NPP MANIFESTO 2008 ELECTIONS - GHANA

NPP Manifesto Chapter 1

 

1.0 THE NPP'S RECORD: A PROMISE DELIVERED

 

INTRODUCTION

 

This chapter provides a snapshot of the strong performance of the NPP Government in the major areas of national life since it was voted into power in 2000 and re-elected in 2004. The record of achievements has been tremendous over the range of expectations – from peace and freedoms enjoyed by the citizenry as a result of good governance, the prudent management of the national economy leading to the discovery of oil and the far reaching social interventions in education and health in the frontline of efforts to modernise our society.

 

1.1 THE PRESIDENCY

 

The NPP through President Kufuor has brought back the dignity of the Presidency and endowed Ghana with the following:

 

• an internationally recognised good-governance regime which has enlarged the freedoms of the individual citizen, institutions and the press through the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law

 

• an atmosphere of peace and stability which is the envy of the rest of Africa

 

• an enlarged mechanisms of representative government through the institution of the people's assembly concept where our President meets the people and takes questions and queries from the public. Our Ministers have engaged in "Meet the Press" series

 

• tackled corruption not by sheer rhetoric but by actual policy measures including the Procurement Act, Whistleblower Act and other legal measures on public accounting. The Right to Information Act is in the offing

 

• a solid socio-economic foundation upon which a more prosperous, peaceful and just Ghana can be built. We shall not move backward. We are moving forward. This is our pledge. This is our mission.

 

1.2 GOOD GOVERNANCE

 

Our government has displayed an excellent record of good governance. The separation of powers and the independence of the Judiciary and Legislature have been respected. The Media have never experienced such freedom. The Rule of Law prevails and fundamental human rights are respected. Corruption is being tackled through institutional reforms. Public administration has seen a qualitative difference. Good governance has earned Ghana US$547 million from the US government through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).

 

1.3 PUBLIC SECTOR REFORMS

 

The NPP Government has initiated a review of Human Resources and Performance Measurement Practices in the Public Sector with a view to establishing a professional human resource cadre of the public services. A Comprehensive Salary Structure for the entire Public Sector has been developed and approved for implementation. Distortions in the existing public sector pay structure have been removed. A Senior Civil Service Class has been established. 410 out of 599 top civil servants have been trained at GIMPA as part of the accelerated training programme for the leadership of the Civil Service.

 

1.4 LAW AND ORDER

 

Major reforms of the legal system have been undertaken. These include:

 

• reducing significantly the delays in trials by automating the courts (Fast Track Courts)

 

• using law as a tool for development by supporting the creation of commercial courts and the Business Law Division of the Attorney General's Department

 

• using law as a tool for the promotion and protection of fundamental human rights and freedoms. For example, the right of freedom and expression by repealing the Criminal Libel Law

 

• the Judiciary, Military, Police and all law enforcement agencies have received the highest ever budgetary support to fulfil their mandate. Recruitment and service conditions have received quantitative and qualitative boost. The NPP was quick to recognise the potential of the military as a useful partner in the economic reconstruction of the country in addition to its traditional role of defending the territorial integrity of the country. This partnership has produced splendid results. As an institution the military has discharged its constitutional responsibilities in a way that has won the admiration of Ghanaians. Bold efforts have been made to improve the remuneration packages of the Ghana Armed forces. The 37 Military Hospital has been expanded and considerably refurbished. Today it provides about the finest medical services to both the military and civilians alike. A second Military Hospital is planned for Kumasi and Parliament is due to approve a loan for the construction of the hospital before the end of 2008. The construction of the Burma Hall, the Ministry of Defence Building and the provision of a number of new residential buildings in all garrisons and the rehabilitation of old and dilapidated residential buildings have all gone a long way to boost the morale of soldiers.

 

An amount of US$60 million has been provided to ensure that all Peacekeeping Missions are provided with sufficient equipment. An additional facility of US$100 million has been provided to equip the army. There are on-going discussions to obtain parliamentary approvals for two different facilities to equip the Air Force and the Navy before the end of the present NPP Government.

 

1.5 DECENTRALISATION

 

The process of decentralisation has been deepened. Sixty (60) more Districts have been created to accelerate the process whilst bigger budgetary support, including Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) allocations for the Districts, has broadened the developmental capacity of the Assemblies. The District Assemblies Common Fund has been increased from 5.0 to 7.5% of total national revenue. A District Development Fund has also been established with a seed fund of US$25 million. Legal backing has been given to the Institute of Local Government Studies as the key capacity building institution, responsible for generating the requisite personnel to man local government.

 

1.6 ECONOMY

 

The NPP has established itself as the safest pair of hands to manage the economy. Our track record of achievements testifies to the highly responsible and prudent management of the economy. Upon assuming office in 2001, we inherited a struggling economy with all the fundamental macroeconomic indicators pointed in the wrong direction – GDP growth rate hovered at an abysmal low of 3.7%. Inflation stood at 41% and was on the rise. On the interest rate front, the Bank of Ghana Base rate was over 50% with the 91-Day Treasury Bill Rate at 40.5%. Total Debt as a ratio of Gross Domestic Product stood at 189%. International Reserves stood at US$ 253 million, adequate for three weeks of import cover. Total debt service (as a percentage of exports of goods, services and income) was 15.6%. The daily minimum wage, as a cost of living indicator, stood at Gp 29 (¢2,900). All these indicators paint a picture of an economy that had not been managed well. The first critical task the new NPP administration faced was to restore the macroeconomic balance of the economy, while spurring growth. Under the able stewardship of the NPP inflation has been brought down to 18% today, in spite of the serious exogenous shocks arising from the steep increases in global oil and food prices. In the tamed inflationary environment Ghanaians can confidently plan their savings and investment activities in the knowledge that the value of the money they save and invest is now stable.

 

The classic benchmarks of success in our stabilisation programme are clear for all to see – a restored macroeconomic balance, low and declining rates of inflation, lower interest rates and a stable currency that has held its own for six straight years.

 

On the interest rate front, the Bank of Ghana Base rate now stands at a mere 17% while the 91-Day Treasury Bill rate has declined to 24%. This has made it possible to expand total credit to the private sector from 12.5% of GDP in 2000 to 28.4% of GDP in 2007. With the cost of borrowing reduced significantly, the private sector is now in a better position to access credit to expand their businesses. We have been able to improve our external reserve position as at December 2001, from US$ 253 million (equivalent of three weeks import cover) to US$ 2.3 billion (equivalent of three months cover) as at year end 2007.

 

Through the bold HIPC arrangements, which resulted in an external forgiveness of some US$ 5 billion and the restructuring of the maturity profile of our external debt, Ghana's total debt service declined from 15.6% in 2000 to 4.9% by year end 2006. The greatly reduced debt burden on the economy has released significant amounts of scarce foreign exchange resources, which would otherwise have been used to service these debts, for construction of roads, hospitals, schools and meeting other social needs of our people.

 

The ultimate proof of our superior management of the Ghanaian economy has been our ability to grow the economy, in nominal GDP terms, from US$ 3.9 billion in 2000 to US$ 16.3 billion in 2008. In this process, per capita income is now nearly US$ 600 as compared to a little over US$ 300 in 2000. As a result, poverty levels have been cut by over a third – from 39% of the population in1998/1999 to 28% by 2006/2007.

 

These spectacular successes have engendered growing international confidence in the Ghanaian economy and have made possible the significant inflows of foreign direct investment, particularly in the banking, energy, and oil and gas exploration fields.

 

A better deal for pensioners

 

Today a pensioner receives a minimum monthly allowance over twenty times more than that provided by the NDC – from GH¢ 1.00 (¢10,000) in the year 2000 to GH¢ 22.00 (¢220,000) equivalent in 2008. In Rawlings' last term in office, pensioners faced poverty and deprivation. Whilst prices of basic foods and other necessities were rising rapidly, the minimum pension was kept the same Gp85 (¢8,500) between 1997 and 1999.

 

In comparison, in its first two years in office alone, the NPP raised the pension from GH¢ 1.00 (¢10,000) to GH¢ 5.00 (¢50,000). By the end of Kufuor's first term in 2004, it stood at GH¢ 10.00 (¢100,000) and today it stands at GH¢ 22.00 (¢220,000), helping reduce pensioner poverty.

 

A better deal for the unemployed and workers

 

Under the National Youth Employment Programme, the NPP has created 108,000 new jobs for otherwise unemployed young people, giving them the opportunity to support themselves and get a start in the job market.

 

The NPP has succeeded in achieving a four-fold increase in the daily minimum wage – up from just Gp 31 (¢3,100) in 2000 to GH¢2.25 (¢22,500) in 2008. In the year 2000, the daily minimum wage was worth just US$0.60, whilst after 7 years of the NPP government it now stands at more than US$2 today. Some construction and other workers earn up to five times the minimum wage.

 

1.7 AGRICULTURE

 

Strong Performance Overall The NPP government, since assuming office in 2001, has worked hard to bring about massive and real growth in the agricultural sector. The sector's growth rate increased from 2.1% in the year 2000, to 4.4% in the year 2002 and to 6.5% by 2006. Major increases in food production in particular have helped Ghana achieve self-sufficiency in most of the staple food crops including yam, maize, plantain and cassava. As a result, the current world food crisis afflicting many countries in Africa and elsewhere has not greatly affected Ghanaians.

 

Booming Cocoa Production

 

We have achieved growth in food and agriculture by raising productivity on our farms. We more than doubled production of cocoa from an average of less than 350,000 metric tonnes in the NDC era to a peak of over 750,000 metric tonnes in 2006/2007 for the same land area under cultivation. Through the mass spraying initiated by our government and the application of subsidised fertilisers, we have been able to double the average yield per acre of cocoa. This, together with the four-fold increase in producer prices, has boosted cocoa farmers' income to a level not seen since the 1950s. The price paid to farmers for a 64 kg. bag of cocoa at end of 2000 season was GH¢21.7 (¢217,000). The price for the 2008 season is GH¢102 (¢1,020,000). The NDC government was only able to pay bonuses in 1992 and 1996. The NPP government has paid six bonuses in the last seven years. It is now the policy to pay cocoa bonuses twice every year.

 

Direct Intervention for Food Crops

 

To improve crop yields we have reduced the prices paid by small farmers for fertilisers. For example, we have reduced by half the price of fertiliser NPK (15:15:15) which is commonly used by poor food crop farmers from GH¢52 to only GH¢26 per bag. This has encouraged farmers to apply more fertiliser to increase production and improve farm incomes. A policy of direct intervention has been adopted to supply farm inputs on credit to small farmers. Over 100,000 small farmers are supported annually with cash and inputs to grow maize, sorghum or rice. We intend to expand this programme rapidly throughout the country in the coming years.

 

Irrigating our Farm Lands

 

The NPP government is steadily rehabilitating all the large irrigation dams in the country to provide more water to make possible the planting of two crops per year in many farming communities particularly in the North. Nine seriously deteriorated irrigation facilities at Weija, Aveyime, Afife, Sata, Mankessim, Tanoso, Akumadan, Subinja and Bontanga have been rehabilitated. Total cropped area for the 9 schemes has increased from 922 hectares to 2,326 hectares. Contracts totalling GH¢7.8 million for the rehabilitation of the Tono Irrigation Project were awarded in 2007 and work is expected to be completed in December this year. This rehabilitation will add 600 hectares of irrigable land to the existing 1,800 hectares. In addition to rehabilitating old schemes, the government has also developed 80 new small dams and dugouts mainly in northern Ghana and 22 pumping schemes along major rivers capable of irrigating 3,200 hectares. 530 hectares of valley bottom sites have been developed for the production of 5,670 tonnes of paddy rice. Government has imported 23 drilling rigs to support groundwater abstraction for irrigation in 7 regions. Eight hundred (800) portable pumping machines have been provided to farmer groups and to individual farmers in the three northern regions to facilitate irrigation farming in the dry season. A feasibility study for the Accra Plains Irrigation Project is ongoing and the feasibility study for the Kaanbaa Irrigation Project located in Lawra in the Upper West Region is being revised.

 

Processing and Storing our Produce

 

To cater for the post-harvest handling of produce, processing facilities have been installed to process more cocoa, fruits and tomato. A number of warehouses have been rehabilitated for the storage of grains during the harvesting periods and thousands of tonnes of maize have been stored as strategic stocks in Ejura, Wenchi and Sunyani.

 

Mechanising our Farms

 

The NPP Government has increased the mechanisation of agriculture in a manner unmatched in the history of Ghana. Since 2004, we have imported into the country 1,331 brand new tractors with implements, 400 multi-purpose threshers, 30 mechanical and solar dryers, 20 oil palm and sheabutter processing machines and 30 fruit and vegetable processing machines for farmers across the country. For small farmers, 1,600 pieces of vari-mini lower capacity tractors and 326 power tillers have been imported from the Czech Republic and are currently being distributed throughout the country. The delivery of another batch of 721 pieces of tractors is in progress and is expected to be completed by October 2008. For farmers who cannot afford to own agricultural machines, the Government has, as an initial step, established nine Mechanisation Service Centres across the country to improve farmers' access to mechanisation services. Poverty, which was more pronounced in the agricultural sector, has been cut by half – bringing it down from 51.7 percent of the farm population in 1999 to 28.5 percent in 2005.

 

Fisheries

 

For the first time in the history of this country, a separate Ministry of Fisheries has been created to improve this important source of protein. The Government is improving infrastructure, enhancing investment and providing support to small-scale fishermen. Aquaculture is being encouraged through the construction of 2 fishing habours and 12 fish landing sites along the entire coastline at a cost of US$148 million. The locations are spread all along the coastline starting from Keta in the east to Axim in the west. These also include landing sites at Ada, Teshie, Winneba, Senya Beraku, Gyamani and Dixcove.

 

Developing Rural North

 

The NPP Government has initiated the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) with a budget of US$103 million. It will cover 32 out of 34 districts of the three northern regions of Ghana with the aim of improving the living standards of rural residents.

 

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 2

 

1.8 INDUSTRY

 

Since assuming office in 2001, the NPP administration has:

 

• instituted a supportive industrial policy which has put in place a national private sector development strategy, a new trade policy, the review of the Companies Code, and created a regulatory framework to ensure the efficient implementation of these policies

 

• cut corporate tax from 35% to 25% to encourage and support businesses and entrepreneurship

 

• improved our business environment by establishing commercial courts, introducing faster business registration and greater accountability in the government's financial dealings

 

• supported the export sector with more aggressive export promotion activities. For example, since 2002, the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) has invested nearly ¢700 billion in export promotion with 28% going into agro-processing

 

• opened markets for Ghanaian producers through African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), collaborated with our ECOWAS partners and organised trade fairs

 

• obtained from the American government, through the Millennium Challenge Account, US$547 million to be spent over the next five years to modernise various sectors of our economy, particularly agriculture.

 

These have all been done in the government's pursuit of making the private sector the major force behind the growth of our economy. As a result of these reforms, the country has been adjudged as one of the top ten countries with the most reformed economy in the world to do business in. Ghana is now recognised as a fully fledged "emerging economy" with the concomitant record inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI).

 

Integrated Aluminium Industry

 

In order to accelerate the pace of industrialisation and economic development the Government has acquired full shares in the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (Valco) with a view to developing an integrated aluminium industry in Ghana using both the Kyebi and Nyinahin bauxite deposits.

 

1.9 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)

 

We have secured funding of US$30 million and commenced work on the national fibre optic backbone to promote ICT activities throughout the country. We have also secured US$40 million from the World Bank and started the national e-governance programme.

 

The government is facilitating private sector delivery of the developments in the Information and Communication Technology services. Some of the current initiatives are the ICT centres and Ghana Multimedia Incubator Centre. ICT centres provide Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with access to ICT services. They are to be established in 230 communities across the country. Phase I, which consists of 62 communities, is nearly completed. Five of these centres have been commissioned in the North at Wa, Lawra, Tumu, Bolgatanga and Bawku. The Ghana- India Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in IT, a model institution in Africa, was established in 2002.

 

The new NPP government adopted urgent policy measures which have led to an explosion in the number of mobile phone users. When the NPP government took over in 2001 there were just 215,000 mobile phone users, less than 250,000 fixed telephone lines and only 10,824 public pay phones. Internet subscriptions were negligible. Currently there are over 7 million (7,048,510) users across all ten regions. The number of pay phones has trebled and that of fixed lines had increased to over 365,000 as at September 2007. Internet subscriptions have now reached approximately 1.5million.

 

1.10 TOURISM

 

The NPP has made Ghana the tourist destination of West Africa, attracting record numbers to the Ghana @ 50 celebrations and the African Cup of Nations football tournament this year 2008. Between 2005 (when reliable data became available) and 2007:

 

• tourist arrivals increased from 429,000 to 587,000

 

• tourism receipts increased from US$836 - 1million to US$1,172million

 

• contribution of tourism to national income increased from 4.9 percent to 6.3 percent

 

• accommodation establishments increased from 1,345 to over 1,460

 

• number of hotel rooms rose from 18,800 to over 20,900

 

• number of hotel beds increased from 23,900 to some 26,200

 

• tourism employment also increased from 172,800 to 206,100 .

 

1.11 EDUCATION

 

We want every Ghanaian child to be able to go to school and get a good quality education. Since 2001, the NPP government has achieved massive improvements and expansion in quality and affordable education.

