Economics Begins in the Home

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The privilege and pleasure are mine, to welcome you all to another week of challenges and possibilities. Of course, there's no smoke without fire. I hope this write-up gets read by an important aspect of the Ghanaian public, whose influence, when fully exercised, will make an unmistakable impact for the better on family life in Ghana. I'm sure that if this should happen, there will be few achievements of which the nation would be more proud.

This week's article is without doubt, of great importance to us all as individuals, and to the country as a whole. I hope due notice will be taken in the appropriate circles of movement of all discussions and conclusions you arrive at. The subject, "Economics begins in the home", of course, enables one to say many things because there is hardly anything that does not concern the family.

May I begin with one of the essential tasks of the family, namely, feeding its members. I have been to quite a number of places about the country and I have more than often, wondered how much food is wasted--in the markets, on the farms, and in homes because it is allowed to rot. The banana, the plantain, the tomato that has been allowed to go bad. The garden eggs which may be very cheap in season, but which, out of season are going to be very expensive. The oranges-ditto. The question is: in how many homes is food preserved when it is in profusion in order that it may be used when it is out of season.

I see two things here-food that is wasted in this way, if you were able to collect them from every home in the country and pile them up, you would see not only food which could have been eaten which is not eaten but also a lot of money that is spent and which contributes to the high cost of food in the country. I see not only natural rotting, but I see a lot of food wasted even in the preparation. I notice, for example, large quantities of fufu falling down when it is being beaten. I also watch yams peeled with a lot of food left on the skin or peels; plantain, likewise, cassava, same. It may look quite small in one home, but when this practice goes on in many homes throughout the country, then those of us who have the responsibility now of seeing that food is in supply where it is most needed, cannot help but look at this problem.

What about the leftovers? I wonder how many homes there are in this country where leftovers are used again. There are some indeed who think that it is disgraceful to keep your leftovers in order that you may use them again in some form. So the very ordinary thing I would like you to carefully look at is: how can we help to educate on the saving of food, the preservation of food, the exercise of a little care and economy in the food that is used, through peeling, through cutting, through beating fufu and the like? This is not a new problem. It is surprising that it has not been tackled on any meaningful scale. I need hardly tell you that in our country when the cost of living rises, the rise in the cost of food is the biggest--and locally produced food at that! I turn it over to you because this is wastage and a very serious kind of wastage.

The opposite of waste which is my focus today is economy. I believe that the family should be a group of people who use resources to the best effect; who avoid waste. Economising within the family means living within the family income--having a budget which is related to what you earn, and which you expend to avoid being in debt. May I ask you how many families in the country now, particularly those who have been to school and who have been taught something called arithmetic, how many of them, in fact, live within their income? How many budget the amount they spend on food, clothing, transportation etc. within their income? There are many people-young people particularly-in our country today who do not live within their income. It does not even seem to matter to them. Look carefully at this problem. It is not a problem confined to those who are what we call the low-income group. I have witnessed it higher up. They are in debt have because they have not learnt how much they can spend on food, how much they can spend on drinks, how much they can spend on clothing, how much they can spend on jewellery, and so on, and if I may add, how much they can spend on wigs.

We live in a time when it is quite easy to get into debt. In a country like the United States, you can borrow your house, your clothes, you can borrow your food-you get a dining ticket- to dine anywhere and it is charged to you, you can borrow your car, dusted or polished. Here, I am not dealing just with the ordinary illiterate in the village. I am referring to those of you who have pretensions of knowledge and high standards of living.

Look at some of the government buildings. When new appointees or senior officers are to move in there, they get very fussy, the place must be all done up properly. It must be white-washed new; the floors must be cleaned or retiled; the furniture must all be changed. They usually insist on this. But a few months after they have been there, if you have to move them out and put another person in it, he will demand the same thing because those before him/her loved it new, and loved to leave it in a bad state in a short time! Then of course the buildings themselves. Go to the kitchen-that expensive gas stove marking this ‘been to’ standard of living, is soon caked with soot. This is all waste. Because it means they are not going to last as long as they would have lasted if proper care had been taken about them-yet this is part of the expenditure and it has to do with home-keeping, and with what money there is left for giving the children a proper education. At any rate we should have homes, however humble or however elevated, where people are showing enough care over what they have.

As you go round Accra or any of our towns, look at the big buildings and the state in which they are-just for lack of care. There are certain things which, if learnt within the family, become a part of one. The young child at home who has been taught to keep his towel clean or has been taught to sweep or clean the drinking glass and use his little hands drying it until it shines has it as part of his life. The young girl who at home is taught to do these things knows that part of being a good girl is learning to sweep and sweep properly or to polish the floor and do it well. The young girl who is given this as part of herself does this when she becomes a mother because she knows how it is done. She does not need to be an expert in home science to do it. This begins in the home. There are so many people who just have not got this kind of training. You go to their rooms, the beds are not made. They may use the same pillowcases for months on end until the white cases become brown or even darker colour. In fact, you may find a very well-dressed gentleman outside-and if I may dare say so- a very well-dressed lady outside; when you enter their room the stench is such that you have to be really polite to keep a straight face.

I am not here to make an erudite speech because I am not capable of making one, but I want to level your attention to these very odd little things because I think they are important, and I think they defeat the purpose of economy. The highest of our human values are those that are found and developed in the home, and they can make a very important contribution to the life of the country today and to some of our most urgent problems. And I see in my mind’s eye, many opportunities all over the country, if economy/economics is well practised in the home-which, is where it actually begins. And of course, the most convincing evidence you can give, is the demonstration in your own home, your life and in your relationships. That I think is where the challenge lies.

“I have no other notion of economy/economics than that it is the parent to liberty and ease”.