Mopping up excess liquidity...

There's a report in the Graphic today that the Bank of Ghana has mopped up GHS1.2bn in excess liquidity.  Good luck to them, perhaps even well done.

1. However, my stupid mind just wonders why it's only every 4 years, in election years, that we have excess liquidity?  
2. Is it that the intervening years are so good that by the fourth year, Ghanaians have more cash than we know what to do with?
3. Seeing that excess liquidity could result from too much money in the pockets of people desperate to consume but could also be attributed to changes in production and investment decisions of businesses, should we always apply the mop? Especially as this has never arrested inflation and currency depreciation in the election years anyway?
4. If there really is excess liquidity but it's due to cautious production and investment decisions as businesses protect themselves against 'election risk', shouldn't the Govt and BoG focus on boosting business confidence rather than a "mop-up"?  If businesses are warehousing capital, whether in Ghana or offshore, does a "mop-up" by the BoG not make capital even more scarce and, consequently more expensive, with knock-on effects on inflation as still-operating businesses pass on the higher cost of funds to customers?
5. Should politicians begin to realise that the bedrock of every modern economy is business and household confidence?  The focus should perhaps be on "mopping up" anything that affects this confidence?

Should a person be congratulated when he's done the wrong thing well?

Hmm...sometimes...sometimes...

I'm going to mop up some Kofi Brokeman for lunch!