 

• We have reformed the structure and content of basic education to include 2 years of kindergarten, 6 years of primary school and 3 years of Junior High School. A new curriculum has been introduced to improve quality and impart skills relevant to the job market.

 

• The NPP government has constructed 765 new school blocks at basic level throughout the country, in addition to 150 3-unit classroom blocks and 231 6-unit classroom blocks to replace schools under trees. Overall, the number of schools (public and private) increased by a third at the basic level in the period 2000/01 to 2007/08.

 

• We have introduced the School Feeding Programme, Capitation Grant and free Metro Bus ride for children in basic school in order to make education affordable and accessible to all Ghanaians. Nearly half a million children now benefit from the School Feeding Programme which will be extended to all children in the next 2 years.

 

• Enrolment in public basic school now stands at almost 5 million compared to 2.7 million in 2000, before the NPP came into office. Pre-School enrolment has doubled. Primary school and Junior High School enrolment has increased by 50% because of these policies. Of equal significance is the fact that enrolment at the Senior High School level has more than doubled (See table below).

 

Level No. of Schools Enrolment

 

2000/01 2007/08 2000/01 2007/08

 

Pre-School 5,976 11,140 649,677 1,258,483

 

Primary 11,916 13,247 2,477,990 3,622,724

 

JHS 6,133 7,267 804,419 1,224,964

 

SHS 474 493 204,000 454,681

 

• Teachers at the basic school level are now paid five times more than what they were paid in the year 2000.

 

• The NPP government established the University of Mines and Technology (formerly KNUST School of Mines) at Tarkwa in the Western Region, the UDS Campus and the two Polytechnics in Wa and Bolgatanga in the Upper West and Upper East regions, respectively.

 

• Enrolment in public universities has more than doubled – from 40,670 in 2000/01 to 88,445 in 2006/07. Enrolment in polytechnics also rose by more than 50% in that period from 18,470 in 2000/2001 to 28,695 in 2006/2007.

 

Level No. of Institutions Enrolment

 

2000/01 2006/07 2000/01 2006/07 % increase

 

University 5 6 40,670 88,445 117%

 

Private Univ. 4 16 1,667 18,278 996%

 

Polytechnic 10 10 18,470 28,695 55%

 

Professional Ins. 3 3 2,013 4,350 116%

 

• The number of private universities quadrupled from only four in the year 2000/01 to sixteen in 2006/07 with enrolment increasing sharply from less than 1,700 to over 18,000 in the same period.

 

• Under the policy of providing one model Senior High School for each District, 31 such schools have been constructed and 25 are nearing completion under the first phase. This programme shall be accelerated to benefit all Districts in the first term of the incoming NPP administration.

 

The substantial expansion in both educational infrastructure and in enrolment at all levels of the educational system clearly represents the solid foundation which has been laid by the NPP administration for the future requirements of a modern society.

 

1.12 YOUTH

 

We have provided a better future for the youth through our economic, educational and social achievements. Reflecting the importance that the NPP government attaches to job creation for the youth of Ghana, we introduced the National Youth Employment Programme in 2004. The Programme now employs 108,000 young people in various jobs grouped into five areas. We have demonstrated our commitment to the development of our youth through sports by building world class stadia in Tamale and Sekondi and rehabilitated and expanded Ohene Djan and Baba Yara sports stadia in Accra and Kumasi. We have commenced the construction of a brand new stadium in Cape Coast.

 

1.13 SPORTS

 

The NPP government has made remarkable improvement in sports promotion and development and achieved a lot since 2001 in all sectors of sports. Ghana has produced African, Commonwealth and World boxing champions, won gold medals in Athletics at the All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and World Athletics Championships and won medals in other disciplines like soccer, hockey, cricket, and tennis others. We went to the World Cup for the first time in 2006 and hosted the African Cup of Nations, winning bronze and being ranked number one in Africa. The NPP government has invested extensively in sports infrastructure by fencing school and community fields and building sports centres in schools and universities across the country. Five world class stadia have been built and rehabilitated, and a sixth one is under construction, all within three years, in pursuit of the agenda of providing modern sports facilities in all parts of Ghana.

 

1.14 HEALTH

 

• The NPP Government introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2003 to replace the inhumane "cash-and-carry" system under the NDC. The NHIS was first mooted in 1970 by the Progress Party under Professor K.A. Busia who constituted a committee headed by Dr. Konotey Ahulu to study the concept and make appropriate recommendations. The NHIS, which now covers about half the population (11.3 million Ghanaians), provides a vastly more accessible and comprehensive health service unmatched in the history of our country. The NHIS provides free healthcare for children below 18 and the elderly over the age of 70. Over 6 million children and 400,000 elderly are currently benefiting from the service. All pregnant women now have free maternal care. Under the NHIS, HIV positive individuals now receive highly subsidised anti-retroviral medicines.

 

• The introduction of the NHIS has led to a three-fold increase in hospital attendance in some areas. Out Patients Department (OPD) attendance has increased from a yearly average of 0.38 per capita in 2001 to 0.7 per capita in 2007. In areas such as the Brong Ahafo region, OPD attendance has reached the 1.02 mark. More and more people who need to use our health service now have the means to do so under NHIS.

 

• The NPP government has expanded health facilities at a rate unprecedented in our history. In only seven years, our administration has constructed, throughout the country, 205 new hospitals and clinics including 310 key district hospital facilities in Eastern, Volta and Northern Regions. 48 clinics have been upgraded to hospitals and 33 hospitals and clinics have undergone complete rehabilitation. 77 new projects are ongoing throughout the country with 18 to be completed this year. 21 dental facilities have been constructed. A US$339 million project, covering the construction of new regional and district hospitals, has been initiated at Wa, Kumasi South, Manhyia, Konongo-Odumasi, Adenta/Madina, Tepa and Salaga. 6 new polyclinics are being constructed at a cost of €7.6 million at Karaga, Kpandai, Tatale, Buipe, Janga and Chereponi.

 

• The construction of health facilities is matched by massive investment in training health professionals, as shown in the following table:

 

Intake for Training in:

 

1999/2000 2006/2007

 

General Nursing 648 2,434

 

Community Health Nursing 102 1,841

 

Midwifery 48 614

 

Health Assistants (New) 0 964

 

Others 170 1,212

 

TOTAL INTAKE 968 7,065

 

From less than 1,000 in 1999/2000 the intake of health worker trainees had jumped to over 7,000 by 2006/2007. Over a short period of 6 years, Ghana is firmly on the road to producing the required numbers of health manpower for our health institutions.

 

• Doctors and other health workers receive the highest salaries ever paid in this country and are now among the best paid in Africa. The government of the NPP has made significant improvements in the service conditions of doctors and health workers. For the first time in our history, a College of Physicians and Surgeons has been established to provide and supervise post graduate medical training in Ghana. As a result, Ghana today retains 60% of locally trained doctors in contrast to 20% under NDC.

 

• The NPP Government has established a National Ambulance System for the first time in the history of this country to cater for medical emergencies throughout the country.

 

• In the 5 years before 2001, only 51% of all children were fully immunised. This figure had risen to 64.4% by 2006. Guinea worm disease which is a disease of poverty has reduced from over 8,000 in 2003 to 3,358 in 2007 and signs are that we are well on the way to eradication. Ghana was also certified free from polio in 2006 as a result of the strong emphasis in surveillance.

 

• These are all signs that Ghana is on the way to becoming a healthier nation. Within a space of just 8 years, we have managed to stem and turn around the deteriorating health fortunes of this country. We are Moving Forward!

 

1.15 HOUSING

 

The NPP has committed an unprecedented amount of government funds to address the nation's housing shortage with GH¢30 million (¢300 billion) for the construction of affordable homes across the country. The target of constructing 100,000 affordable homes is a joint effort by government and the private sector. Within the conducive business environment, the private sector now provides an average of 40,000 homes a year. Government under its affordable housing programme is currently constructing a total of 3500 flats at Borteyman and Kpone in the Greater Accra Region (1,500 flats), Asokore-Mampong in the Ashanti Region (1,192 flats), Koforidua in the Eastern Region (400 flats), Tamale in the Northern Region (400 flats). The construction of an additional 1500 affordable housing units will commence in Sekondi, Takoradi, Sunyani, Cape Coast, Wa, Bolgatanga and Ho by 2009.

 

The Government now has land banks totalling 50,000 acres across the country for housing development by the private sector. It has also instituted a rural housing scheme for cocoa farmers starting in the Western Region. It has also instituted a housing scheme for civil servants with a US$ 10 million facility placed with the Housing Finance Corporation (HFC).

 

1.16 ENERGY

 

• Under the National Electrification Project, 1,900 towns and villages were connected to the national grid in the ten year period 1990-2000. In just seven years (2001-2007) of the NPP government, a total of 2,400 towns and villages have benefitted from the project. We have plans to provide electricity to at least 600 towns and villages throughout the country every year for the next five years.

 

• Bui Dam, which was the dream of Governor Guggisberg in the 1920s, is now a reality under the NPP government. President Kufuor cut the sod for work to begin at the site in August 2007. This will add 400 megawatts to the country's power generating capacity.

 

• The government has found investors for the construction of mini-hydro dams on Rivers Pra, Ankobra and Tano. Together these dams will generate another 240 megawatts of power for the country and provide irrigation water for our farm lands.

 

• The recent oil discovery in our deep waters off-shore is not by accident. We have struck oil because of the sound policies of the NPP government. The oil has always been there but the 19 years of (P) NDC rule could neither create the conducive investment climate nor the managerial direction for the oil to be found. In the short period between 2001 and 2005, the NPP government restructured and refocused the work of the GNPC and provided the conducive business environment to attract committed investors to our off-shore oil fields. The result was the discoveries announced in June 2005, June 2007 and February 2008. We expect more discoveries in the coming years and, as the party who enabled these new finds, we are best placed to manage these new resources responsibly.

 

• Government has set up committees to draw a comprehensive oil sector policy starting from exploration to downstream activities with attention on ensuring maximum local content and local participation and the development to other sectors of the economy.

 

• The NPP government has encouraged the private sector to invest in power generation. The National Grid Company has been established to operate and supervise the power generation industry. This policy is producing positive results. Already five private companies (Independent Power Producers) have been issued licenses and all have started work, thereby creating jobs for our youth. One of these has started building a 560 megawatt plant at Kpone in Tema for completion in 2009. When all five companies start energy production over the next two years, a large amount of jobs will be created for our youth and energy supply for our industries will be assured.

 

1.17 ROADS

 

The NPP has dramatically expanded the road network as part of its commitment to improve the nation's infrastructure which underpins our economy. In the last seven and a half years the road network has been increased by over 60% from 38,000 kilometres in 2001 to almost 64,000 kilometres in 2007. The massive road construction is equally distributed across regions and districts. The major new roads are the Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Aburi-Mamfe, Mallam-Kasoa, Winneba-Yamoransa, Tema-Aflao, Kumasi-Techiman-Kintampo, Wenchi-Bamboi-Bole, Tamale-Yendi, among others. The condition of our roads has also dramatically improved with the percentage of roads classified as in good condition rising from only 27% in 2001 to 46% in 2007. The improvement and expansion of our road network have enhanced the movement of goods and farm produce benefitting farmers, manufacturers, businessmen and consumers in rural and urban areas.

 

In addition to the massive expansion of the road network, road safety measures instituted by the NPP government has led to a substantial drop in road traffic accident fatality rate from 31 deaths per 10,000 vehicles in 2001 to 22 deaths per 10,000 vehicles in 2007.

 

1.18 AVIATION

 

With the enactment of the new Civil Aviation Act of 2004, the regulatory and commercial functions in the Aviation sub-sector have been separated. The Civil Aviation Authority now regulates our air space and its users. An Airports Company has been incorporated with responsibility for the development of airports infrastructure and commercial activities at the ports. Three regional airports at Kumasi, Tamale and Takoradi have undergone significant rehabilitation. These works were financed by the Government at an estimated cost of US$40 million.

 

1.19 RAILWAYS AND PORTS

 

To show commitment to rail transport the NPP government has since 2003 allocated GH¢5 million (¢50 billion), most of it HIPC funds, to Ghana Railway Company (GRCL) for the maintenance of the rail system. In 2005 the government provided GH¢9 million (¢90 billion) to GRCL to purchase rolling stock and new coaches for the revival of the Accra-Tema commuter rail line. After over 20 years of closure, this line is now up and running serving many commuters and relieving pressure on our roads. This is only a small step in the right direction. The favourable investment climate which the NPP government has created through prudent macro-economic management is attracting needed long term investment capital to the rail sector.

 

• For the Western line, the NPP Government has secured US$90 million, through a Eurobond issue, which is to be used as equity in a consortium composed of Government of Ghana, local users of rail services and foreign investors. The project aims at constructing the 800 km Western rail line from Takoradi through Sunyani, Techiman and Bole to Hamile on the border with Burkina Faso at a total investment cost of US$1.6 billion. The re-development of the Takoradi-Kumasi line shall be covered under the project.

 

• For the Eastern line, agreements have been signed to reconstruct, expand and operate a modern rail network between Accra and Paga.

 

• When implemented, these rail projects will provide Ghana with a modern, comfortable and affordable means of travel for both citizens and tourists. They will reduce the costs of transporting goods and food stuffs to the great benefit of both rural and urban consumers and producers. It will also reduce the number of deaths resulting from motor accidents.

 

• Our ports have benefitted from many development projects under the NPP Government. These include a first class container terminal, a fully equipped park for the discharge of goods at Tema Port, and the rehabilitation and expansion of a dry dock at Takoradi Port.

 

1.20 METRO MASS TRANSPORT

 

By the end of NDC rule in the year 2000, urban transport service provided by the Omnibus Service Authority was virtually non-existent. The NPP Government introduced the Metro Mass Transport System in 2001 with only 17 buses. By June 2008, there was a total of 883 buses plying all routes in the urban areas, including the ten regional capitals. An additional 300 buses will be operational within the next twelve months. This represents a tremendous effort on the part of the Government to address the problem of urban transportation. The Metro Mass Transport not only provides a cheaper and more reliable service for commuters, but is also free for basic school pupils in Ghana, thus making it easier for more children to travel to school.

 

1.21 WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION The NPP government has made tremendous progress in providing clean water and sanitation facilities to rural and urban dwellers. The following table compares the facilities provided before and during the NPP administration.

 

1994-2000 2001-2007 1. New Boreholes 3,804 8,191

 

2. New Pipe Systems 174 411 3. Household latrines and KVIP 11,002 43,861

 

In seven years (2001-2007), the NPP government provided twice as many water points (boreholes and wells) than in the period 1994-2000. Similarly, the NPP provided nearly two-and-half times more pipe borne water systems and four times more places of convenience. We have worked hard to provide the basic necessities of life for all citizens in the face of limited public finances. By the year 2005, slightly more than half of rural dwellers were provided with potable water. The government is determined to raise this figure to 85 percent by the year 2010. Major urban water works completed or soon to be completed by the NPP administration include Accra East-West interconnection expected to supply additional 15 million gallons of water per day to the Western parts of Accra. The Kwanyaku, Cape Coast and Koforidua projects are nearing completion and will supply 3.5 million gallons of water per day to each town and the outlying villages. The Tamale and Barekese (Kumasi) projects are progressing steadily.

 

1.22 GENDER

 

The NPP Government has in the past few years in office demonstrated its commitment to improving gender equality and equity through diverse actions and policies:

 

• the establishment, for the first time in the history of this country, a Women and Children's Ministry to address issues of gender parity and empowerment

 

• the appointment, in our first term in office, of a Minister in charge of Girl-Child Education to address in a more focused way the elimination of disparities in education between sexes. We are proud to say that the gap between girls and boys' education has been narrowed significantly

 

• the introduction of micro-credit financing that has helped to improve the economic position of women. The Women Development Fund has disbursed GH¢ 11.3 million to 168,800 women countrywide since 2002. The beneficiaries are now able to contribute to household income and meet the education and health needs of their families. With an average household size of four people, 675,200 lives have been improved through the programme

 

• the appointment, for the first time, of women to head key public service institutions such as the Judiciary, and Immigration Service

 

• the passage of the Domestic Violence Act and the Human Traffic Act to protect the vulnerable members of our society including women and children from abuse

 

• the provision of free maternity health care to all pregnant women.

 

1.23 FOREIGN AFFAIRS

 

In the realm of Foreign Affairs, our record is enviable and the gains for Ghana, plentiful.

 

• We have established the best relations in our history with our neighbours Togo, La Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

 

• We have promoted the ideals of ECOWAS through diplomacy and peace-keeping measures. Our President served as President of ECOWAS for two terms.

 

• Ghana has played a leading role in setting the agenda of the AU, serving as Chair of the AU and hosted the AU Summit of 2007.

 

• Ghana won international recognition for her role in brokering peace in numerous countries in Africa including Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Kenya.

 

• Ghana regained its international respect among nations globally, thus reviving the image of our nation. Our good governance rating was top of the pack.

 

• Ghana has accrued tremendous benefits from the NPP's great successes in economic diplomacy. China helped in infrastructure development culminating in the Bui Dam project. India assisted with the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre for Excellence in IT, the Presidential Complex, rural electrification, 3,000 tractors and assistance for the security and medical sectors. The Japanese contributed via the Japanese Grant for small and medium scale business and significant infrastructure. Assistance from Europe, the US and other development partners increased significantly with the US topping this with the MCA.

