By Odesola JF., PhD
The statement was made by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama during the 81st United Nations General Assembly session in September 2026. In his address, he said: “Macroeconomic indicators mean little if they do not translate into real improvements in our people’s daily lives. Economic growth must have a human face.”
That sentence deserves to travel beyond the walls of the United Nations. It speaks to a problem that is bigger than Ghana and, indeed, bigger than any single African government.
WHEN THE ECONOMY GROWS BUT THE PEOPLE STILL SUFFER
Africa Does Not Need Statistics Alone—It Needs an Economy with a Human Face
There are some statements made by African leaders that make you stop, think and ask yourself: “Do our leaders really understand what ordinary people are going through?”
One such statement came from Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama at the United Nations.
He said:
“Macroeconomic indicators mean little if they do not translate into real improvements in our people’s daily lives. Economic growth must have a human face.”
That is a powerful statement.
And for me, the most important part is not the technical expression macroeconomic indicators. It is the phrase “our people’s daily lives.”
Because behind every economic figure is a human being.
Behind GDP growth is a family.
Behind inflation is a mother standing in a market trying to decide what she can afford to remove from her shopping basket.
Behind unemployment statistics is a young graduate sending applications from one office to another.
Behind rising interest rates is a small business owner wondering whether the business will survive another month.
Behind government revenue figures is a taxpayer asking what he or she is getting in return.
Behind every economic policy is somebody’s life.
And that is why economic growth cannot simply be something governments announce at conferences. The people must eventually feel it at home.
WHEN THE NUMBERS LOOK GOOD BUT THE PEOPLE ARE STILL HURTING
There is nothing wrong with celebrating economic growth.
There is nothing wrong with reporting falling inflation, stronger foreign reserves, improved fiscal balances, increased investment or a stronger currency.
These things matter.
A country cannot build a sustainable economy without macroeconomic stability.
But there is a danger when governments become so fascinated by economic statistics that they forget the human beings behind them.
Imagine a government announcing:
“Our economy grew by six percent!”
The ordinary citizen may respond:
“That is good. But what does it mean for me?”
Can I buy food more easily?
Can I pay my children’s school fees?
Can I afford transportation to work?
Can I pay my rent?
Can my business survive?
Can I find a job?
Can I afford medical treatment?
Can I save something at the end of the month?
If the answer to these questions remains painfully difficult, then economic growth has not yet completed its journey.
Ghana itself provides an interesting example.
The World Bank reported that Ghana’s economy grew by 6 percent in 2025, while inflation fell sharply, reserves strengthened and the country’s fiscal position improved.
Those are significant achievements.
But the same World Bank also cautioned that the recovery remained incomplete because growth had not yet generated enough quality jobs, while poverty remained elevated in parts of the country.
That is precisely the point.
Macroeconomic recovery and household prosperity are related—but they are not the same thing.
THE WOMAN IN THE MARKET DOES NOT EAT GDP
Let us bring economics down from the conference table to the marketplace.
A woman wakes up at 5 a.m.
She prepares her children for school.
She takes public transportation to the market.
She has ₦30,000—or its equivalent in local currency—to buy food for the family.
She walks from stall to stall.
The price of rice has increased.
Beans are more expensive.
Cooking oil has increased.
Meat is becoming a luxury.
Transportation has gone up.
She removes some items from her basket.
She tells the trader:
“Please, reduce the quantity.”
Then she goes home.
Later that evening, a government spokesman announces that the economy is improving.
The woman may not understand GDP.
She may not understand primary surplus.
She may not understand debt restructuring.
But she understands one thing:
Her money is no longer going as far as it used to.
That woman is also an economic indicator.
Perhaps one of the most important.
Because ultimately, economics is supposed to serve human beings.
GHANA’S EXPERIENCE SHOULD TEACH AFRICA SOMETHING
What makes Mahama’s statement particularly interesting is that it comes from a country that has itself gone through a difficult economic period.
Ghana experienced severe macroeconomic pressures, including high debt, inflation, currency depreciation and loss of access to international financial markets during the crisis that intensified in 2022.
