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The annual Christmas tradition can definitely not be complete without the exchange of gifts and presents between individuals and even between corporate bodies, yet a presidential directive issued recently is threatening this very essense of the Yuletide. Early this month, President John Dramani Mahama issued a curious directive to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), asking them to stop using public resources for Christmas and New Year gifts, essentially putting a grinding halt to an age-long tradition. In Ghana these gifts are packaged in beautifully decorated hampers filled with everything from wine, to mini bags of raw rice. A letter from the Office of the President and signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, Dr. Raymond Atuguba, asked Ministers of State and local government heads to ensure strict compliance with the directive at all levels of government, adding that �Heads of MDAs which flout the directive would be surcharged with the cost of same to serve as a deterrent to others.� That is one austerity measure that has sent ripples through the very cord of the Christmas festivities because it sent a cue to other private entities who decided to imitate the directives to the government institutions, consequently cutting off the free flow of hampers from both government and private companies. The realization of a �hamperless� Christmas could be aptly reflected in the frustration expressed by many people, including Bernard Avle, a morning show host and the Chief Operating Officer of Accra-based radio station Citi FM, who could not imagine a Christmas without hampers. The President could be justified in this measure because given the pressures on government finances, that has led to huge budget deficits, and public debt, the Mahama administration is desperately cutting down on �none-priority expenses�. Policy think tank, Centre for Policy Research (CPR), has put a figure to the extraneous Christmas expenses government�s directive is seeking to curb. According to its research, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as quasi-independent state institutions such the National Media Commission, National Commission for Civic Education, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice among others spend on the average GH�30,000 of the tax payers� money to buy hampers for board members, senior executives and some officials of their partner institutions. ��considering that there are over 150 MDAs plus 216 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs), the directive by President Mahama will help save the state some Gh�10,980,000.00,� CPR calculated. �Obviously, this money can be put to more productive use including building about 12 new Senior High Schools,� CPR suggested. The frustrations The flipside of the directive is that businesses engaged in the value chain of the hampers have lost out on their annual cash-in. �Customers like the women who get contracts to provide hampers to people come and order and they can order as much as 100 baskets at a go and even come back for more, but this year we have not seen anything like that. Since October this year we have not seen anyone of our customers here and the increase in materials has also made our work collapse,� lamented John Osafo Brown an Accra-based artisan engaged in the business of weaving special Christmas hamper baskets. �We in the business have purchased the materials [raw materials for the baskets] on credit thinking the women will come and purchase the items so we can get some money to pay our debts but they didn�t show up.� ��the workers at the ministries are our biggest customers. They normally use the hampers as appreciation to people who have been good to them one way or the other in the year,� he continued. �But because government said that even the individuals who use the hampers have also abandoned us, so it has brought the work to a standstill,� he complained. �From my location opposite Flair Catering Services to Kumoji you can see that the baskets are there, no one is purchasing them. But at first, people used to struggle for baskets with some waiting for us to finish a basket so they can take it away.� A few days to Christmas, Mr. Osafo was banking his hopes on the few individuals who would defy the general austerity to indulge in the hamper exchange. �Right now we are praying that God will help us so that the minds of people will change and come for some of our baskets because at least we will be satisfied if we break even. �As at today I have sold less than 20 pieces and the profit I get on the sale of one basket is between 50p and GH�1 so when people buy in bulk then you earn something better. �We plead with our customer to help us sell [the baskets],� he begged for salvation. A General Lull This year�s economic hardship has made the Yuletide an accidental affair. One commuter in Accra described the Christmas as an �accident�, likening it to an unplanned and a sudden predicament that one cannot do anything about. Beside the gruesome Harmattan that usually heralds Christmas, the atmosphere could pass for any other normal season. Even the mischievous kids appear to have lost their enthusiasm for throwing Christmas crackers, or perhaps they just do not have the extra cash to expend on an expendable cracker that fades away with a single bang. Christmas shopping appears to have also hit an all-time low. It is difficult to make empirical conclusions on the sales trend of shoppers in Ghana due to a lack of data in these areas, but a general sampling of public demeanour could be the only option to assess the enthusiasm or otherwise of Christmas shoppers. Indeed, even shop owners are complaining about low sales this year. Vida Asantewah, a middle-aged trader at the Dome Market in Accra confirmed the trend, saying; �I been a trader here at the Dome Market for about seven years now. Sales have been fine during Christmas seasons until the end of last year when things suddenly changed. This year is even worse. Now market is not good at all. And the worrying thing is that I have kids that I need to take care of,� she complained. �We are in a Christmas season and business is now going down instead of going up. This Christmas we are just sitting here in the market, no business.� From the same market, Rita Adjei narrated a similar story; �Last year from November our businesses were moving well, but this year things are different. We are suffering seriously this year.� Elizabeth Adu equated the general lack of sales to the dire economic hardships Ghanaians have been subjected to this year. �Things have been very bad this year for us. Not only the Christmas. It has been like this throughout the year. I have a kid and I am not even able to care for him well because my business is not going well,� she stated. Joana Amekudzi, a vegetable trader who has been trading for four years at the Dome Market, did a comparative analysis of previous years and concluded that indeed, 2013 was a difficult year, �I have been here for the past four years. For the past years, Christmas has been good, but this year things have not been good. Not only Christmas, it has been like that this year.� �People have been telling us that it�s because of the elections. They are telling us that we did not vote well. Some are saying there is no money in the system. It is affecting us badly because we are selling vegetables and if people don�t buy them within three days they get spoiled.� �Even street vendors are not spared the low sales, Last week people were buying, but this week it�s really bad. But we are hoping that things will be fine for us next week. Actually this year has been really bad,� cried Kofi Antwi, a street vendor on one of the principal streets in Accra. Reflections Even though the Christmas holiday season is lauded as a time of giving and thinking about others, it is also a time when people end up thinking about the state of their own lives. For a number of overlapping reasons, this time of the year often triggers some pretty heavy self-reflection. As the average person�s spending hits a peak, this time of the year is often characterized by people thinking seriously about their finances, and how they got to be that way. Also in December there are a lot of deadlines to meet. Depending on the individual, it may be an especially hectic time at work too. Combine these stressors with the insane number of people on the roads and in the stores, not to mention the economic crunch that every Ghanaian has had to bear this year, the lamentations can be justified, perhaps so could the austerity measures.