 

1.24 SUMMARY

 

These are just some of our achievements since 2001 and we are proud of them. They attest to the solid foundation laid in the first two terms of our administration. We have demonstrated clearly, that we are the safest pair of hands to hold and continue to build our nation. With a renewed mandate in January 2009, the next NPP government will, with determination, build on this solid foundation to create a better future for us all. Ghanaians risk our future and knock this foundation down by returning the NDC to power. Remember what they did with our lives in those 19 miserable years (1981-2000) of their rule?

 

The rest of this document outlines the building plans of the "new house of prosperity" which the NPP government under Nana Akufo-Addo will build. It will rest on the solid foundation laid by the Kufuor administration. We discuss how we plan to strengthen and protect the democracy and freedom which Ghanaians have all worked so hard to build (Chapter 2). This is followed by an account of how we intend to create prosperity and wealth for the people of Ghana (Chapter 3) and transform their lives for an improved welfare and wellbeing through better education, better healthcare, housing and more jobs for our youth (Chapter 4). Finally, our country's place in the new globalised world is discussed (Chapter 5) with a focus on enhancing our image and reputation in West Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.

 

We appeal to you to join with the NPP in building the "new house" by voting for our Presidential and Parliamentary candidates come 7th December 2008.

 

We are moving forward!

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 3

 

2.0 STRENGTHENING OUR DEMOCRACY

 

2.1 THE PRESIDENCY AND PUBLIC SERVICE

 

Sharpening the tool of Governance

 

The Presidency will act as the vital force in driving the public sector to transform society. It will provide the vision, direction and inspiration for a most prosperous Ghana. The Presidency will provide the leadership and commitment for national transformation and serve as the hub around which the entire public administration will revolve. Its vision will guide policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.

 

2.1.1 The Presidency and the Private Sector

 

Now that the NPP government has established macroeconomic stability for Ghana, the executive power of the State will be positively applied to support fully, market-based development. The Presidency will support the process of strengthening the Ghanaian private sector. This envisages presidential-led State support for entrepreneurs in Ghana, both indigenous and local economic operators. Our industrialists, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, food processors, crop and livestock farmers will witness a market enhancement of their business activities.

 

Those who seek profit (which is the reward for risk-taking) will be encouraged and become new pillars for national development. Such encouragement will come in the form of infusion of capital, application of technology, tax and other fiscal incentives and a level playing field. The increase in tax revenue from such growth will be ploughed back to create new job opportunities for our youth. By this, we will see rising employment through a variety of SMEs and large industrial companies.

 

2.2 PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE

 

2.2.1 Parliament

 

The NPP administration has enhanced the functioning of parliament by ensuring that the institution is provided with the resources it requires to function – within the constraints of the national budget. The incoming NPP government will take the necessary steps to provide finally the country's legislators with the means to carry out their duties. In this regard, we shall improve office accommodation for use by MPs and link their offices with the other arms of government through the e-governance project. They will be provided with research and secretarial staff to enhance their work. We shall provide parliamentary staff with further training to increase their skills and provide a more efficient service.

 

2.2.2 Judiciary

 

Central to our agenda of rapidly transforming Ghanaian society is the independence of the judiciary. The judiciary will continue to enjoy the support needed to ensure its independence. Legal training institutions will be expanded to ensure adequate supply of qualified legal personnel. The incentive structure of the service will be reviewed to maintain and enhance the profile and status of the Bench. New court buildings will be constructed in each district to ensure that each citizen has easy and ready access to the justice system, thereby strengthening the rule of law.

 

2.2.3 Fighting Corruption

 

Corruption constitutes a social canker and must be dealt with. The NPP believes that corruption is not combated with mere slogans but by comprehensive policy measures and action. By December 2000, the NDC had given up on the fight against corruption. The President at that time told Parliament that "government on its part has extended an invitation to the World Bank to conduct a diagnostic study on corruption in Ghana and how it can be mitigated if not eradicated" (Hansard 13th January 2000, Col. 112).

 

The NPP government has fought corruption with policies including:

 

• stimulation of transparency and freedom to write about actions of officials following the

 

    repeal of the Criminal libel Law

 

• enhancement of the Procurement Act to check abuse in public procurement

 

• maintenance of probity and elimination of payroll abuse through the Financial Administration Act and Internal Audit Act • unprecedented empowerment of the anti-corruption agencies, CHRAJ, Police, Serious Fraud Office (SFO), courts will continue further

 

• the NPP's e-governance programme, by which the entire governmental machinery and public service will have a new lease of transparency. Customs, Registrar-General's, Tolls, Taxation, procurement activities and others will become transparent and efficient.

 

As further measures, we will:

 

• institute the necessary systems that will make early detection possible and more certain

 

• make the cost and punishment of corruption excessive to serve as effective deterrence

 

• review existing laws on corruption with a view to strengthening them further

 

• pass the Freedom of Information Act.

 

We need to do more, and we will. We will enhance and streamline various administrative procedures and processes and remove the opportunities that make it possible to squeeze bribes out of our citizens.

 

2.3 DECENTRALISATION 2.3.1 Our Aim

 

• We believe in decentralisation. Effective decentralisation is vital for good governance. It deepens democracy through greater grassroots participation. It makes for better planning and improves service delivery on account of proximity to the people. The NPP government has promoted decentralisation and we will continue to deepen and expand its parameters. To achieve this, we shall vigorously pursue the National Decentralisation Action Plan. More districts will be created with the eventual objective of making each of the 230 constituencies a district on its own. A mechanism will be put in place to examine the creation of more regions.

 

• Our strategy will fully embrace political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation. Furthermore, we have identified the weak links in the implementation of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly (MMDA) decentralisation programme. These will be addressed so that the decentralised authorities can fulfill the democratic governance and socio-economic development roles assigned to them.

 

Strategies

 

2.3.2 Political Decentralisation

 

Our next government will:

 

• review the administration of the District Assemblies with the ultimate goal of electing all the members of the Assembly as well as District/Municipal and Metropolitan Chief Executives. This gradualistic approach is to ensure that central government's overall development plans and those of the District Assemblies move in tandem

 

• promote a national debate on carrying out political party-based elections at the district level. This will certainly strengthen our political parties at the District levels and nurture grassroots democracy

 

• involve chiefs in local administration. We shall engage in dialogue with chiefs and people in this regard. As a first step we will consider the re-introduction of the Town Development Committees with the active participation of chiefs

 

• improve allowances paid to assembly members as an incentive to strengthen grassroots institutions whilst streamlining their membership

 

• manage markets under Public Private Partnership arrangement with Chiefs and Traditional Authorities as shareholders.

 

2.3.3 Administrative Decentralisation:

 

The new NPP administration will:

 

• pursue vigorously the transfer of control over the management of human resources, (performance assessment, career development, and others) to the local authority

 

• ensure that public servants in MMDAs are accountable to that authority and not to central government in Accra

 

• complete the process of integrating 30,000 national civil servants into decentralised departments following the enactment of the Local Government Service Act.

 

2.3.4 Fiscal Decentralisation

 

The new NPP administration will:

 

• ensure that planning, budgeting and financial management of decentralised entities are the primary responsibility of the MMDA. Timely and proportionate transfers of funds from the centre will be our watchword

 

• recognise further that fiscal decentralisation comes with many important challenges. These include an enormously increased need for effective management (revenue, expenditure and payroll management) and the availability of trained and experienced managers. We will continue to improve on the progress made in this respect

 

• increase the District Assembly Common Fund from the current 7.5% to 10% of total revenues collected by central government.

 

2.3.5 Managing and Speeding Up the Implementation Process

 

• District Assemblies will be redirected to address economic development more effectively through Special Assembly Development programmes. We shall promote small-scale agro-processing industries, agricultural development and rural financial services through Public-Private-Partnership programmes.

 

• The District Assembly Social Empowerment Programme will encompass disability, HIV/AIDS, gender and children issues. We aim at releasing the capabilities of the vulnerable towards national development.

 

• Our special programme will facilitate health planning, service provision, education including model and special school feeding programme and water and sanitation.

 

2.3.6 Manpower

 

We will exploit all opportunities to training the right calibre manpower required to make the decentralised structures perform. We have unfortunately graduate unemployment in the country. Appropriate management training, in collaboration with our professional Associations and Institutes (e.g. Ghana Institute of Accountants and the Ghana Institution of Surveyors), and a revamped and strengthened Local Government Training Institute, will prepare and make use of such graduates to serve in the decentralised structures.

 

2.3.7 Grassroots Involvement – Area, town and zonal councils and unit committees

 

Effective decentralisation also requires recognition that grassroots input is critical for success. Most of the first tier in the decentralisation structure (the area, town and zonal councils and unit committees) are yet to function fully. We shall give priority to funding and supplying local government personnel to assist in building up these local institutions. To enhance the efficiency of the unit committees we shall substantially reduce their numbers from the current 16,000 to a more manageable number.

 

2.3.8. Environment

 

We are committed to the protection of our environment against degradation of all forms. The entire environment including air, water, foliage as well as the varied impact of living organisms will be managed to avoid pollution and contamination of all forms.

 

The next NPP administration will intensify the fight for environmental preservation on the continent of Africa. In line with the objective of the Kyoto Agreement we commit ourselves to achieving the set target of cutting carbon emissions by at least fifty (50) percent by 2050. We shall benefit from available global funds accordingly. Ghana will continue to pursue climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies. We will work towards improvement of environmental sanitation through education and enforcement of bye-laws of the Assemblies. Greater attention would be given to environmental sanitation and hygiene in the basic school curriculum. The Government will promote recycling of refuse through the use of incentive packages.

 

2.3.9 District Land Development Authority (DLDA)

 

DLDAs will be established in all districts to rationalise land occupation and development. The functions of DLDAs will include the following:

 

• engineer the orderly development of our rural areas as the core strategy for growth, poverty reduction and wealth creation

 

• operate as special purpose vehicles for channelling public funds to support local private sector implementing bodies rather than to be directly engaged in opening lands and settling people

 

• provide hands-on management and venture capital funding to Farmer-Based Organisations (FBOs) and private companies operating in rural areas

 

• plan and co-ordinate development of land to ensure that economic and social development go hand in hand.

 

2.3.10 Northern Development Authority -

 

A Tool for Savannah Transformation.

 

Development of the northern sector of the country will be a central point to our decentralisation programme.

 

Northern Mechanisation of Agriculture.

 

• The next NPP government will expand the two rehabilitated irrigation projects at Tono in the Upper-East region and Bontanga in the Northern region. They will be equipped with modern irrigation facilities to ensure maximum benefits to farmers.

 

• Government will identify viable waterways in the three regions for potential irrigation projects.

 

• In line with the NPP's Agricultural Mechanisation policy, three additional major irrigation projects will be embarked on during the first four years of the government. The eastern corridor of the Northern region will benefit from these projects.

 

• The Upper West region will for the first time be afforded an irrigation project to ameliorate the acute food insecurity in the region.

 

• An additional irrigation project will be added to the Tono irrigation facility in the Upper East region. All five irrigation facilities in the three northern regions shall be provided with cutting-edged modern farm equipment to maximise the use of the irrigated farmlands.

 

• We shall implement massive small-scale irrigation schemes on the Burkina Faso model to benefit hundreds of thousands of farm families in the first two years of the incoming NPP government.

 

Northern Private Entrepreneurship in Agriculture:

 

• The NPP Government will support financial institutions that extend agro-business credit facilities to commercial food farmers in the three northern regions.

 

• Government will work with our development partners to ensure the availability and affordability of modern farm equipment necessary for large-scale farming in the regions.

 

• Government will also facilitate joint venture partnership arrangements between local commercial food producers and potential foreign investors in food production.

 

Northern Food Marketing and Storage

 

• An NPP Government will minimise post-harvest food loss in the three northern regions by constructing two warehouse silos in each region. The silos will be constructed at or near major food market centres in the regions.

 

• Feeder roads linking major food producing areas to the market centres will be upgraded to first-class roads to facilitate transport of food to the silos for storage.

 

• The private sector will be fully supported by government to modernise food storage and marketing in the country.

 

Northern Industrialisation

 

• The absence of industries in the three northern regions is undoubtedly a major factor in the unprecedented drift of the youth to our southern cities. The next NPP administration will instantly establish two agro-processing industries and one manufacturing/assembly plant to provide sustainable jobs for the unemployed youth of the three regions.

 

Northern Affirmative Action (NAA) Bill

 

• Within the first 100 days in office, an NPP administration will submit to Parliament the Northern Affirmative Action (NAA) bill for legislation. The bill will demonstrate the NPP's recognition of the underdevelopment of the three northern regions and the urgent need for a national programme to bridge the widening development gap between the country's north and south.

 

2.3.11 Millennium Development Authority (MiDA)

 

Alongside the 23 designated districts for agricultural development by MDA, the NPP administration will initially adopt, on a pilot basis, an additional 10 Districts for development. The success of the programme will be reviewed after two years and extended to other parts of the country accordingly.

 

2.3.12 Chieftaincy

 

The NPP supports and will continue to comply with the constitutional provision guaranteeing the existence of chieftaincy institutions. We shall avoid political interference in chieftaincy affairs and actively co-operate with chiefs for local development. Our government will:

 

• ensure that chieftaincy affairs and related conflicts are kept out of party politics and governmental action. The legal jurisdiction of the Houses of Chiefs culminating in the authority of the National House of Chiefs will be protected at all times. The newly enacted Chieftaincy Act (Act 759 of 2008) will be implemented

 

• endeavour to provide the appropriate logistical and other relevant facilities to promote the proper functioning of chieftaincy authority

 

• further recognise the indispensable role of chiefs in local government and as the symbols of traditional authority. Hence our Party will support our chiefs and make it possible for them to provide the leadership and focus for local and district development. In this regard, we shall ensure the enhancement and regular and prompt release of royalties and other funds due to Chiefs. We shall encourage the system of codifying traditional laws and culture to promote order in the institution. The NPP will give due deference to Chiefs as embodiment of the history and traditions of our people.

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 4

 

2.4 LAW AND ORDER

 

The security agencies protect us against external and internal incursions and will receive pride of place.

 

2.4.1 Vision

 

There is a deep and profound yearning for a greater sense of personal and public safety, and security among Ghanaians and for freedom from the devastating effects of the worldwide drug menace. Our ability to enjoy the fruits of our nascent democracy and its benefits entirely depend upon our ability to protect it from within and from without. The goal of our national security policy must be the preservation of our independence and sovereignty, territorial integrity, constitutional order and public safety.

 

Security and democracy are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, security guarantees the room for debate and dissent so that differences of opinions are not also risks to one's personal security. However, a clear line must be drawn between the right to disagree and criminal conduct. Only when the state rigorously punishes crime and combats impunity will the political space for criticism be fully guaranteed.

 

Security must not be regarded primarily as the security of state, or as the security of citizens without the assistance of the state. Rather, it is the protection of the citizens and democracy by the state with the active solidarity and cooperation of the whole society. Our security posture under a new NPP government must:

 

• protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of gender, tribe, ethnicity, language, religious or political beliefs. All citizens are equal before the law

 

• protect democratic values, plurality and institutions

 

• seek the solidarity and cooperation of all citizens in defence of democratic values. It is the role of the state to uphold the rights of its citizens and to provide the institutional mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. However, the proper functioning of institutions also requires the active participation, solidarity and commitment of every citizen. The next NPP Government will continue to promote and protect fundamental human rights and secure the freedom and safety of communities across the country by increasing resources and logistics both to fight and to prosecute crime.

 

Future measures – Our Pledge

 

2.4.2 Military

 

The NPP appreciates the crucial role the military continues to play in the socio-economic development of the country. We will therefore provide the Armed Forces with the capacity to engage even more fruitfully in the country's developmental efforts in addition to its traditional role of defending the territorial integrity of the country. The discovery of crude oil, the continued illegal fishing and drug trafficking in our territorial waters provide new and substantial challenges to our Military.

 

Specifically, the on-going efforts to strengthen and modernise the Ghana Armed Forces will continue. We will continue to provide attractive remunerative packages to soldiers and civilian employees. We will continue to provide the three services with adequate and modern equipment to enable them:

 

• meet their peace keeping obligation

 

• provide humanitarian services in the areas of medicine, including medical evacuation, and to participate in disaster relief operation

 

• complement the national effort in areas such as road construction and bailey bridging.

 

2.4.3 Police

 

Our policemen and women form the front line in the battle against crime and disorder. Their work must be supported by a faster, more effective and efficient criminal justice system. Thus the strengthening of the police force will be a key platform of the Akufo-Addo Presidency. We will also promote a shift to crime prevention rather than detection and prosecution by placing new emphasis on intelligence-led policing with a view to disrupt, disable, deter and de-motivate the perpetrators of organised crime.

 

We will take these further measures to improve the Police service:

 

• double the number of policemen and women from 25,000 to 50,000 in four years

 

• transform the face of policing in Ghana and ensure the highest standards with better training, better resources and better salaries

 

• provide sufficient modern communication and policing equipment

 

• invigorate Highway Patrols to combat highway robberies, reduce motor accidents on highways and roads, check indiscipline on roads, arrest offenders and ensure public safety

 

• create well-equipped Crime Intelligence Units, at all levels of the police service, and extend training to all police officers in intelligence gathering, analysis and surveillance

 

• provide bullet-proof vests to offer better protection to Police officers in crime combat operations

 

• encourage security awareness of communities through neighbourhood watch schemes, proactive education of the public in crime prevention and public order

 

• recruit a further 7,000 youth into the Community Police scheme over two years

 

• develop a comprehensive policy to tackle cyber-crime

 

• improve community policing through increased co-operation between the Community Police Scheme, the Ghana Police Service and their respective communities.