Since then, the country has undertaken debt restructuring and an economic recovery programme.
The World Bank says Ghana’s real GDP growth reached 5.8 percent in 2024 and 6 percent in 2025, while inflation fell to 3.3 percent in February 2026. It also reported stronger reserves and substantial improvement in the fiscal position.
But the story does not end there.
The World Bank’s August 2026 Ghana Economic Update says the next challenge is turning that recovery into more jobs and better livelihoods. It specifically warns that growth has not yet created enough quality employment for Ghana’s expanding working-age population.
This is an important lesson for Africa:
Stabilising an economy is essential, but stabilisation is not the same thing as prosperity.
The real test comes afterward.
Can the stability create jobs?
Can businesses expand?
Can wages improve?
Can families afford food?
Can young people see a future?
Can infrastructure reduce the cost of doing business?
Can rural communities participate in growth?
Can the poor share in the benefits?
That is where economic policy acquires a human face.
WHERE ARE THE OTHER AFRICAN LEADERS?
This is where the question becomes uncomfortable.
Africa has some of the richest natural resources in the world.
Gold.
Oil.
Gas.
Copper.
Cobalt.
Lithium.
Uranium.
Bauxite.
Agricultural land.
Forests.
Sunshine.
Young people.
Entrepreneurial energy.
Yet millions of Africans still struggle with poverty, unemployment, inadequate healthcare, poor infrastructure and limited economic opportunities.
The question therefore cannot simply be:
“How much wealth does Africa possess?”
The more important question is:
“How much of that wealth is improving African lives?”
A country can export billions of dollars of minerals and still have communities living without adequate roads.
A country can produce oil and still import refined petroleum products.
A country can record economic growth and still have graduates searching endlessly for jobs.
A country can boast enormous agricultural potential and still import large quantities of food.
A nation can have wealthy cities while rural communities remain disconnected from basic services.
This is the contradiction Africa must confront.
DEVELOPMENT MUST REACH THE VILLAGE
One of the most encouraging aspects of Ghana’s current approach is the emphasis on connecting infrastructure and economic opportunity.
Mahama told the United Nations that Ghana’s infrastructure agenda is intended to build roads, expand digital connectivity and construct schools and health facilities, with the stated objective of bridging the rural-urban divide and improving access to basic services.
That principle is worth examining across Africa.
Development cannot be concentrated in capital cities.
If economic growth stops at Accra, Abuja, Nairobi, Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo or Addis Ababa, then something is fundamentally incomplete.
Development must reach the village.
It must reach the farmer.
It must reach the market woman.
It must reach the young graduate.
It must reach the artisan.
It must reach the schoolteacher.
It must reach the hospital patient.
It must reach the elderly.
It must reach the person who has never entered a government office.
The poorest citizen must have a place in the economic story of the nation.
AGRICULTURE MUST BECOME MORE THAN SUBSISTENCE
Another example comes from Ghana’s 2026 AgriConnect Compact.
The initiative is designed to strengthen food security, create jobs, reduce food imports and attract investment into agricultural value chains. It focuses on sectors including cocoa, rice, maize, poultry and oil palm, with investments in irrigation, mechanisation, farmer services, agro-processing and logistics.
This is the kind of thinking Africa needs more of.
The African farmer should not merely produce raw materials for somebody else to process.
Why should cocoa leave Africa as raw material and return as expensive chocolate?
Why should African cotton be exported while Africans import finished textiles?
Why should African minerals create industries elsewhere while producing communities remain poor?
Why should African agricultural products create wealth along foreign value chains while the farmer who produced them remains vulnerable?
The human face of economic growth is value addition.
It is the farmer earning more.
It is the young person employed in the processing factory.
It is the truck driver moving goods.
It is the engineer maintaining the machinery.
It is the entrepreneur exporting finished products.
It is the community developing because productive economic activity has come home.
WE NEED LEADERS WHO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POWER AND PURPOSE
Leadership is not merely occupying the presidential palace.
Leadership is not merely addressing parliament.
Leadership is not merely attending international conferences.
