DEVELOPMENT IN FREEDOM
AGENDA FOR POSITIVE CHANGE
MANIFESTO
OF
THE NEW PATROTIC PARTY
1 May, 2000
“[The Party’s] policy is to
liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property owning democracy
in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice, as the principles to
which the Government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order
specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen”.
DR. J. B. DANQUAH
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction i. The NPP
CHAPTER ONE
THE TIME FOR POSITIVE
CHANGE IS NOW
Vote for Change, Vote for
Prosperity
Proven Way Forward
Good Governance, Business
Confidence and Investment
The Economic Tradition of the
NPP
A Positive Partnership
Between NPP Government and the Private Sector
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 THE ECONOMY:BUILDING PROSPERITY FOR ALL
2.1.0 Objectives of the NPP’s Program for Jobs, Economic Security and
Empowerment
2.2.0 Our Economic Policy
2.2.1.0 Introduction
2.2.1.0 Justification for Re-Launching
Economic Growth
2.2.3.0 Fiscal Policy
2.2.4.0 Monetary Policy
2.2.5.0 Creating an Innovative Industrial
Sector
2.2.6.0 NPP’s Small Business Assistance
Programme
2.2.7.0 Creation of Ghana Investment Fund
2.2.8.0 Close Partnership with Private
Sector
2.2.9.0 A Trade Policy That Promotes
Ghanaian Exports
2.2.10.0 Services Industries
2.2.11.0 Economic and Social Infrastructure
2.2.12.0 Agriculture
2.2.13.0 Food promotion
2.2.14.0 Cocoa Production
2.2.15.0 Job Creation and Employment
ii
2.3.0 THE NPP’s POLICIES FOR SELECTED AREAS OF THE
ECONOMY
2.3.1.0 Urban Renewal
2.3.2.0 Rural Regeneration
2.3.3.0 Protecting Our Coastline
2.3.4.0 Protection Against Floods in the
Northern Regions
2.3.5.0 Water and electricity
2.3.6.0 Urban Water Supplies
2.3.7.0 Rural Water Supplies
2.3.8.0 Coherent Energy Policy
2.3.9.0 Gas
2.3.10.0 Petroleum
2.3.11.0 Telecommunications
2.3.12.0 Housing and Home Ownership
2.3.13.0 Tourism
2.3.14.0 Small and Medium-Scale Enterprises
(SMEs) and Self-Employment
2.3.15.0 The Environment
2.3.16.0 Technological Innovation
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 DEVELOPING AND
MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
3.1.0 Developing The People To Develop Ghana
3.2.0 Manpower Development
3.3.0 Formal Education Policy
3.4.0 The NPP’s Health Policy
3.5.0 Population Policy
3.6.0 Opportunities for Women
3.7.0 Caring for Children
3.8.0 Sports
3.9.0 Culture
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 ENSURING
FREEDOM, PEACE AND SECURITY
4.1.0 The State of the Nation Today
4.2.0 Creating a Viable Democracy
4.3.0 Justice and the Rule of Law
4.4.0 National Reconciliation and Unity
4.5.0 Good Governance
4.6.0 Decentralization and Local Government
4.7.0 Chieftaincy
4.8.0 The Security Services
iii
4.9.0 The Armed Forces
4.10.0 The Police Service
4.11.0 The Prisons Service
4.12.0 Freedom of Association
4.13.0 Access to Information
4.14.0 The Media
4.15.0 Workers and Unions
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 GHANA AND THE WORLD
5.1.0 International Co-operation and a Just World Order
5.2.0 West Africa
5.3.0 Africa
5.4.0 People of African Descent
5.5.0 The Commonwealth
5.6.0 South-South Co-operation
5.7.0 United Nations and Other International Organizations
iv
FOREWORD
The historical evolution of
our nation over the last half-century has given rise to a political culture in
which two strands of political traditions have developed, one in opposition to
the other. One is the socialist tradition in which the state is considered
supreme and all the individuals, groups, professional and cultural associations
are subsumed and submerged under it. Indeed, the powers of the state are used
to ensure that everybody – persons and associations alike – fall into line. In
economic management, a major tenet of this tradition is for the state to own
and control the resources and the means of production.