 

2.4.4 Criminal Justice System

 

True security hinges not only on the capacity of security forces to exercise the coercive powers of the state, but also of the Judiciary to guarantee the effective administration of justice. An effective police force must therefore be complemented by a fair, efficient and speedy criminal justice system to ensure that victims' grievances are addressed in a timely manner, our streets are free of criminals and our youth are deterred from pursuing crime as a career option. Our criminal justice system will be reformed to serve our society better by:

 

• a comprehensive review of sentencing guidelines to impose stiffer prison sentences for serious offenders, such as drug traffickers, rapists, child molesters and armed robbers

 

• implementing comprehensive gun control measures

 

• fast-tracking trials for serious crimes such as rape, armed robbery and drug offences

 

• focusing on the victims of crime and increasing victim involvement in the criminal justice process with reparation and counselling for victims where appropriate

 

• introducing community services, probation, and suspended sentences as an alternative to custodial sentences for some petty and first time offenders

 

• maintaining a national register on paedophiles and serious offenders to track their movements and protect our children

 

• enhancing the capacity of the Prisons Service to fulfil its mandate and meet the educational and vocational needs of prisoners.

 

2.4.5 Access to Justice will be enhanced by:

 

• improving access for women, the poor and vulnerable in society, through the increased use of court-related alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms, and the modernisation of customary arbitration, mediation and conciliation practices by our traditional authorities

 

• expanding automation of the courts throughout the country

 

• increasing resources for court houses to be built in every District

 

• increasing support to Judicial Complaints Unit and Judicial Training Institutes.

 

2.4.6 Narcotics and Organised Crime

 

The NPP believes that a robust and comprehensive drug control policy can curb the supply and abuse of drugs and block trafficking through our shores to consuming nations. Crucial to our fight against drug trafficking and abuse is the development and implementation of programmes that prevent illicit drug use, offer no refuge for drug pushers in our neighbourhoods and provide a safe and secure environment for every Ghanaian in every corner of our land. We do so by implementing comprehensive preventive measures to protect our children from a life of crime.

 

The next NPP Government will fight the scourge of drugs by:

 

• creating a Cabinet level Chief Anti-Drug Enforcement Officer to lead the fight against drugs

 

• re-designating the Narcotics Control Board as an Agency and adequately resourcing it

 

• passing stiffer prison sentences for public officials convicted of narcotic offences

 

• strengthening cooperation and coordination across borders in West Africa

 

• proactively exploring the creation of joint ECOWAS coastguard unit to police our common waters

 

• increasing penalties for drug-related offences, including a maximum of life imprisonment for the supply or possession of hard drugs with intent to supply

 

• reviewing the classification of narcotic drugs to ensure appropriate sentencing policies

 

• implementing youth-oriented education campaign in both schools and the mass media aimed at increasing awareness of the harm of drug use

 

• establishing programmes to address problems of youth alienation and despondency in order to decrease drug abuse.

 

2.4.7 Governance of Security Services

 

The new NPP administration will continue the process of maintaining and deepening further, civilian control over the security services as a necessary condition for the protection of our democracy. We will also seek local residents' involvement in the governance of the security structures and apparatus, through decentralisation in the civilian control of the law enforcement and oversight mechanisms.

 

2.4.8 Personnel Issues

 

To ensure an improved functioning and a more effective security sector requires a system based strictly on merit. Security personnel will be evaluated on clear measurable targets to guide the hiring, firing, promotion and demotion.

 

2.4.9 Data collection

 

Data is key to law enforcement, hence our e-governance effort. For the future, there will be formal registration of hoteliers, drinking and chop bars, goldsmiths, car dealers, blacksmiths and other artisans. The ownership and employment details of sole proprietors, partnerships and corporations will be made available to law enforcement authorities in local as well as district, regional and national offices. Using biometric data of all those involved in businesses related to the manufacture of arms, law enforcement authorities will be one step closer to criminal elements that use guns and other arms to terrorise and invade people's homes and lives.

 

2.4.10 Private security companies

 

Our government has encouraged private companies to contribute to maintaining law and order. This has resulted in a sharp rise in the number of private security companies. We shall carry out measures to improve the quality of the services they provide by standardising their hiring, training practices and closely monitoring their activities.

 

2.5 THE MEDIA, FRIENDS OF GHANA AND CIVIL SOCIETY

 

2.5.1 The Media

 

The NPP holds the freedom of the media as a fundamental article of faith. We believe an unfettered media has a significant and responsible role to play in promoting accountability and public education. The watchdog role of the media is invaluable in safeguarding our civic and human rights, in exposing all manner of abuses when they occur and in setting and promoting the nation's political and socio-economic agenda for national development. It is these fundamental beliefs that informed our action to abolish the infamous Criminal Libel law on assuming office in 2001. This has led to the Ghanaian media being among the freest in Africa, if not the world. This has enhanced, immeasurably, the process of accountability in our state and thereby the quality of our governance. The government for its part expects the media to be guided by its highest ethical and professional standards in their conduct, and the exercise of good judgement and circumspection in the process of disseminating information.

 

2.5.2 Government-Donor Partnership

 

The NPP government recognises the important financial and logistical contributions by Ghana's development partners in the country's democratic transition and consolidation processes, and its national development. An NPP administration under Nana Akufo Addo will build on the cordial bilateral relations and support that existed between Ghana's friends and the Kufuor government. We assure our foreign friends of our continued commitment to the ideals of democracy, human rights, fair distribution of the nation's wealth and implementation of sustainable economic policies.

 

2.5.3 Government Civil Society Relations

 

The NPP government recognises and commends the role of civil society organisations such as the print and electronic media, women's movements, religious groups, youth associations, students' movements and community cooperatives for the important role they play in our democracy and national development. Civic groups are an important force in the contemporary globalised world, so it is necessary that governments partner with them. We also recognise the important contribution of civic organisations in the promotion and strengthening of citizens' basic rights and public empowerment in Ghana through advocacy and negotiations, because these activities help refine government policies, projects and programmes. The NPP government recognises the role of these groups in the development of democracy and human rights and will continue to work with them to address issues that promote the public interest.

 

2.6 RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CITIZEN

 

2.6.1 Change and adaptation

 

The successful transformation of Ghana requires mutual engagement between Government and society at large. As Government takes active responsibility and initiatives to transform Ghana, society will have to respond by changing attitudes to capitalise on the new opportunities. A paradigm shift in the attitude of Ghanaians is necessary to match the efforts of government in moving the country forward.

 

2.6.2 Beliefs and Values

 

We have reached the threshold where there is the need to take steps to maintain the best features of our society and culture including the cherished institution of chieftaincy, responsibility for kinsfolk and love for family. However, we cannot deny the fact that the global world, driven by new technology, demands changes in our beliefs and cultural values. We therefore need to abandon our inherent posture of "progress without change". This mental attitude has a certain comfortable attraction to it. The idea is that we in Ghana can adopt many of the trappings of the developed world, and in a sense modernise, but not really change, thus preserving our uniqueness and remaining somewhat separate and distinct.

 

This idea grows out of a very basic human fear of change. Change can take away the familiar and challenge us to re-examine the way we conduct ourselves, both as members of our respective communities and as citizens of Ghana. Without real change, there can be no progress. We do not advocate wholesale change or change simply for the sake of it – that is of little value. The real value is in the change that will strengthen us and make us more competitive so that we can overcome the challenges we face. These changes can be embraced in a way that preserves our core values and traditions. We, however, need to come to grips with the underlying challenges and at the same time make maximum use of the advantages we have.

 

2.6.3 Initiatives

 

A number of steps will be taken in this regard:

 

• we will apply the instrument of the law and public education to eradicate those aspects of our culture that stand in the way of progress

 

• we will integrate modern science and technology into Ghanaian culture through the educational system, drama and entertainment. Indeed, the whole process of acculturation of the Ghanaian child must be geared in this new direction from home, the community, schools, churches and other avenues. Radio, television, the internet and Community Information Centres will be used in this connection

 

• we will discourage lateness to work and reward punctuality

 

• we will rigidly enforce planning laws to avoid illegal structures which affect rural and urban planning and progress

 

• we will enforce all the hygiene laws and regulation, including covering food for sale in appropriate containers.

 

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 5

 

STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION OF THE ECONOMY

 

3.1 THE ECONOMY

 

Creating Wealth and Prosperity for all Ghanaians Since independence, the structure of the Ghanaian economy has depended largely on the export of cocoa, gold and timber. In the absence of a structural transformation, Ghana's growth will continue to depend upon a narrow set of low-value agricultural commodities and other natural resources, and be held hostage to the volatilities of the world market place. Declines in world prices for commodities will continue to affect significantly both public and private expenditures, and individual incomes eventually. Economic history teaches us that no nation can develop and raise the living standards of its people primarily through the export of raw agricultural commodities. The development experience of the Asian countries suggests that pursuing structural transformation in a consistent manner with a development plan pays off in the long run. The lead role of the state in this pursuit cannot be gainsaid.

 

Structural transformation represents an increasing ability of an economy and society to respond efficiently and effectively to changing and growing pressures for enhanced welfare among its citizens. Every major economy that has substantially improved real incomes of its citizens has done so through the structural transformation of its economy. For the Ghanaian economy, this means deriving increasing proportions of output and employment from sectors other than agriculture and the export of low-value commodities. It will involve the net transfer of surplus resources from agriculture to other sectors of the economy over the medium and long-run. It will involve the shift from informal to formal arrangements in the organisation of economic activity.

 

To do this requires the adoption of policies that support structural change, including institutional reforms that enhance the performance of markets. Ghana now stands on the threshold of such a fundamental transformation of its economy through industrialisation. This is made possible by the prudent management of our economy by the NPP government, which has put within our reach, an integrated aluminium industry, oil production and refining, and the related industries such as plastics, salt, cement production and several others.

 

We shall transform the nation's economy by:

 

• focusing on the production of value-added goods and services rather than on primary products

 

• pursuing a clear policy of Ghanaian economic empowerment that will encourage the accumulation and investment of Ghanaian capital, locally and from the Diaspora, and making more Ghanaians winners in the global economy

 

• investing a significant percentage of our GDP in research and development

 

• making the formal sector more attractive to the majority of local economic operators and agents who now operate in the informal sector.

 

3.1.1 Ghanaian Economic Empowerment

 

Building on the achievement of relative economic stability under the NPP, we are thus committed to lifting the Ghanaian economy as quickly as possible to First World status and a requisite per capita income which is substantially more than $600 as it is now. The NPP strongly believes that this paradigm shift is achievable using aggressive growth strategies and policies while maintaining macro-stability through prudent management of the economy. This will be the focus of an Akufo-Addo Presidency.

 

We will pursue a clear policy of Ghanaian Economic Empowerment that will encourage the accumulation and investment of Ghanaian capital. This will position the Ghanaian as the main driving force behind the Ghanaian economy. Policy orientation will be directed towards a liberal economy focusing on specific interventions, well resourced human capital and rapidly moving from a growth rate of 6.4% per annum to a minimum rate of 10% per annum. Economic empowerment of our indigenous businesses is therefore critical to our growth agenda.

 

This will be achieved through the following strategies:

 

• enabling and encouraging domestic savings through market-driven initiatives

 

• supporting indigenous companies to become competitive regionally and globally in strategic areas

 

• facilitating the setting up of a regional financial services centre in Ghana by redefining regulatory, tax and business laws in the enclave

 

• reconfiguring foreign content in all government business to the barest minimum

 

• radically improving financial management of government through information technology, transparency and accountability

 

• strengthening Ghana's capital markets by encouraging investments in domestic markets. This will allow for a more efficient avenue of capital formation and mobilisation of investments in the domestic economy

 

• reforming investment laws to enable Ghanaian participation at all levels

 

• re-defining agricultural policy with significant government support for private sector involvement

 

• strengthening public sector to market Ghana effectively as a viable investment destination

 

• re-engineering the Rural Enterprise Sector by effectively providing government incentives and support to the private sector

 

• pursuing the new educational reforms to provide the necessary academic background and skills that will meet the demands of the 21st century workplace

 

• setting up President's Economic Think Tank to boost policy making, implementation and analysis

 

• helping to strengthen the capital base of banks to support the economy in transition

 

• ensuring that Ghanaians benefit directly and indirectly from ancillary business in the oil sector.

 

3.1.2 Ancillary policy initiatives will include:

 

• strong reinforcement of business and financial education across board. This is critical in providing a new calibre of managers and workers for the transformation process

 

• privately managed National Trust Funds/Privatisation Trusts to absorb fully the remaining state-owned institutions. This can be transformed into a venture capital and private equity firm which will incubate and grow state-owned enterprises (SOEs) into IPO candidates

 

• facilitating and promoting branding and marketing of Ghana to the international world.

 

3.1.3 Public Finance/Fiscal Policy

 

The focus of fiscal policy will be to ensure that the budget is prudently managed in order to sustain the macroeconomic stability we have attained. The strategy will be to expand the tax net and not to increase the tax rates. In the case of manufacturing industries, corporate tax will be reduced from 25% to 15%. Government will strengthen the Procurement Act to improve further the transparency of procurement operations in order to reduce waste and make government expenditure more efficient and effective. Increases in employment and income will ensure shift in the composition of the tax revenue to tilt away from indirect to direct taxes. This will reduce the burden on the poor. We will continue to strengthen capacity in the Ministries, particularly the Ministry of Finance to improve tax and wage analysis.

 

Other key policies will be to:

 

• contain and reduce fiscal deficits and prevent them from being a source economic of instability and inflation

 

• improve domestic revenue mobilisation and make it the main source of financing domestic investment

 

• continue to restructure the administration of taxes to make it more efficient as far as the development goals and targets are concerned

 

• continue to ensure that only Parliament can grant exemptions. We will ensure that further tax reforms close all loopholes in order to reduce leakages. The computerisation of major activities of revenue collection from valuation through to raising of invoices and collection will continue. We will intensify programmes to cross-check invoices with overseas agencies in terms of checking over-and under-invoicing

 

• intensify and pursue policies to ensure all Government Agencies, Ministries, and Departments that collect fees for the State deposit their collections into the Consolidated Fund as required by law

 

• intensify ongoing efforts to review the working conditions of revenue collectors to provide them incentives and improve revenue collection.

 

3.1.4 Banking, Finance and Monetary Management

 

• In line with our regional and continental policy, our central objective is to lead the march towards the transformation of Ghana into the financial service centre of West Africa.

 

• To achieve this goal, we must re-order our priorities, rely more on our human resource base in Ghana and Ghanaians abroad.

 

At the macroeconomic level, inflation targeting will be continued coupled with a high prudence of monetary management. The inflation rate has to be reduced in order to achieve real exchange rate stability. The main objective of our monetary policy will continue to be price stability and the creation of an enabling environment for the private sector to flourish and promote accelerated growth and wealth creation.

 

The effort towards macroeconomic stability will be guided by the need to achieve the targets set by the West Africa Monetary Zone (WAMZ) convergence criteria. In the shortest possible time, the process will eventually lead to the five West African Countries (Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Sierra Leone) adopting a common currency, the ECO. The over-riding objective is to achieve regional (ECOWAS) and continental integration.

 

Growth in money supply will be consistent with growth in the real sector in order to keep inflation targets within a manageable range. This will ensure high levels of real wages and labour productivity, as well as effective public sector planning and private sector business management. We will work towards an efficient domestic banking system and domestic capital market which are vital pillars for the economy. We will also work for market discipline and efficient allocation and use of resources. We shall establish improved corporate governance, disclosure and accounting standards and transparency in the market place. We shall merge the Security Exchange Commission and the National Insurance Commission into a Financial Services Authority (FSA) with powers to renew banking license issued to banks and non-banking financial institutions.

 

Today the economy is growing under a relatively stable macroeconomic condition and it has proven relatively resilient to current extreme shocks. Hereafter, Ghana will be turned into a country providing services of all types to the ECOWAS countries. In the financial services sector the trends have already begun. The fastest growing sector in Ghana is the banking sector. There are 24 banks with a network of some 505 branches, 123 rural banks, and 14 savings and loans companies. These operate alongside an array of other financial institutions, insurance companies and other micro-credit institutions. We now have a reasonably diversified, dynamic and competitive financial services industry. This, we will build upon.

 

The International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is a key component in the financial sector development strategy. It establishes the framework to open the economy to cross-border capital flows and the global financial markets. We shall enhance the operations of offshore banking and continue to pursue the development of the non-bank financial sector progressively within the first two years of an incoming NPP administration.

 

Heads of States within the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) have agreed to work towards the monetary integration of WAMZ and ECOWAS. They have also agreed to locate the Central Bank in Accra. We shall carry out the full realisation of this objective.

