifting the tax burden away from labour and consumption and towards wealth, property, capital and income from the sale of assets; transparency on tax incentives; national wealth taxes etc. (Oxfam, 2014). Even if not a complete shift of tax from labour and consumption, in other not to deprive a developing economy like Ghana of a source of revenue to execute developmental projects a huge reduction in the payroll taxes of the lowest-paid workers and consumption could be the alternative solution to ease the burden on the average workers.
Exempt valued added tax from products that take up a larger share of low-income families’ expenditures, like food and other essential commodities. VATs raise significant revenue in countries that use them, but the financial costs are borne more heavily by low-income consumers since they spend a higher per cent of their income on taxable goods therefore exempting such goods from value-added tax will ideally provide a huge financial relief to the average workers (Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2020). For instance, in Ghana the average workers spend every bit of their salary on food and utilities, which makes them live one day at a time, therefore any delay in the payment of salary always generates public outcry. Therefore as part of bridging income or economic inequality which has brought forth poverty and social injustice is to exempt tax on foods that take up a larger share of monies of low-income families or lowest-paid workers.
Increase government investment in job creation programs in a decentralized manner to provide job opportunities for the teeming population. It must be noted that whenever there is limited job opportunity, the rich will influence the process for their wards to be given special treatment in the recruitment process thereby perpetuating social injustice, a thing that has become known as protocol in Ghana. The influential people use their position, authority and wealth to secure jobs for their relatives while the ordinary people are denied the same job opportunities. This practice is common because of the limited nature of job opportunities in the system. Investing in quality public education, increasing the minimum wage and reducing income tax on minimum wage earners, adopting a progressive tax system and exempting tax on food consumed by low-income families must be complemented with job creation or else there will be a high rate of unemployment which will render all the other solutions in addressing inequality, poverty and social injustice ineffective. Lack of or very limited job opportunities will exacerbate poverty and increase social injustice because the few privileged people will use their authority and power to secure jobs of their own while the majority of people leave their fate to luck. Therefore, the government must invest more in job-creating projects in a decentralized manner to provide equal employment opportunities to people in all parts of the country.
Conclusion
The repercussions of inequality are creating mass abject poverty and perpetuating social injustice, which is inimical to development. Extreme inequality, does not only create poverty and social injustice, its rippling effect is the breeding of corruption in politics and civil service, hinders economic growth and stifles social mobility. It fuels crime, other social vices and even violent conflict. It contributes to low-quality human resources, human capital inadequacies or deficiencies and inadequate capital accumulation. The effect squanders talents and undermines the foundations of society by obstructing development on all fronts.
The rapid increase in extreme inequality is obstructing the global fight against poverty and social injustice by pushing millions of people into extreme poverty, making them live without access to clean drinking water and without enough food to feed their families, without access to quality education and healthcare, without access to decent accommodation etc. The life of the majority can only be improved when a deliberate effort is made to tackle the extreme concentration of wealth and power in the hands of elites.
To see to it that the problems of inequality, poverty and social injustice are averted is to see to it that policymakers enact policies that prevent inequality, alleviate poverty and promote social justice by breaking the social barriers that have occasioned the problems. Getting the policymakers to act requires a collective effort of the masses through advocacies in the form of lobbying the law-making institutions, petitions, organizing symposiums to conscientise the people to realize the level of inequality in the system and its repercussions, peaceful protest and any other diplomatic means available. The need to undertake these actions, spark the discussion and expose the rot in the system is mainly because the people who have the power and authority to make changes are the beneficiaries of the current system hence making the right policies may appear to them as shooting themselves in the foot.
Author’s Profile: Abdul-Salam Shaibu is an Investigator and Cybersecurity Practitioner. He had his professional training at the Detective Training Academy, Ghana Police Service, as well as a Professional Diploma in Database Management from IPMC. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering from Ghana Communication Technology University and a Master of Science in Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). A certificate in Cybersecurity Investigations and Digital Forensics at the e-Crime Bureau, among other numerous courses and certifications. He is also a student at the GIMPA Faculty of Law pursuing a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) Degree. He is a Businessman and an Entrepreneur. The author’s research interests are in IT, Cybersecurity, Law, Risk Management, Security, and Criminal Psychology.
Please address all correspondence to: Abdul-Salam Shaibu by Phone: at (+233) 026 530 8783 and by email at shaibubaba80@gmail.com
References
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