Hundreds of workers in Ghana have been protesting on the streets of the capital, demanding the cancellation of Africa’s ballooning debt.

Friday’s protest, led by Ghana’s Trades Union Congress (TUC) and backed by the International Trade Union Confederation-Africa (ITUC-Africa), called for a radical overhaul of the global debt system, which unions say is suffocating Africa’s economic prospects.

Ghana is on the frontline. Despite being the continent’s leading gold producer and world’s second-largest cocoa exporter, its external debt stood in March at $28.5 billion, or more than a quarter of its economic output.

The country is only now starting to recover from one of its worst economic crises in decades, which included a 2022 debt default and inflation that at one point exceeded 50 percent.

“We will not pay!” protestors shouted as they marched through the capital Accra, carrying placards accusing creditors along with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank of strangling the African continent.

“When you look at the process, the creditors and the agreements that led to our debt, it’s like an elephant and a small animal facing off in a boxing ring, thinking they’re fighting on equal terms. We’re in a system that needs to be changed,” Andrews Adoquaye Tagoe, a Ghanaian and one of the rally’s organisers, told RFI.

Africa’s external debt has now surpassed $1.3 trillion, with Ghana among more than 20 countries restructuring its obligations.

In Ghana, the crisis led former president Nana Akufo-Addo to request a $3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

A petition signed by ITUC-Africa’s general secretary Joel Akhator Odigie and submitted to Ghana’s government, called for the “total and unconditional cancellation of Africa’s unsustainable external debts as an act of reparative justice”.

“More than half of African countries are already in or at high risk of debt distress, leaving governments unable to finance essential services,” the petition said, adding that any freed-up resources should go towards job creation, wages, social protection, climate resilience and structural transformations.

“This is not just a financial challenge; it is a human development and democratic crisis,” it added.

Receiving the petition on behalf of President John Mahama, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson echoed their concerns.

“There is a difference between not being able to pay and not being willing to pay,” Forson said, while underlining that how debt is used “is also important”.

In 23 African countries, debt servicing is outpacing money spent on health and education.

“In the case of these 23 African countries, their debt service cost has crowded out very important spending… they simply cannot pay,” Forson added.

(with AFP)