 

3.1.5 Shifting from the Predominantly Cash Based Economy

 

The NPP administration will:

 

• continue to develop and implement the state-of-the-art payments and settlement infrastructure (including the Real Time Gross Settlement system, the Central Securities Depository system and others). Rural coverage of the common electronic and payments platform (e-zwich) shall be extended and it will be made compulsory for employees in the public sectors with monthly salaries automatically transferred onto the card

 

• encourage the establishment of more Credit Reference Bureaux

 

• complete the revision of our Bankruptcy Law and review our land-title legisaltion with the view to making the market-based exchange of title deeds easier for mortage-related lending

 

• the financing of infrastructure projects through the raising of Bonds tradeable on the Ghana Stock Exchange will be encouraged

 

• the Pension reform which allows participation by the private sector shall be continued and enhanced

 

• lending to Small and Medium sized Enterprises is the surest way the economy will grow and therefore banks through legislation or Central Bank's guidelines shall be encouraged to set aside a minimum percentage of their lending portfolio to SME's .

 

3.1.6 Other Financial Sector Initiatives

 

• One of the immediate challenges in developing our capital market is the need to secure the co-operation of the corporate sector. In particular, the parastatals who command significant amount of resources shall be re-engineered to shift from dependence on fiscal transfers and quasi-fiscal subsidies and become reliant on the capital market based on the strength of their balance sheets.

 

• Pension funds, insurance companies and social security shall be required by legislation or guidelines from the proposed FSA shall release an agreed percentage of their captive resources under their management to be channelled to provide depth and liquidity to the capital market.

 

3.1.7 Recapitalising the Banks

 

• The capitalisation programme will increase the ability of the banks to broaden the scope of intermediation and capacity to support a growing and diversified loan portfolio in the context of financial stability.

 

• The proposed capitalisation aims at building a financial sector underpinned by a modern and safe payments and settlements infrastructure to position the industry better to lead the growth process in the next fifty years.

 

3.1.8 Human Resource Capital and ICT

 

• What is required by banks really goes beyond just being able to attract deposits and therefore the hunt for talent and ICT is pretty crucial in meeting the expectation of all and sundry.

 

• To attract the Ghanaian financial/ICT specialist abroad, we shall set up Human Resource Bureau at the major financial hubs in Europe, North America, Asia and South Africa where their expertise could be tapped on regular and on project basis in return for National Award or naming specific Block in their Alma Mater.

 

• The Universities will be given the mandate to modernise specific Ministries, Departments or Agencies with either state-of-the-art technology or process change in our quest either to reduce reponse time by the Ministry or to improve productivity at the MDA's.

 

3.1.9 International Trade Policy

 

Over the past eight years, the NPP government's trade policy has focused on building international reserves and implementation of various Presidential Special Initiatives (PSIs) such as cassava starch, garments and textiles, oil palm and salt. The Government also focused on increased production of non-traditional exports, cushioning the economy against external shocks, and encouraging foreign direct investment to complement domestic savings and investment. There were numerous challenges on the external economy such as the recent rapid increases in the prices of crude oil, food and equipment. However, owing to the resilience of the economy and prudent fiscal and monetary policy management, inflation has not accelerated beyond bounds while the real exchange rate (against the three major currencies – US Dollar, British Pound and Euro) has remained fairly stable.

 

The new NPP government will intensify trade policy through increases in both traditional and non-traditional exports, while focusing mainly on the diversification of trade towards industrial products and financial services. The main programme will be a trade facilitation and international commercial diplomacy.

 

The main strategic direction of trade policy will be to:

 

• expand and diversify our exports

 

• intensify regional integration to support exporters to access more easily markets in ECOWAS and the rest of the world

 

• develop and adopt new technologies to enhance productivity, quality and packaging of exports and reduce cost of production

 

• fund and assist industries to gain a competitive edge in increasingly competitive world markets

 

• create conducive trade environment and promote export of manufactured (value-added) products.

 

3.1.10 Employment Programme

 

Available statistics suggest that unemployment is heavily concentrated in the 18-30 age group, the youth. Efforts have gone into the creation of jobs through the NYEP to reduce unemployment. In order to create more jobs, the real annual growth in the economy will be accelerated beyond the average of 6 percent to a minimum of 10 percent in the first term of the incoming NPP administration. In addition to that, jobs will be generated in agriculture, industry and the services sectors. We will intensify programmes for road construction and rehabilitation, urban renewal, sanitation and environmental protection and reclamation and for low cost housing and rural development to create additional new jobs.

 

Substantial new jobs will also be generated by the "New Pillar" large investments in steel, aluminium, cement, petrochemical and oil industries which the NPP government will construct jointly with both local and foreign capital. We expect all the activities mentioned above to generate vast new jobs to absorb the large numbers of unemployed youth, in particular.

 

These will be supplemented by the following strategies:

 

• intensification of training and re-training, incentive packages, vocational, technical and ICT education

 

• provision of incentives for self-employed which will support the informal sector including women and youthful entrepreneurs with financing

 

• the new NPP government will continue actively to seek out and encourage NGOs and charitable organisations which have expertise and experience in training and retraining and the financing of self-employment schemes

 

• we will ensure that agriculture is transformed to attract the youth and other interested individuals into agricultural servicing activities such as processing, handling and marketing

 

• we will energise labour-intensive construction activities. These will take the form of real estate, tourist accommodation, infrastructure and urban renewal projects such as drainage to counteract floods and epidemics, water extension projects, and the construction and maintenance of feeder roads.

 

The re-elected NPP government will review, intensify and consolidate the following projects that will create further jobs:

 

• National Youth Corps

 

• Greener Ghana Project

 

• Youth in Agric Business and District Assembly Wealth Creation programmes

 

• National Disaster Mobilisation Organisation

 

• Industrial Estates to facilitate youth transition to self-employment (in woodworking, kente weaving, tie and dye fabric production, mass production of dresses)

 

• Rural regeneration

 

• Protecting our coastline

 

• Protection against floods in the affected Regions.

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 6

 

3.2 AGRICULTURE

 

Feeding ourselves and feeding our industries

 

3.2.1 Our Vision

 

Our vision for agriculture is to modernise the sector. The purpose of modernisation is to make the sector more competitive both on the domestic and global markets through the application of innovative and appropriate modern technologies. Modernisation will go beyond production to encompass post-harvest activities such as storage, processing, packaging and distribution. Transformation in the agricultural sector will require corresponding changes in other sectors of the economy so as to absorb the surpluses generated from the agricultural sector in the form of excess labour, increased agricultural output as well as capital formed from savings.

 

3.2.2 Our Objectives

 

The NPP government in its third term in office will seek to achieve the following objectives for the agriculture sector:

 

• to deliver effectively extension services and inputs to farmers

 

• to increase incomes of farmers and improve living standards especially in rural areas

 

• to ensure food and raw materials security for our citizens and industry through the establishment of national strategic buffer stocks for major staples and crops

 

• to increase competitiveness and enhanced integration into domestic and international markets

 

• to increase productivity in agriculture through the application of modern technologies

 

• To improve post-harvest management and coordination by promoting improved storage infrastructure at the farm, community and urban market levels

 

• to improve road network and transportation facilities from farms to storage centres and markets

 

• to promote the forward and backward linkages between agriculture and industry through processing for value-addition

 

• to enhance land management and introduce sustainable environmental practices

 

• to increase funding for research and development of new products and markets

 

• to promote an inventory credit system with improved market information

 

• to expand the development and use of irrigation systems.

 

3.2.3 Food Crops Sub-Sector

 

We will engineer a 'green revolution' in the food crops sub-sector by making available to farmers improved agricultural inputs to ensure productivity gains and to link the sub-sector to processing industry to promote extensive agro-industrial programmes. Specific policies will include:

 

• encouraging commercial agro-processing industries, especially in rural Ghana to create massive rural employment

 

• working with and supporting private certified seed growers, at the district level, to make available improved seeds to small farmers and to promote their use by the small farmers. Government will also work with importers of agro-chemicals to ensure importation and distribution of acceptable chemicals to farmers at affordable prices. The emerging petro-chemical industry will make possible, the local production of agro-chemicals

 

• promoting the formation of FBOs by small farmers, training them to strengthen their capacity and to use them as entry points for the dissemination of improved technologies

 

• forming partnerships with Ghanaian and foreign strategic investors to develop large-scale integrated enterprises following the setting up land banks across the country for rapid agricultural development. Out-grower schemes of small-scale farmers will be developed to complement the activities of these plantations. With this commercial support base and new linkages to agro-processing industries, the problem of post-harvest losses and lack of marketing facilities for small scale farmers will become a thing of the past

 

• facilitating entry of educated youth into modern commercial farming by improving their access to land, capital and farming systems.

 

3.2.4 Rice and Maize Sub-Sectors

 

Ghana has the potential to meet its demand for rice and maize from domestic production with spare output for the export market. We intend to realise fully that potential. The rice and maize sub-sectors will be given special attention, in view of their potential to satisfy both domestic and export markets. The following policies, among others, will be pursued:

 

• adoption of improved species, irrigation, locally produced fertilisers and land tilling using animal traction

 

• provision of subsidies to rice farmers

 

• facilitate the establishment of large scale farms throughout Ghana

 

• working with the Ghana Rice Inter-professional Body (GRIB) to provide assistance in packaging and marketing strategies and to improve quality of locally produced rice.

 

• aggressive marketing of made-in-Ghana rice to Ghanaians

 

• using the power of government procurement to provide a ready market for locally produced rice

 

• ensuring greater link between animal production and maize/food production

 

• promote the growing of leguminous crops during fallow periods

 

• encouraging greater use of locally produced-based manure, fertilisers and pesticides

 

• providing modern, accessible agricultural commodity storage system.

 

3.2.5 Cocoa production and export

 

Our objective over the next four years is to exceed the million tonnes per annum mark in cocoa production. To achieve this target, we shall take the following measures:

 

• expand the mass spraying exercise of cocoa

 

• work with cocoa farmer representatives to review continuously producer prices

 

• promote alternative livelihoods in cocoa growing communities as a way to further boost incomes of cocoa families

 

• explore new markets for processed products

 

• encourage replanting of cocoa in the traditional cocoa growing areas with high yielding and disease-resistant plants. The resulting increase in output on the land currently under cocoa cultivation should lead to better use of scarce farming land as land is released for other use, thereby minimising deforestation and environmental degradation

 

• Introduction of a pension scheme for farmers and farm workers.

 

3.2.6 Promotion of Other Tree/Cash Crops

 

The new NPP administration will take measures to reduce the nation's over-reliance on cocoa. Other crops with potential, including cotton, cashew, mango and sheabutter are to be developed in the three Northern Regions as major export crops and as an integral part of the special Northern Development Programme. Cashew is also to be developed and promoted on a much larger scale in the Brong Ahafo and Ashanti regions. The strategy is to be used as an instrument for raising living standards in Ghana generally and the North in particular through the creation of more jobs, incomes, and foreign earnings. In addition to the cotton lint, which will feed the country's textile mills, increased seed cotton should yield additional vegetable oil for local consumption and export.

 

3.2.7 Livestock Sub-Sector

 

We shall promote cattle ranching, poultry farming and the production of small ruminants (sheep, goats and 'bush meat') by making available to livestock farmers disease-resistant and high-yielding stocks and promote the commercial production of feed for various types of animals at reasonable prices. In this regard, we aim to supply 200,000 improved sheep and goats to farmers to be used as breeding stock to improve their local breeds for increased productivity.

 

• The problems of small ruminants production are primarily housing and health. Government will mount special programmes to provide simple and affordable structures for the animals in the rural communities and support the Universities to train more Veterinary doctors and staff.

 

• Government will expand, train and equip Community Livestock Workers (CLWs) to provide basic animal health services.

 

• Government will enter into partnership with Ghanaian and foreign strategic investors to develop commercial livestock farms.

 

3.2.8 Fish Sub-Sector

 

We shall promote aquaculture by providing free improved fingerlings and credit lines for interested youth across the country. Other areas of intervention include fish pond development, promotion of markets, financial assistance to purchase fingerlings, review the imbalance created by fish imports and intensify surveillance on illegal poaching in our territorial waters by foreign fleet. Government will help Ghanaians to access funds to purchase modern boats. We will establish a fisheries institute to teach modern fishing methods to a new crop of fishermen.

 

3.2.9 The Way Forward

 

To address the advancement of agriculture within the framework of structural transformation, we will take the following measures:

 

Integrated Agriculture

 

• Government will apply an integrated approach to agricultural development. This will require the provision of basic infrastructure like potable water, electricity, road network and schools. Special incentives will be provided for investors to locate agricultural processing factories within the farming communities.

 

Agricultural Financing:

 

• The Agricultural Development Fund (ADF) introduced in the 2008 budget will be fully implemented.

 

• Government will institute an Agricultural Guarantee Scheme (AGS) to improve farmers' access to finance.

 

Agricultural Research

 

• Government will intensify its support to agricultural research institutes and to encourage them to work closely with farmer groups, industry and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. Biotechnology will be applied to improve animal breeds and multiplication of planting material including suckers.

 

Marketing Companies

 

• Special marketing companies, akin to the Ghana Cocoa Board but with strong private sector involvement, will be established and given all relevant support to promote a select and essential category of crops such as maize, rice, cotton, cashew and shea butter. These marketing companies will guarantee market and prices for identified produce.

 

Land Reforms

 

• The land tenure system will be reformed, in such a way as to allow land owners and traditional authorities to use land as equity contribution in enterprises such as farming, real estate, tourism and other commercial investments. This system will allow subsequent generations to benefit from the investment income from the land.

 

Sustainable Agriculture

 

• Adoption of progressive agricultural and forest conservation policies to check rapid deforestation and desertification under which Ghana's forest cover has dramatically reduced to about 11% from over 80% within a period of less than 80 years.

 

Information Sharing/Food Safety

 

• Improving the information delivery system for all those connected with the agriculture industry.

 

• Strengthening the Food and Drugs Board to ensure that health and sanitation standards are known and observed throughout the entire local food chain and share any such information.

 

Agricultural Mechanisation

 

• 3,000 pieces of power tillers, appropriate for small farmer operations, will be imported annually and sold to farmer organisations for the benefit of their members on soft terms. More tractors and other farming implements will be made available.

 

• Tractors, power tillers and other agricultural implements will be assembled and later produced locally.

 

• Government will encourage the establishment of 250 mechanisation centres across the country to provide mechanisation services to farmers at competitive prices.

 

Water for Agricultural Production

 

• Government will desilt perennial water bodies and build simple but reliable small-scale irrigation systems in rural communities. Traditional leaders will be engaged to discourage communities from farming along river banks.

 

• Government will promote and provide community-owned and managed small-scale irrigation facilities across the country. The aim is to expand irrigation coverage (both formal and informal) to about 300,000 hectares to help reduce production risk and boost production.

 

• By 2015, most Ghanaian farmers will have access to some form of irrigation facilities that allow them to do year round production.

 

3.2.10 Food Security

 

The NPP views the nation's food security as a matter of utmost importance underscoring the recent dramatic rise in global food prices. Ghana is seen as one of the few countries in the region that are self-sufficient in most of the major food staples. Our next administration will mount programmes to improve further food self-sufficiency and security by sustaining and increasing production and adding value. The country's main grains production and storage will also be enhanced.

 

3.2.11 Non-traditional exports

 

The horticulture sector will receive serious attention from the incoming administration. Market support services will be developed for the sector to enhance production and exports. Pack houses will be developed across the country to preserve the quality of agricultural non-traditional exports as well as other food crops, especially those produced up country. The possibility of using solar energy to run the pack houses will be explored.

 

3.3 INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Agenda for Ghana's Transformation

 

3.3.1 Vision

 

The NPP is the Party of private enterprise. We believe in making Ghana a major manufacturing nation with the Ghanaian at the centre of affairs.

 

3.3.2 State of Industry in 2001

 

The significant macroeconomic imbalances as at 2000 conspired with political hostility to private capital and investment to undermine attempts at re-investing in and reviving our technologically out-dated industrial establishment. Our urgent task,, upon assuming office in 2001, was to restore the macroeconomic imbalance and the right political environment as the necessary conditions for reviving the industrial sector.

 

The history of world economic development clearly demonstrates that the rapidly growing countries are those with large manufacturing sectors. History teaches us that we cannot continue to export raw materials, which occupy the lowest rungs on the value-addition chain, and hope to escape from poverty. The path to such an escape lies with industrialisation.

 

3.3.3 Our Objective

 

Our objectives must be the exploitation of our domestic natural resources, value addition through processing, establishing inter-sectoral links with other economic sectors, creating jobs, assimilating and promoting technological progress and the modernisation of our society. However, the current rate of average growth of 4 -6% in the manufacturing sub-sector is nowhere near the levels required to create the dynamics for our structural transformation. To effect a successful structural transformation, we need to set and sustain the following targets over the period 2009 – 2016:

 

• accelerate industrial growth from the current average of 6% to 12%

 

• increase industry's share of GDP from 25% to 50%

 

• increase the growth rate of the manufacturing sub-sector from 4% to 9%

 

• increase the share of manufacturing of industrial GDP from 36% to 60%. Given the size of our population and income level, our industrial policy must be outward looking and must be aligned with global opportunities. The NPP government will significantly increase investment in the basic infrastructure of the industrial sector as a way of removing institutional bottlenecks to private investment. We shall identify and promote key sub-sectors in manufacturing that offer the best opportunities for targeted investments. The industrial sector development strategy will have the following key elements:

 

• focus on the manufacture and export of value-added goods and services rather than primary products

 

• development of science and technology parks

 

• manufacturing for an expanding domestic and regional market

 

• pursuit of a clear policy of Ghanaian Economic Empowerment that will encourage the accumulation and investment of Ghanaian capital, locally and from the Diaspora and making more Ghanaians winners in the global economy • significant investment in Research and Development (R&D)

 

• making the formal sector more attractive to the majority of local economic operators.

