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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Source: Modern Ghana

Cryptic billboards have been popping up across Ghana over the past month, depicting a mysterious ‘man in a mask’ with various messages hinting at a 2024 presidential bid, like “A New Ghana” and “Embrace the Change.“ According to local media, the anonymous group plans to reveal its identity soon, but most suspect it’s a Ghanaian businessman popularly known as Cheddar.

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Credits: Tomas Cuesta / Getty Images

Maverick Milei takes the reins in Argentina

Maverick libertarian economist Javier Milei was sworn in as Argentina's president yesterday (Sunday), on the 40th anniversary of his country’s return to democracy.

Inheriting an economic mess (such as empty coffers and $100B in debt), his 35-minute inaugural address contained few surprises compared to his famously unorthodox campaign. Milei said:

The outgoing government and broader political class had "left the country at the brink of its biggest crisis in history" This means there'll be tough decisions ahead, "but unfortunately they didn’t leave us any option”, and The solution lies in the ideas of freedom and a new social contract “in which the state does not direct our lives, but rather safeguards our rights".

The president didn't offer specifics, though flagged spending cuts equivalent to 5% of GDP, and ended the address with his trademark slogan of "long live freedom, damnit!". The gathered crowd came straight back with a "¡Viva!”

In parallel, Milei had already named some notably mainstream figures to his cabinet, including the highly regarded Luis Caputo as finance minister.

How highly regarded?

When Caputo restored the country’s access to international credit back in 2016, the then president declared him “the Messi of finance”. And honestly, we can’t think of a higher compliment in a country so mad about Messi (the soccer star).

These kinds of mainstream appointments, plus other pirouettes to the centre, partly reflect Milei’s political reality: he only controls 10-15% of Argentina’s legislature, so he'll need to do deals with the opposition to get much done.

And we won’t have to wait long to see how this all pans out: he’s already signed a cost-cutting decree to halve the number of government ministries, and Milei’s team says he’ll unveil further sweeping reforms (like deregulation) this week.

All the while, business leaders are cheering him on, while unions and social organisations are planning protests. Viva, indeed.