Government To Replace Citizens Earning Below GH¢3,250 With Tourists

After Ghana recorded $4.34 billion from 1,306,962 international visitors in 2025—an average expenditure of $3,319.90 each—government has begun reviewing whether some citizens are occupying positions that could be filled more profitably by tourists. Divided across twelve months, one visitor is worth about $277 a month, creating a new national performance benchmark.

Any citizen producing less than the tourist equivalent may therefore be redesignated as a vacancy in the hospitality sector. Replacement visitors will be issued the departed citizen’s address, encouraged to stay thirteen nights and reminded to spend efficiently. Ghanaians wishing to retain citizenship must submit monthly receipts proving that they have matched the economic activity of someone who came for a holiday and left before the ECG bill arrived.

The policy should improve revenue without increasing the population: whenever a tourist enters, one underperforming citizen can simply be transferred to the departure hall. Officials will still describe Ghanaian friendliness as a national asset. At 99 per cent visitor satisfaction, however, citizens may soon learn that their most valuable economic contribution is welcoming the people selected to replace them.

This is satire. The source story is real; the conclusions have been faithfully misinterpreted.