 

3.3.4 New challenges and New Initiatives

 

The next NPP government will take the following measures:

 

• establish a US$1 billion Industrial Development Fund (IDF) to provide access to medium and long-term capital to support SME's

 

• support the review of the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) to make it easier to access the funds and to expand coverage by encouraging banks to lend more

 

• encourage lending institutions to lend a significant proportion of bank loan portfolios to SMEs. Through legislation, we shall assemble an array of support measures for small industries under an "SME's Charter" Bill

 

• increase access to loanable funds by adhering to ECOWAS convergence criteria on public sector borrowing

 

• increase savings mobilisation by accelerating pensions reform and encouraging more savings. We shall continue to address the following concerns regarding infrastructure by:

 

• completing the Land Administration Project to ensure security of land titles to investors and to separate usage from ownership

 

• developing new approaches to transport and communication infrastructure that will be geared towards increasing access roads, railway lines and ICT to industrial parks and communities

 

• reforming the energy and power sector so that we can count on sufficient, efficient and cost effective energy for industry

 

• establishing Business Clusters and Industrial Parks that will reduce the access cost to facilities and services through economies of scale.

 

We shall address indirect costs by:

 

• introducing the necessary changes, such as a local content requirement, in our public procurement laws and regulations that will commit all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have at least half of the goods and services they use provided by local organisations. This will make available to local manufacturers a large ready-made market that will drive productivity

 

• reducing the delays in payment to businesses for goods and services supplied to government by private businesses. Government will establish realistic turnaround time for payment to businesses and will be required to pay interest on outstanding balances 90 days after the accounts payable has been opened.

 

We shall reform the legal, administrative and regulatory environment by:

 

• completing the process of developing, passing and enforcing the Standards Bill

 

• implementing the Consumer Protection Policy

 

• completing the revision of the Companies Code to introduce international best practices to Ghana's business environment

 

• modernising the Investment Code and decentralising its administration.

 

We shall combat unfair trade practices by:

 

• enforcing administrative regulatory measures together with various measures to reduce smuggling

 

• using aggressive efforts consistent with applicable World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules to protect our industries against dumping and other unfair practices. Consistent with this belief, we shall work with industry to pass the Industrial Development and Competitiveness Bill developed by the business community

 

• strengthening the Standards Board and the Food and Drugs Board to protect the health and safety of consumers as well as shield local industries from unfair competition. For example, the lack-lustre enforcement of standards that permits dumping of sub-standard aluminium sheets onto our markets harms the public and weakens our industry

 

• strengthening the National Board of Small Scale Industry (NBSSI) to provide technical support to small businesses.

 

We shall reform the multiplicity of tax and tariff regimes to support industry by:

 

• working with the business community to introduce appropriate reforms to consolidate and reduce the tax burden on business. We shall establish a new Tariff Advisory Board as a vehicle for dialogue

 

• reviewing, on an urgent basis, the scope, effectiveness, attitude and culture of CEPS, in order to make its operations more effective, transparent and business-friendly

 

• giving incentives and support to manufacturing through the introduction, within 12 months of assuming office, of the necessary legislation to reduce corporate taxes from the current 25% to 15% for the manufacturing sector.

 

We will create a permanent "Business Roundtable" to provide a mechanism for regular consultations between the private business sector, and the President and relevant Ministers as an input to policy making.

 

3.3.5 Promoting Value-Addition

 

We shall add as much value as possible to our primary products by:

 

• the establishment of agro-based industries in each of the regions to make us self-sufficient, and help us add value to our agricultural products

 

• creating forward and backward linkages between agricultural products and industry. For example, cassava can be used as a raw material for the production of starch, sugar and industrial alcohol that are all used in other industries

 

• providing incentives for added investments in the extractive and timber industries.

 

3.3.6 Critical Industries

 

We will support the aluminium, salt and iron smelting industries which produce vital ingredients to many other industries by providing financial incentives, technical assistance as well as legal and regulatory reforms to:

 

• pursue vigorously the development of an integrated aluminium industry that will comprise an expanded VALCO with a capacity of 750,000 metric tonnes and an estimated investment of US$1.65 billion. It will also include a 3.5 million metric tonnes alumina refinery with an estimated investment of about US$4.5 billion. The Eastern Railway line will be refurbished with an estimated investment of US$500 million and the construction of a 1200 Megawatt Power Plant at the cost of US$1.2 billion. Total investment over the five year period of implementation is estimated at US$7.35 billion and will provide employment for over 10,000 people directly and more than 100,000 indirectly. This will make Ghana not only the centre piece of the aluminium industry in West Africa, but also, a legitimate rival of South Africa on our continent

 

• promote the establishment of an iron and steel industry using known ore deposits in the Western and Northern regions

 

• encourage new investments in limestone and cement production to support the use of local raw materials for housing and construction

 

• encourage investments in paper and pulp production

 

• boost the salt industry.

 

3.3.7 Energy/Oil Industry

 

Spurred on by the opportunities opened to us by the recent oil discoveries, the next NPP government will make the necessary investments to safeguard the interests of industry and the public at large by:

 

• ensuring adequate, reliable and affordable energy supply

 

• investments in other sources of energy against the day when the wells run dry

 

• ensuring that Ghanaian businesses are given priority in supplying the expected US$5 billion of goods and services that will be required by the oil companies over the next three years. • Our mineral exploitation will be broadened. Ghana has abundant deposits of industrial minerals which are vital to the economy. Industrial minerals such as limestone, salt, silica sand, clay, kaolin, chalk/lime and granite provide essential raw materials and chemical feedstock for related manufacturing, construction and agriculture. Together with the Geological Services Department and Minerals Commission, we shall encourage the processing of these minerals to add value to our manufacturing sector. We shall target in the short run a minimum of 20% of gold mined for local refining.

 

• We shall process our minerals by value-addition and systematically, reduce the export of mineral ore in all its forms.

 

• Government and stakeholders in the industry shall work together to address the concerns of mining communities including the management of social and environmental impact of mining.

 

• Every mining town shall benefit from modern infrastructure development models and programmes comparable with mining towns in the developed world. The models shall be prepared by the rejuvenated Town and Country Planning Departments and the Ministry of Local Government.

 

• We shall promote the use of rocks and mining tailings as aggregates, base or sub-base material for the construction of houses and roads.

 

• The incidence of paying cash compensations to affected communities in mining towns shall be minimised in favour of social community improvement measures. The Mining Development Fund law shall be implemented to contribute to the development of mining areas. The salt needs of the emerging petro-chemical industry upon oil discovery will be met by our new initiative.

 

3.3.9 Construction Industry

 

The construction industry is crucial to this stage of our national development. We intend to encourage actively Ghanaian contractors to expand their participation in the emerging construction boom, particularly, at the higher end. This may require that we mandate the partnering of foreign contactors who engage in major public construction contacts with qualified Ghanaian contractors. The industry is currently bedevilled by many operational problems such as the poor classification of contractors, poor quality of work, delays in projects, major cost overruns, inadequate pre-financing arrangements and delays in payment for work done. There is also a serious lack of innovation in the industry, particularly with respect to the development and use of local materials in the construction industry. In its present state, the industry relies almost exclusively on imported materials, which makes the cost of construction projects prohibitive, even for government. The impending developmental needs of the economy demand urgent solutions to the problems of the industry.

 

Developing the industry shall be done by improving the system of classification of contractors, putting in place effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to measure the performance of contractors, passing legislation to establish a body that will regulate the sector and merge and classify contractors in Civil Engineering, Building and Road Works. This body, the Construction Industry Development Authority (CIDA), shall attain the anticipated objectives through a number of measures including the:

 

• maintenance of a database of every contractor and public construction activity in Ghana relating to quality of work, timeliness of completion, equipment, personnel and financial capacity

 

• documenting, investigating, analysing and regulating the classification of contractors.

 

• working with Government and the private sector to establish plant and equipment hiring facilities

 

• overseeing activities of consultants

 

• setting standards for the construction industry

 

• encouraging research institutions regularly to update standards. A major shift in emphasis in the construction industry will be the aggressive promotion in the use of local materials, such as brick, clay and laterite. This will mean accepting the challenges of developing these locally available resources to acceptable construction standards. The government, in collaboration with research organisations such as the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), will make such a development a national priority. Ghana has large deposits of limestone located in Nzema, Krobo and Buipe for the development of a local cement industry. The government will spare no efforts to ensure the exploitation and development of these resources for the benefit of the industry and Ghana.

 

District specialisation of industry

 

Technology will be applied to promote District Specialisation in Industry through District Industrial Centres, centres for vehicle repairs and the manufacture of cotton and jute products.

 

New Business and Financial Centres

 

The NPP Government shall set up a Commission to select sites for new business and financial centres. We shall plan and design the new sites within the first term in power. They shall be centres of finance and business power, commerce and the arts, world class centres whose economy will operate for 24 hours, where the lights do not blink, and the water taps never cease. The Business and Financial centres will become townships with complete wireless broadband network, adding to the growing list of such cities in the world. Our new finance and business powerhouses shall have an efficient public transport system. They shall make the best use of tropical landscape, with high-rise buildings made of Ghana's steel, aluminium and glass panels adorning its skyline.

 

Financing our industrialisation programme

 

Government will utilise funds to achieve the industrialisation agenda through savings and pensions, remittances, offshore banking, corporate support, microcredit and government bonds, public credit system, sovereign wealth funds, equity shareholding especially from land, stocks and capital notes, ODI and FDI and other financial instruments that may be available. The Infrastructure Development Bank (a PPP institution) shall mobilise and manage these funds on behalf of the State to finance the programme. The Bank shall provide the requisite structure for the institutional investors in our economy to channel funds to priority areas of the economy. The target is US$100 billion over 12 years, and every available instrument will be used to mobilise this amount. Notably, our e-governance Programme which is computerising our entire revenue generation collection system will yield higher income for development.

 

Skills to build Ghana's Future (SBGF) Ghana shall build its skill manpower to accommodate demands from the infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial sectors. Work is the only way out of poverty and increased access to work though skills training will be essential for improving the construction and productive capacity of corporate Ghana.

 

A Skills to Build Ghana's Future programme to be launched by the President shall be designed to build national awareness of the importance of skilled workers to building the nation's economy and send the message that careers in the skilled trades will be plentiful, lucrative and fulfilling. The programme will:

 

• require and enable every skilled person to belong to a business association

 

• ensure that every person is classified according to qualification and experience

 

• provide refresher courses and continuing education

 

• cater specifically for skilled occupations such as electricians, carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers, masons, tilers and other artisans.

 

3.3.10 Investments in Manpower for Industries

 

Ghanaians will drive the manufacturing development that we seek for the benefit of Ghanaians. We shall ensure that Ghanaians have the skills to participate by:

 

• investing in educational institutions at all levels to support the training of tradesmen, technicians, agricultural extension workers, engineers, scientists and accountants

 

• encouraging with incentives and resettlement assistance, where necessary, Ghanaians in the diaspora to return with their skills and resources to consult, attach, work and invest here at home

 

• providing grants for life-long learning to help workers upgrade and acquire new skills

 

• incorporation of local-content provision clauses into our agreements to give more opportunities to local entrepreneurs.

 

3.3.11 Science and Technology Parks

 

We shall develop Science and Technology Research Parks in partnership with our Universities and research institutes to link industry with research. These will be characterised by:

 

• designated land near Universities and other tertiary institutions and research institutes with appropriate facilities

 

• encouragement of attachments, internships and training for students and young business recruits

 

• the linking of industrial parks to specific research parks and Universities

 

• developing Suame Magazine and other incubator centres like Kokompe, La, Somanya, Krobo Odumasi and other private initiatives accordingly.

 

3.3.12 Full Engagement with ECOWAS and Africa in Continental Integration to Promote Trade

 

We shall intensify and accelerate our engagement with other nations in the region and on the continent to create and expand markets.

 

NPP Manifesto Chapter 7

3.4 ICT

Our objective is to use information, knowledge and technology as a platform for rapid economic growth. Recent developments in the ICT industry provide an opportunity for Ghana to lead West Africa in bridging the digital divide. Our policy will focus on the total overhaul and enhancement of our ICT infrastructure through regulation and by providing incentives to attract investment in the various components of the sector. We will ensure the creation of a transparent, dynamic and equitable regulatory regime and enhance fair and efficient enforcement of regulations. We shall develop the other segments necessary for the sector including the legal, financial, human and physical infrastructure. With the successful completion of the e-governance project, many activities such as tax returns and company registration will be available for execution online. We shall set up an ICT-specific fund to assist entrepreneurs in the sector. We shall also review taxes on import of computer parts to encourage local assembly. ICT as a subject shall be strongly emphasised in the curricula of basic education.

3.5 TOURISM

Attracting the World to Beautiful Ghana

3.5.1 Vision

The NPP's tourism policy is targeted at realising the sector's full potential to contribute to wealth creation, environmental conservation and to realise real tourism GDP growth rate of 20% by year 2015. By 2015, tourism will be expected to generate in excess of 100,000 jobs per year.

Strategies

These are the major action points for Ghana's tourism development, in partnership with the private sector, for the next 8 years under the NPP:

• the decentralisation and promotion of tourism will be accelerated

• we shall expand the domestic air transport system to extend the growth of tourism to all parts of the country. To ensure the availability of clean and efficient accommodation at all tourism sites, a minimum of one hotel/guest house per district policy will be pursued

• we will develop ecotourism as the key to conserving the nation's natural resources

• we shall also promote other forms of tourism such as conference, sports, health and educational tourism

• we shall establish a Tourism Fund as a revolving facility with longer repayment periods

• human Resource Development will be enhanced to improve professionalism in the sector by setting up hospitality schools in various parts of the country

• the Ghana Tourist Board will be resourced to be the central source of information on tourism, investments, markets, facilities and services

• the government will transform the Ghana Tourist Board into an efficient research and marketing institution with the necessary technical resources and funds. This will project the image of Ghana as a preferred, exotic and safe destination of choice

• we will exploit the full complement of our tourist endowment in developing the industry These include geographical features, culture (including festivals) and historical buildings (forts and castles)

• in promoting the tourism industry, we shall target North America and Europe, Asia, Africans in the Diaspora, West African countries and the domestic market

• regional specialisation will be promoted in the quest to attract tourists. This will take account of special festivals, geophysical characteristics, historical monuments, environmental endowments and socio-cultural considerations.

3.6 SUMMARY

The policy measures on the macro-economy, agriculture, industry, ICT and tourism which are described in this chapter to be implemented by the incoming NPP government, are all designed to ensure that both the large pipeline and expected investments in the economy will be driven by Ghanaian business to benefit all in our society.

4.0 MODERNISING OUR SOCIETY

4.1 EDUCATION

Educating our People for a Better Future

Introduction

Education is the key to the development of our nation and a healthy democracy. The NPP therefore regards education as a public good. The provision of quality and affordable education for all of Ghana's children will be vigorously pursued. Our education policy must lead to the creation of citizens who are well informed and engaged, who will hold their leaders and one another accountable. The classroom should therefore not be a place where students simply cram in facts and figures to pass a test. It should be a place where they are truly taught to learn. The classroom must be a place where our students come to understand our past and prepare to embrace our future. We will work hard towards a new Ghana where all children have an equal and unfettered chance at gaining access to quality education regardless of their economic circumstances or what part of the country they live or come from. To achieve our objectives, we must not only revive the great tradition of Ghanaian education and scholarship, we must also continue to rebuild our educational system – from nursery to University. This means providing facilities for every Ghanaian child, implementing broad and challenging curricula in every single primary and secondary school, building a special emphasis on trade schools and polytechnics, opening up the opportunity for all qualified secondary school students to a university education, if they should so choose, and creating lifetime learning opportunities for every adult. This means igniting the spark of desire in every student, energised by enthusiastic teachers, eager parents and visionary administrators.

4.1.1 The Way Forward

The following interventions will be pursued to further our objectives:

• guaranteed access for all children of school-going age to free quality education currently available at the basic school level. This will be extended to cover Senior High School education as well

• improving school supervision by further strengthening and resourcing the Independent Inspectorate Institution to enable it fulfil its mandate

• making available of adequate teaching and learning materials

• promoting the development and printing of books locally

• establishing "league tables" for schools in each district/region to spur competition and raise academic standards and performance, with rewards going to dedicated teachers and head teachers

• recruitment of more trained teachers and expanding opportunities for further training

• building of more classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, technical workshops and staff quarters

• providing special allowances and study leave to teachers in rural areas

• providing technical schools in our rural areas with sufficient resources to expand

• placing added emphasis on technical and vocational education to meet the challenges of nation building

• making available guidance and counselling facilities to guide the career choice of pupils and students to match the job market

• engaging the private sector in defining the appropriate academic backgrounds and practical skills that will bring the curricula in line with the real demands of the 21st century

• refocusing teaching from remembering facts and figures to stimulating thinking, creativity, analysis and problem-solving

• introducing ICT facilities at all levels to meet the challenges of globalisation

• building additional public universities with focus a on Science and Technology to achieve the national policy of 60:40 student ratio for Science compared to Humanities. Teacher Training Colleges have been upgraded into Diploma Awarding Colleges. By 2015, 20 percent of primary school teachers must be university graduates

• providing incentives and support for the accredited private tertiary institutions to establish schools and faculties of science and technology to complement those of public institutions

• decentralising the administration of education to ensure greater local control over curriculum and financing

• assisting District Assemblies to provide scholarships to students to train in various professions under bond. These students would be required to serve the sponsoring Assemblies in accordance with terms of their bond upon completion of their courses

• expanding Distance Education and e-Learning to broaden access to education at all levels. This paradigm shift will encourage non-formal and lifelong learning to prepare workers to compete in the digital global economy

• ensuring that every Region in the country is provided with a public university, where there is not one already

• supporting our polytechnics and technical institutions to refocus them on technical education and teaching of courses in Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Chemical/Petroleum Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Electronic & Communication Engineering, Metallurgy, Computer Science & Engineering, Automobile Engineering, Mining, Architecture and Computer Technology.