Leadership ultimately asks:
“What difference has my leadership made to the life of the ordinary person?”
A president may have an excellent economic team.
A central bank may produce impressive reports.
Ministers may present beautiful PowerPoint presentations.
International institutions may praise economic reforms.
All these things have their place.
But the ordinary citizen remains the final judge of whether development has become meaningful in his or her life—not through political slogans, but through everyday experience.
And this is why I understand the sentiment behind those who hear Mahama’s words and say, “This man knows something.”
The important thing, however, is not to turn one speech into a personality cult.
The statement should instead become a challenge to every African government.
Not only Ghana.
Not only Nigeria.
Not only Kenya.
Not only South Africa.
Not only Rwanda.
Not only Egypt.
Every African government.
What are you doing with economic growth?
Where is the human face?
AFRICA DOES NOT JUST NEED BIGGER ECONOMIES; IT NEEDS BETTER LIVES
The World Bank’s current assessment of Ghana makes the challenge clear: macroeconomic stability has improved, but maintaining that progress while creating quality jobs and improving welfare remains essential.
That principle applies far beyond Ghana.
Africa does not merely need bigger economies.
Africa needs more productive economies.
Africa needs economies that create jobs.
Economies that support entrepreneurs.
Economies that reward farmers.
Economies that educate children.
Economies that provide functioning healthcare.
Economies that make electricity affordable and reliable.
Economies that reduce the cost of transportation.
Economies that enable young people to build businesses.
Economies that allow hardworking people to live with dignity.
Because there is something deeply frustrating about telling a poor man:
“The economy is growing.”
when he cannot afford three meals a day.
There is something disconnected about telling an unemployed graduate:
“Our GDP has increased.”
when he has spent five years searching for work.
There is something painful about telling a struggling family:
“Inflation has fallen.”
when the prices in their kitchen have not returned to what they could previously afford.
Numbers matter.
But people matter more.
THE REAL MEASURE OF PROGRESS
Perhaps we should begin asking African governments a different set of questions.
Not only:
What is the GDP growth rate?
But:
How many decent jobs were created?
How many families moved out of poverty?
How many children received quality education?
How many people gained access to healthcare?
How much did real household purchasing power improve?
How many farmers became more prosperous?
How many small businesses expanded?
How many young people found meaningful employment?
How many rural communities received roads, electricity, water and digital access?
How many citizens can now say:
“My life is better than it was before”?
That final question may be one of the most powerful economic indicators of all.
THE HUMAN FACE OF DEVELOPMENT
At the United Nations, the broader principle of putting people at the centre of development was also emphasised during the 40th anniversary commemoration of the Declaration on the Right to Development. The UN General Assembly President stressed that development is not merely economic growth, but involves continuous improvement in human well-being and the fair distribution of its benefits.
That is the conversation Africa needs.
Not development for the statistics.
Not development for international headlines.
Not development for political speeches.
Development for human beings.
Let the economy grow.
Let investment increase.
Let industries expand.
Let currencies stabilise.
Let inflation fall.
Let government revenue improve.
Let infrastructure develop.
But when all these things happen, let the ordinary African eventually look at his or her life and say:
“Something has changed for the better.”
That is when economic growth becomes meaningful.
That is when statistics become stories.
That is when policy becomes hope.
That is when development becomes real.
And that is why President Mahama’s sentence deserves serious reflection—not simply as something said at the United Nations, but as a challenge to every African leader:
Do not only tell us that the economy is growing.
Show us where the growth is going.
Show us the jobs.
Show us the better hospitals.
Show us the better schools.
Show us the stronger businesses.
Show us the prosperous farmers.
Show us the empowered young people.
Show us the families that can finally breathe.
Because at the end of the day, the economy was created for the people—not the people for the economy.
And Africa’s greatest economic achievement will not be the day we produce the most impressive statistics.
It will be the day the ordinary African wakes up, goes to work, feeds his family, educates his children, accesses healthcare, builds something of his own and goes to bed at night with one priceless feeling:
“Tomorrow can be better.”
That is what economic growth with a human face should look like.