4.2 THE YOUTH

Providing Hope for the Youth of Ghana

Introduction

The youth constitute both the future and the heartbeat of our society. In Ghana, the youth form some 60% of the population and are therefore a vital component of Ghana's future. We are committed to concrete, concerted and comprehensive investment in Ghanaian young people to produce holistic, happy and hopeful youth who are proudly Ghanaian whilst also globally-poised as a force and fulcrum (the power and pivot) for accelerated national development and significant global contribution.

4.2.1 Youth Expectation

We appreciate that the youth want a good, prosperous future. They want a nation which provides good education, training, employment and opportunities for social development. This is why the NPP government has developed the LEAPFROG programme.

Policy Framework

Our youth policy which we will constitute into a National Youth Charter will cover Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Attitudes, Purpose, Fathering, Responsible Reproductive and Sexual Health, Outdoor activities and Greening (LEAPFROG). A strong, focused and well resourced national youth organisation would be vital for the realisation of the LEAPFROG agenda. In line with this, we shall promote a bill in Parliament to repeal NRC decree 241 of 1974 which established the National Youth Council as the umbrella body responsible for youth development in Ghana. We shall change the National Youth Council into a National Youth Commission with an Executive Secretary and with enhanced powers of implementation of youth policy. The present National Youth Council is too much entangled with the administrative red-tape of the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment. A more powerful National Youth Commission with semi-autonomous powers would be more effective in the promotion and supervision of the youth development agenda.

Leadership

Leadership as a subject will be a basic course taught in every curriculum, from primary school to the tertiary level. The curriculum of the Youth Leadership Training Institutes in the various regions would be restructured to reflect their name. Their present focus on just skills training does not add any value to the character and focus of the youth who pass through these institutes. The goal of the leadership training institutes shall be redirected to focus on the training of a dedicated corp of highly trained, competent and determined youth who shall serve as vanguards for the development of our communities across the country.

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship, like leadership, will be taught in every school curriculum, from school through to the tertiary level. We shall establish a Youth Enterprise Fund (YEF) to support enterprising young men and women with the needed capital and know-how to set up and manage their own enterprises. Our goal shall be to ensure that the entrepreneurs that we train necessarily have enterprises. Micro-finance and venture capital funding will be youth-targeted to enable young men and women in the rural areas in particular undertake fruitful economic ventures.

Attitudes

Attitudinal change is crucial and will be encouraged in our youth. We shall re-instil in the youth the habit of reading widely and developing critical thinking skills. Reading clubs as well as well-stocked libraries will be encouraged nationwide. We shall therefore strengthen the capacity of the Ghana Library Board to stock properly our regional and district libraries with modern and relevant literature. Through our leadership institutes, young people would be encouraged to develop personal mission statements, set goals, learn to plan their time and commit to be punctual/time conscious. Young peoples' attitudes towards savings and investment will be targeted for change. Our youth will be taught to respect themselves as black people, Africans and Ghanaians. They will be taught skills to live with each other in harmony especially young people in conflict zones.

Education and Skills

Formal and informal education techniques will be applied to prepare the youth for the future. Skills acquired will be applied in positive occupation. Accordingly, the following will be done:

• the career and counselling units of the Ghana Education Service in our schools will be strengthened to help young people discover their God-given talents

• information dissemination will be enhanced through the mass media and various school programmes to enable the youth make informed career choices. In line with this, the distance learning component of the President's Special Initiative on Distance Learning will be strengthened to make a vital channel for youth education

• education, above the Senior High School level, will be industry-focused. Consequently, a closer relationship will be developed between the educational system and prospective employers

• like in India, programmes will be undertaken to upgrade the existing skills of young artisans of traditional handicrafts and other products and for those who may wish to take up the same as a vocation

• youth in agric business, agro-processing and other areas of rural economy will be encouraged through soft loans and national recognition.

Youth Skills

Youth human capacity base will be improved through technical training and application of the new scheme of Youth Placement after Junior High School (JHS) introduced by the NPP. We shall further enhance the programmes and capacity of the National Youth Commission (to be setup) and the Youth Enterprise Fund for youth enterprise development.

ICT Skills Training

ICT training will be given special emphasis to create job avenues locally and offshore for our youth. Interventions include the promotion of local assembly of computers and the establishment of computer laboratories for all schools. ICT will be included in the formal school curricula at the basic level.

Fathering

"Fathering" is being used here to represent the totality of mentoring and parenting within the Ghanaian cultural context. Young people will be taught to be responsible and respectful towards the society. Government shall encourage a public-private partnership for developing and operating mentoring schemes.

Reproductive and Sexual Health Perhaps the biggest health challenge to Ghana achieving our aim of 'first world' status is HIV/AIDS. Reproductive and Sexual Health will be prioritised for the threat posed by HIV/AIDS.

• Young people will first be taught to be responsible.

• Educational curricula in schools will emphasise providing information on health issues, including reproductive health and HIV-AIDS in particular. No longer can these issues be treated as an appendage of "social studies" or left for extra-curricular programmes. This education will include population and family planning, role of responsible parents, ante-natal, natal and post-natal services.

• Adolescent-friendly clinics will be set up in the various regional and district hospitals either as separate units or as special units within already existing health establishments.

Outdoor Activities

• There will be accelerated private-public partnership for the revival of the defunct youth homes in all regional capitals. These youth homes will serve as "safe havens" for the youth where there shall be facilities for assisting their over all mental and physical development.

• Young people will be encouraged to enter the arts where emphasis shall be placed on the learning and exhibition of our rich Ghanaian culture.

• Communities will be equipped with adequate sports and recreational facilities.

• Regulations will be enhanced and enforced strictly with regard to 'adult' and sexually explicit broadcasts and publications in order to protect the youth from deviant behaviour.

• Adventure activities among the youth, like the Head of State's Awards Scheme, will be encouraged and promoted to inculcate qualities of leadership, resilience, courage, discipline and love for nature and the environment.

Greening

• The youth will be taught to respect nature and preserve the very planet that sustains them through the school curricula and leadership training institute programmes. The youth will be encouraged to keep a clean environment. Wildlife and Green Earth clubs and others formed by the youth themselves, will be encouraged and resourced.

• Town & City clean-ups and tree-planting exercises will always be part of national and regional Youth Week Celebrations.

• Vocational training in recycling of materials and managing waste will be promoted so as to ensure that more young people find a local source of livelihood and, at the same time, arrest degradation of the environment.

4.2.2 Youth and Employment

We shall strengthen the NPP's Youth Employment Programme to provide employment for the youth. Even though Ghana's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – has seen the best and most consistent results from 2001 to 2007, increasing population growth has required an intervention which had hitherto been lacking. The NPP government has therefore directly intervened to provide jobs for young people. Funds have been raised from the Health Insurance Fund (10%), GETFund (10%), Common Fund (15%), HIPC (5%) and Road Fund (10%) and Communications Sales Tax (Talk Tax) (20% minimum). Other sources of funding will also be explored. The internal finance mechanism will be maintained and employment expanded nearly four-fold from the present level of 108,000 employed youth to over 500,000 in 4 years. The modules will also be expanded to employ youth in a wide variety of areas.

 

4.2.3 Rural Youth

Rural youth will receive special attention to reduce further the rural-urban drift through the development of rural cottage industries including leather products, handicraft, and textiles.

• Food processing and special rural micro-credit schemes would be instituted.

• We shall also establish a network of service providers to enhance small-scale endeavours including inputs, packaging and marketing.

• There will be emphasis on renewable sources of energy such as solar and mini-hydro applications to counteract over-reliance on wood.

• Development of simple tools including tillers, seed planters and other equipment to provide better dignity of labour.

4.2.4 Social Intervention

We shall deal drastically with child labour, child sale, forced marriages, genital mutilation, teenage pregnancies and other forms of abuse through intensified education and vigorous application of the law.

• Sentences for youth offences will be reviewed with emphasis on rehabilitation techniques.

• HIV/AIDS education, prevention and management will be pursued.

• Government will promote the establishment of youth hostels in conjunction with private organisations to be attached to the youth homes.

• Formal, social and moral education as well as general etiquette will be provided using traditional values through songs, story telling and dances.

4.2.5 Head of State Award Scheme

The Head of State award scheme to recognise young women and men who excel in various fields of endeavour including entrepreneurship, agriculture, sports, advocacy, organisation, and vocation shall be expanded. The awards will be the climax of an annual Youth Festival to be celebrated at district, regional and national levels where the awards will be made to young women and men as individuals or groups at the district, regional and national levels.

4.2.6 Youth Participation

We shall promote the full participation of young people in decision making at all levels – community, district, regional and national through:

• setting achievable targets for young women and men to participate in political leadership at various levels of government supported by education on political issues

• enhancing the capacity of young people and youth networks to influence governance processes at community, district, regional, national and international levels.

4.2.7 Youth Work Education

We shall create opportunities for young people, youth leaders and youth workers to contribute to the building of a professional youth service guided by a code of practice and supported by regulatory mechanisms. The Diploma in Youth Work Education established by the Commonwealth Youth Programme at the University of Ghana as a distance learning programme will help achieve this objective.

4.2.8 National and Local Role Models

We shall promote positive national and local role models for young people and foster their sense of responsibility and self-esteem. Programmes to be pursued will include:

• promotion of inter-generational exchanges through mentorship in business, social, scientific and political spheres

• development of sporting and cultural models that appeal to young people's artistic and cultural interests and support art and cultural festivals, competitions and other activities that promotes the nation's cultural heritage.

4.2.9 Volunteerism and the Youth

• The spirit of volunteerism which was lost in the past will be rejuvenated with new enthusiasm. We shall engage in tree-planting, blood donation, agriculture, construction of roads and buildings and civic education on voluntary basis.

• Our Youth Training Programme will produce a 'Youth Bank' of skilled youth, ready for the local and global job market.

• We shall instil in the youth the 'can do spirit' which had been lost in the past and which we have begun to rejuvenate. To our newly liberated youth, we say: 'the sky is the limit.'

4.2.10 Youth and Sports

Sport does not only form part of our national entertainment but also has positive links to health and income generation. In order that we do not focus on past successes, sports will be revived in a number of ways:

• build school parks throughout the nation for basic schools and engaging and tasking sports teachers to achieve targets

• assisting voluntary sports clubs and encouraging private investment in sports by giving companies tax incentives in this regard

• giving special incentives to women in sports by encouraging their active participation and hunting for their talents

• broadening the scope of sports in Ghana. In this regard we shall provide other facilities like sports halls, multi-purpose courts and astro-turf for other major disciplines in the next few years to make Ghana eligible to host other major international games and promote sports excellence in schools and communities. A new Sports Act will establish a sports fund to cater for the ever increasing demands for funding sports, promote sports tourism, modernise the administration of sports, establish sports colleges for academic and professional studies in sports and regulate the operation of sports academies, among others

• the next NPP Government will further promote school sports and increase provision of infrastructure and equipment in schools and colleges, pursue scientific selection and training of talents, train personnel, sponsor experienced Ghanaians to serve on international sporting bodies and generally use sports in attaining the Millennium Development Goals and in achieving excellence on the African continent and the world stage.

4.2.11 Mobilisation and Stakeholder Involvement

We shall introduce measures to involve communities, the private sector and NGOs in investing in our youth programme. We shall introduce measures including tax incentives and infrastructural development.

4.3 HEALTH

A Healthy Nation – Healthy Ghanaians

"A sound mind in a sound body". Health care must be an integral part of the realisation of our human potential. Any government that is unable to pay close attention to the health needs of its citizens will sooner than later pay a heavy price through the consequences of an unhealthy population on the productive capacity and productivity of the economy. We shall build a healthy nation by providing qualitative, accessible and cost-effective health services. The NHIS will be enhanced and preventive medicine emphasised.

4.3.1 The Way Forward

• Continue with free medical service for minors and maternity cases under the NHIS.

• Launch the "Clean Ghana Initiative" with the goal of making Ghana the cleanest country in West Africa within 5 years. Public buildings must have toilets. Garbage disposal laws will be enforced. We shall recruit 20,000 "Tankase" staff (environmental health inspectors) per year for the next five years under the National Youth Employment Programme. The cleanest Districts will be given awards. Public education will be intensified and offenders prosecuted.

• Increase manpower in the health sector by:

o increasing number of training facilities

o better salaries and conditions of service

o introducing "Health Professionals Housing Scheme" with SSNIT participation

o instituting a "Brain-Gain" programme to facilitate the return of professionals from the diaspora. This will include short service attachments and waivers on custom duties on personal effects.

• Promote equity in healthcare by attracting more professionals to rural areas. In this connection we shall build 10 or more bungalows per district in the next 5 years to house rural health professionals. A 10% "Rural Allowance" will be provided for rural health professionals. We shall reduce by 20% the length of time required to qualify for post-graduate work for doctors serving rural communities.

• Establish infectious disease control centres around the country to monitor and co-ordinate care for infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria and typhoid fever.

• Improve collaboration between western and traditional medicine.

• Provide access to potable water for all Ghanaians by the year 2015.

• Re-organise and decentralise the Korle Bu and Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals and other regional hospitals into self-governing specialised institutions to improve service delivery. These will focus on specialised areas such as surgery, accident and emergency, maternity, children and general medicine.

• Establish a medical school in the Western Region to cater for the anticipated expansion from the oil industry.

• Promote the local manufacture of hospital items such as Plaster, POP, Gauze, Cotton wool, Wooden Tongue Depressors and Gloves (surgical & examination), Syringes and Needles.

• Extend by another five years, the National Road Safety Strategic Plan which was initiated in 2002 to reduce road accident fatality rate by 5% per annum.

• Intensify driver and public education by firm but humane enforcement of vehicle safety and driving rules, instituting of "Best Driver" awards by region and district, increasing ambulance fleet and increasing number of trauma centres.

4.3.2 Maternal and Child mortality

• Maternal and child mortality rates will continue to be of prime concern to government. We shall provide emergency obstetric and neo-natal care in all district hospitals and support the scaling up of High Impact Rapid Delivery to reduce maternal and child mortality. Existing district hospitals will be upgraded to offer comprehensive emergency and other services.

• A District Hospital Programme will be launched to provide every district with a full-scale hospital as of right.

4.3.3 Health Insurance

• The NPP government will continue to expand the parameters of the NHIS by identifying the poor and the destitute to provide them with NHIS cover, improving the administrative efficiency and efficacy of the scheme, and moving systematically towards Universal Health Insurance.

• Under the NHIS, the NPP government has recently introduced free medical care for pregnant women and persons below the age of 18. This policy will be maintained by the incoming government.

4.3.4 Health Tourism

Our specialised health facilities and qualitative skills will be tapped to attract foreigners to come and use facilities and pay their medical fees in foreign currency.

4.3.5 Traditional Medicine

We shall vigorously pursue the scientific application of plant and traditional medicine to supplement orthodox medicine.

4.3.6 Preventive Medicine and Sanitation

Prevention is better than cure. Our next government will review and enforce sanitation laws; construct more waste treatment facilities; encourage private sector participation; provide financial support on sanitation; shift from curative to preventive aspect of sanitation; promote public awareness on the need to pay for sanitation services; sensitise the public towards good sanitation practices starting from nursery schools to university level; encourage the development of waste to energy applications to improve sanitation.

4.4 HOUSING

The NPP government will continue with the affordable housing scheme and extend it nationwide.

• A special Housing the People Scheme will allow employers to receive tax credits for implementation of housing schemes for their workers.

• Construction of owner-occupier houses will be treated as new investment for tax purposes.

• Interest charges on mortgages will be tax deductible.

• The development of local building materials will be encouraged.

• Measures will be taken to remove constraints on housing development such as land disputes and litigation.

• Land administration and titles will be fully computerised under the NPP e-governance programme.

• The use of brick and tile will be encouraged for all government projects. Special assistance will be given to Ghanaians who will embark on production of brick and tiles.

• Further research into cheap environmentally friendly and local material for construction will be encouraged.

• A strong legal and regulatory framework shall be promulgated in property rights, collateral and foreclosure laws for the housing sector.

• The housing sector shall benefit from funding from an Infrastructure Development Bank to undertake integrated system of housing finance of new houses and trading of existing properties.

• Explore more efficient use of urban land for construction of family homes.

4.5 INFRASTRUCTURE

Building the Structures for Sustainable Development Our Government will ensure further rapid development of our country's physical and financial infrastructure to underpin our plans and programmes for revitalisation of agriculture, industries and urban-rural development. Modern infrastructure shall propel the modernisation of our education, health, environment, and social development. These will encompass energy, roads, transportation, telecommunication, water, housing, mining and urban and rural development To achieve these objectives, the National Investment Bank (NIB) will be refocused on its original mandate of industrial development. We shall recapitalise the Bank through a variety of sources including SSNIT funds.

4.5.1 Energy

Our task is to produce sufficient, efficient and cost-effective energy to propel national development. Energy is the driving force of the economy. In order that Ghana should reach middle-income status, we shall focus on achieving per capita energy consumption between 1300Kwh and 2500Kwh. Our current per capita electricity consumption is 400KWh. Our goal is to increase this capacity by at lest five-fold. We have shown our ability to achieve significant expansion with our success with the Bui Dam and the recent oil discoveries.

Measures

• We shall pursue to a logical conclusion, measures taken to arrest the recent energy crisis. The projects which will yield over 2,100 MW by 2012 include:

- the Emergency Power Plants (EPP) of 126 MW

- Tema Thermal 2 Power Plant of 49.5 MW

- Kpone Thermal Power Plant of 330 MW

- Volta River Authority (VRA) Tema Power Plant of 236 MW

- Bui Hydro Power plant of 400 MW

- re-activation of the abandoned Osagyefo power barge of 125 MW

- VALCO of 600 MW.

- expansion of Aboadze Thermal Plant of 660 MW

- Pra, Ankobrah and Tano mini-hydro dams of 250 MW.

Hydroelectricity

One of the greatest achievements of the NPP administration is the Bui Dam project envisioned since the 1920s. We shall further pursue the development of medium and small mini-hydro dams which our government has already earmarked upon. In this respect we shall continue with the policy adopted recently by the NPP government to provide electricity to at least five communities in each district every year.

Other Sources:

We shall pursue other sources of energy including nuclear, solar, wind and biofuels.

Private Participation in Power Generation The policy to attract Independent Power Producers and other private sector operators to invest in energy has at long last been successful under the NPP government. Sunon Asogli Power Plant is constructing a 560 mgw plant at Kpone to be completed by the end of 2009. The next NPP government will further accelerate this process with an additional four power producing companies now in the pipeline. We have finally established the National Grid Company to ensure a level playing field for all energy producers including the VRA and ECG.

Energy Efficiency and Conservation The NPP Government will continue to play a major role in accelerating technological change which favours energy efficiency. Economic usage by government and state institutions, energy efficient buildings, avoidance of waste and energy efficient vehicles will be central to our energy policy.

4.5.2 Oil and Gas

The discovery of oil and gas in Ghana is the result of our prudent management of the economy. We shall consolidate our gains with the following:

• implementing the comprehensive national oil policy which has been drawn up and submitted to Parliament with the objective of maximising benefits to local people in whose area oil is discovered and the nation as a whole

• setting up a future generation fund will be set up to provide for generations yet unborn

• instituting measures for the transparent management of oil revenues

• implementing a local content policy to ensure the use of Ghanaian goods and services as inputs to the oil industry. Our universities and technical institutions will position themselves to provide requisite skills, training and consultancy

• using oil as an instrument of national development through specifically identified projects including infrastructure, agriculture and food processing, ICT, applied education, among others

• developing liquefied natural gas as a complement to our government's efforts in the West African Gas Pipeline project.

In addition to these, the NPP government will:

• continue to refine the petroleum legal and contractual framework

• put in place a regulatory framework for all petroleum operations

• manage petroleum revenues prudently

• manage the social impact resulting from petroleum activities

• ensure a responsible health, safety and environmental practice

• put into place a reliable and transparent tax collection administration.

4.5.3 Road Transport

• The Government will implement the recommendations contained in the National Transport Policy framework completed in 2006 which provides for the expansion and maintenance of the nation's transportation infrastructure and service. We shall continue with the newly-adopted policy of providing at least 15 kilometres of tarred road for every district each year.

• We shall strategically link all rural production and processing centres to the urban centres.

• To improve on road safety and reduce accidents and transit time the NPP government will continue with the dualisation of all major transit corridors including those of Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Cape Coast, Cape Coast-Takoradi-Elubo, Tema-Aflao and Kumasi-Techiman.

• Records available on urban transport indicate that two thirds of passengers travel by buses and "trotro" (minibuses). We shall therefore expand the mass transportation system and extend it to all urban areas of the country.

• Government shall continue to expand, maintain and improve on the road network.

• An NPP Government shall create more road access to our farm-gates and market centres to improve upon the continued reduction of post-harvest losses and the availability of food-stuff to consumers.

• As part of our obligation under the Almaty Declaration, an NPP Government shall provide a first class transit corridor with acceptable facilities for travellers from our neighbouring land-locked countries.

4.5.4 Railways and Ports

Our railway system was constructed by the colonial government in the 1920s. There have been no improvements since. Over the years the system has fallen into total disrepair. The NPP government sees the urgent need for a good rail network. We shall establish a sound modern rail network to link the North to the South and the East to the West. We shall lay the foundation so that by 2012 the network will be fully operational. This will reduce accidents on our roads as well using, transport heavy goods, machinery and foodstuffs to urban centres at lower freight costs, thereby reducing food prices. It will boost tourism and encourage social cohesion among Ghanaians by making internal travel easier, more comfortable and cheaper. It will also link the nation with our neighbouring countries and help the ECOWAS integration process.

• The NPP Government shall commit to the completion of the Boankra Inland Port.

• With the emerging oil industry, the Takoradi Harbour shall receive the requisite rehabilitation and depth to enable bigger vessels to be accommodated.

• The marine industry shall be revamped with the participation of the private sector. Towards this, shipping lines shall be encouraged to cater for maritime trade and transport services along the West African coastline.

• The Tema shipyard and dry-dock shall, with private participation, be invigorated.

• We shall provide ferries, barges and vessels to the Volta Lake Transport Company to improve its services. The harvesting of tree stumps in the Volta Lake will be completed by 2015 to make boating on the lake safe.

4.5.5 Aviation

With the enactment of the new Civil Aviation Act of 2004, the regulatory and commercial functions in the aviation sub-sector have been separated. The Civil Aviation Authority now regulates our air-space and its users. An Airports Company has been incorporated which is in charge of the development of airport infrastructure and commercial activities at the ports. The incoming NPP Government shall maintain and extend the roles assigned to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Airports Company. It shall seek to increase the participation of the private sector in the development of the aviation industry. New regional airports shall be constructed and the existing ones shall be improved upon. We shall seek private capital to convert Tamale, Takoradi and Kumasi to International airports.

4.5.6 Water Supply

Further to steps being taken to provide sufficient, safe and potable water to our people, the next NPP government will do the following:

• build two treatment plants at the Lower Volta basin and associated distribution systems to address the water problems of south-eastern parts of Ghana

• construct more dams along the Pra, Ankobra and the Tano Rivers to irrigate the land, cool our boilers and address our water supply needs

• vigorously tackle illegal tapping at the retail level

• continue with the new policy to provide potable water to at least 5 more communities in every district each year. Rural water supply shall thus, be a priority to give the vast majority of our people access to good and safe water.

4.5.7 Urban Development

Urbanisation and its attendant problems will be tackled vigorously. During the last fifteen years, Accra's population increased by seventy percent while its area expanded almost three hundred percent. The population density has decreased from 14,000 persons per square kilometre to 8,000 persons per square kilometre over the same period. The expansion in city size and the decline in density have made it expensive for the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and other utility agencies to meet demands for water, electricity, roads and waste management as this becomes increasingly expensive per unit area. Accra and other cities are urbanising without growing. These problems have been diagnosed and will be tackled.

• The new administration will harmonise laws on planning.

• We shall use modern technology to address deficiencies in urban planning systems in the country. Over the past few years, aerial photography and digital mapping technology have been used to improve the planning and titling systems in the country.

• We shall undertake comprehensive mapping of the entire country with the objective of improving the planning and land tenure systems, bringing all lands under the formal sector, developing the property addressing system and securing a sustainable titling programme.

• We shall encourage source-sorting of solid waste at markets, hotels, commercial centres and homes to ensure composting of organic waste and recycling of metals and plastics.

• We shall establish a national Waste Management Authority to provide policy and regulation in the sub-sector.

4.6 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

A New Ghana

Advancements in science and technology have combined with a liberalised international trade regime in moving our world rapidly towards a global knowledge-based economy. In this new era, knowledge, information, science and technology are fast replacing the traditional factors of production. Some call this era the "gold collar" workers where a few creative individuals are producing enormous wealth to feed entire populations. To catch the tidal wave for Ghana's transformation, we are setting an agenda that puts Ghana on the path of becoming a science and technology based society. One where scientific rationalism prevails, and science and technology play the key role in national development by providing solutions to social and economic problems. These problems include, among others, food security, housing, health care, education and employment, particularly for our young population. The source of competitiveness in the knowledge-based society is science, technology and innovation. There is no question that the key challenge for us today is to attain national competitiveness and encourage growth based on innovation. Those who are prepared to meet the challenges successfully will benefit from developments of the knowledge-based society. Those who are not will continue to fall behind. Ghana cannot afford to be left out of global trends towards a knowledge-based society.

4.6.1 Aims

To achieve these objectives, we will pursue a set of policy programmes geared to:

• strengthening the innovative capabilities of industry, universities and research institutions

• enhancing the efficiency with which research and development resources are allocated and utilised

• developing new growth technologies

• promoting the diffusion and utilisation of research

• creating social, economic, political and cultural environments that are conducive to innovation and scientific enquiry. To promote the innovative capabilities of industry, universities and research institutions, government will:

• expand public sector investments and focus on select strategic areas

• develop a system of higher education and research that can respond to changes in the market

• facilitate the science-industry interface by improving aspects of the financial system and technology market in a way that promotes the commercialisation of research results

• establish a scientific and technology information system to network exceptional talents and innovative players to aid the overall planning, coordination and evaluation of research and development activities.

Science and Technology will be applied to promote national development including agriculture and forestry, water management, health and family planning, energy and industries, communication, housing, mining, technology parks and biotechnology.

4.7 PROMOTING GENDER EQUALITY

Forging Ahead with the Women of Ghana

4.7.1 The Way Forward

The new NPP administration will:

• drastically reduce maternal and infant mortality by further improving quality of and access to ante- and post-natal care and by addressing as a matter of priority child mortality, morbidity, stunting and malnutrition

• ensure that social security arrangements in the formal and informal sectors and in the rural and urban areas are put in place to cover all working women and men

• establish new local community counselling units and resource existing ones to provide career guidance and social services to young women

• take steps to ensure that all public sector places of employment provide good quality child-care facilities for nursing working mothers

• ensure that NCCE and Ministry of Information and National Orientation develop and implement a comprehensive programme to create awareness about the provisions of international, regional and national women's rights laws and instruments and inculcate in the general public respect for the rights of women

• drastically increase the representation of women in governance processes particularly in Ministerial and District Assemblies appointments and also in relation to boards and public corporations

• adequately equip and staff MOWAC to be institutionally represented at the district levels with well-resourced offices to execute their mandates effectively

• ensure that structures, policies and programmes in place to address gender inequalities in MDAs are fully implemented

• increase access to safe, effective and affordable methods of family planning counselling and reproductive health care

• improve access to retrovirals of all sufferers of HIV/AIDS especially drugs that prevent mother to child transmission

• Seek the abolition all negative cultural practices including widowhood rites and banishments to witches' villages

• support victims of gender violence

• provide equal opportunities to disabled women.

4.8 CARING FOR THE AGED AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITY.

With improved health care and rising standards of living, the number of elderly people is rapidly increasing. We shall ensure that the welfare of the aged is protected and enhanced. The NPP government passed the Persons with Disability Act of 2006 (Act 715). Arrangements are far advanced for the inauguration of the National Council on Persons with Disability with its supporting Secretariat as mandated by Act 715. The next NPP government will, in consultation with the various groups and organisations, set out programmes to protect and promote the rights of persons with disability. We shall take steps to ensure that the provisions of the Act are implemented.

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0 REGIONAL AND CONTINENTAL INTEGRATION

5.1 INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER

NPP's foreign policy will continue to focus on promoting Ghana's vital interests and those of her citizens in our search for prosperity, peace, dignity and security. We will continue to pursue the path of economic diplomacy as the means of attracting investments, and in our quest to achieve equitable and just global trading relations and systems. In our open embrace of the new world order of good and responsible governance, we will be uncompromising in our promotion of multi-party democracy, especially in Africa, respect for the rule of law and human rights. The NPP will continue in the chosen path of deepening relations with other countries while respecting their values and customs, and ensuring reciprocal treatment in all spheres. Based on our policy of peaceful co-existence and close cooperation with all our neighbours, for the purposes of peace, stability and mutual development, we have established the most cordial links with our neighbours in Burkina Faso, La Cote d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. We shall pursue further gains in this direction. Economic diplomacy has attained its highest height under the NPP. Tremendous benefits have accrued from our cooperation with several nations. New horizons have been chalked regarding benefits from emerging world powers such as China and India in an unprecedented manner. We pledge to continue and expand this process under the next NPP administration.

5.2 WEST AFRICA

West Africa has experienced its fair share of the violent overthrow of governments, political and social upheavals, wars and instability in recent times. The next NPP government will play a positive role in promoting lasting peace, social and political stability to ensure the economic and social development of the countries in the region and the security of our people. It will promote dialogue and negotiations as a means of settling disputes and resolving conflicts. Recognising the advantages of an expanded market for intra-sub regional trade and economic co-operation, the NPP government will work towards the realisation of all the objectives of the West African Economic Community, notably the free movement of people, goods and services. A strong and vibrant ECOWAS will not only be a stimulus to our national development but will also serve as a springboard for the realisation of an African Economic Community. The NPP government will encourage all groupings within the sub-region to harmonise their objectives and operations with a view to eventually facilitating the achievement of a united and strong West Africa.

West Africa Elections Monitoring Commission Having noticed that several conflicts in Africa are election related, Ghana will lead the way in seeking the establishment of a West African Elections Monitoring Commission to be composed as a high-powered, independent body comprising eminent judges from Africa and other parts of the world. It will serve as a mechanism for resolving disputes and conflicts arising from contested election results, with a view to finding acceptable and just solutions to such situations as and when they arise. This will constitute some of the actual pillars on which to build regional integration within the context of peace, stability and freedom.

5.3 AFRICA

The NPP believes in the Africa Union (AU) and the next NPP government will do all in its power to make the Union work more efficiently and purposefully for the advancement of the African continent and its people. The actual usefulness and relevance of the AU must be felt by all Africans. In spite of the several gains that some African countries have made, the general image of Africa, over the past three decades in particular, has been rather unsavoury. There have been several disasters such as drought and floods, as well as environmental degradation, poverty, ignorance, food insecurity, the onslaught of various diseases including HIV/AIDS, all of which have devastated the continent. The NPP government will work tirelessly, through the AU and various international organisations to change this image. The NPP government will, among other things, champion the ideals of liberal democracy and market-oriented economics, continue to play a positive role in the resolution of conflicts and to make our Union more practical and purposeful. Our government will support the genuine aspirations of all African countries towards the realisation of Africa's developmental objectives. It will therefore work within the framework of the AU for the eventual attainment of the African Economic Community. We are aware of the problems this will entail, given Africa's past failures at regional economic integration. Nevertheless, such failures should provide guiding lessons for the realisation of our goals. In this regard, the next NPP government will actively pursue the harnessing of Africa's human and material resources for the benefit of its entire people through co-operation in the scientific, technological and cultural fields.

5.4 DIASPORA AND GHANAIANS LIVING ABROAD

The NPP shall continue to welcome to Ghana, people of African descent and make them feel at home. We will develop close social and cultural ties with our kith and kin to our mutual benefit. Our next government will reserve a special welcome to those endowed with special skills and resources which can contribute to the economic and social development of Ghana. The granting of dual citizenship has now restored the basic rights of Ghanaians living abroad who for one reason or another, had to adopt the citizenship of their host countries, and loosing their Ghanaian citizenship thereby. We shall expand further the opportunities that will allow the Ghanaian living abroad to fully participate in our national discourse and benefit fully from the advantages this nation has to offer.

5.5 THE COMMONWEALTH

The NPP is highly aware of the special significance of the Commonwealth to Ghana. The NPP government will work to enhance the common ideals we share with other members of this organisation. We shall work in close collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat and the member countries to make the Commonwealth more relevant and meaningful to its people. To this end, the NPP government will actively support development-oriented activities and good governance in member countries. In line with the Commonwealth's policy on democratisation and human rights, the NPP government will seek to exclude non-democratic and non-representative governments from the Commonwealth.

5.6 SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION

The promotion of co-operation among Third World countries has been given further impetus by the activities of the South Commission. The next NPP government will promote meaningful South-South trade and other forms of co-operation. Our diplomatic missions in Third World countries will accordingly be empowered to vigorously pursue economic-oriented contacts that will facilitate co-operation in trade, investment, science, technology and culture. The experience of South-South nations in oil exploration and development will be tapped to serve our national interest.

5.7 UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL

ORGANISATIONS

Under the next NPP Government, Ghana will continue to play an active role in all international organisations of which it is a member. More specifically, we will champion with renewed vigour the cause and ideals of the United Nations and its specialised agencies. Our collaboration with other international organisations will be guided by the extent to which such co-operation will enhance our productive capacity and benefit our people economically. Particularly, we shall work towards the eradication of poverty, hunger, disease, ignorance, illiteracy, rising foreign debts, deteriorating terms of trade, spiralling inflation and unemployment. We will also consider the extent to which such programmes incorporate the democratic and good governance values of the new world order.