The other strand is
represented by the United Party (UP) and its successor parties whose main creed
has been the avowal of individual freedom in a liberal democratic state where
the development of the individual and of society in a free political
atmosphere, under the rule of law, are the principles of the state. Free
enterprise, fundamental human rights, and a vigorous pursuit of private
initiative are its abiding principles. The NPP is the direct descendent of this
political tradition.
In recent times, the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) which came into being in 1992 has attempted to
project what may seem to be a third strand, making dubious claims to Nkrumaist,
socialist roots upon which are superimposed elements of a pro-capitalist
agenda, all in an attempt to hide the continuing basic despotism and
arbitrariness of the military-led rule of the Provisional National Defence
Council (PNDC). The principle of “continuity” which characterizes the NDC has
indeed continued the culture of violence and of exclusion, limitations on the
independence of the judiciary and limitation of open discussion and of free
interaction between persons and groups holding different views. It is too clear
that the ideological mind-set of the leaders of the NDC is still dominated by
the violent origins of their power. Essentially therefore, the current
political scene is dominated by two opposing forces: one founded on the
assumption of elective democratic governance and the other whose roots lie in a
revolutionary coup d’etat. As a result of these developments, and glaringly
inequitable distribution of incomes, our country is today a heavily polarised
society.
After 18 years of (P)NDC
rule, the inherent contradictions, demonstrated so often by the President's own
behaviour and the behaviour he has allowed people under his authority to
exhibit behind the power of the gun, were dramatically demonstrated
recently. On the very day that
President Rawlings was speaking to Parliament about reinforcing democracy and
making amends for the offences of his "revolution," members of the
military police were reported to have trailed a very prominent journalist into
a deserted part of the city of Accra under the cover of darkness, abducted him
at gun point and locked him up without charge in a military cell. In a statement issued by the NDC shortly
after this incident, an attempt was made to defend and justify this unlawful
arrest and detention by the military police! This is the ugly under-belly of
the so-called revolution which was
ostensibly staged to bring sanity and discipline into Ghanaian society!
Our party, the New Patriotic
Party, is the successor to the UP tradition and we are proud to offer this
manifesto to our people and to the world as a clear statement of our programme
and the embodiment of all that our tradition stands for and successive
generations of Ghanaians have believed in.
It is a distillation of our
Party's philosophy - a philosophy many saw briefly in action in the
27 months of the Progress Party
Government in 1969 - 72. The citation
from Dr. JB
Danquah, the illustrious
founding father of our political tradition, clearly summarizes our
philosophy and serves to
underline the principles and actions of statecraft which our Party will
pursue when voted into power.
We commend this Manifesto to
you and solicit your vote to enable us carry out a fundamental
change in our society and
the Ghanaian economy, a change that
will be reflected in a
lowering of the intolerably
high cost of living and a reduction in the depressingly high rate of
unemployment, a change that
will bring jobs and a living wage for the majority of our people
and which will instil in the
government and people of this nation respect for the rule of law,
for fundamental human fights and
freedoms, for the independence of the judiciary, and a belief
in the ingenuity, hard work
and enterprise of the individual Ghanaian.
Our vision of the future is
one of accelerated and sustained economic growth, equal
opportunity for all,
commitment to law and order, and above all a healthy, disciplined,
enlightened and caring
society.
The policies and programmes
outlined in this manifesto constitute what the NPP plans to do to move Ghana
forward. The NPP is convinced that it
is possible to raise the standard of living of all our people within the next
10 years, with an assurance of vastly better wages and higher per capita
incomes. And during our first four
years in office, we will make substantial progress towards the achievement of
the desired results.
In the climate of opinion the
world over, totalitarianism and the centrally planned economy are
in retreat. Liberal democracy
and free enterprise are on the ascendancy. These are the values
for which our leaders fought
and died. These are the values the New
Patriotic Party will
defend at all times.
The hour for our ideas has
struck, and we invite all who share in the beliefs outlined here to
join us and vote for the NPP
in the coming elections in December, 2000. Victory for the NPP
will provide the opportunity,
once and for all, to resolve the deep, social and economic crises
that have continued to plague
our country.
Your future, your children's
future and the destiny of Ghana are in your hands. Act now, join
the NPP and be an instrument
of change for a better and prosperous Ghana.
………………………
………………………………
SAMUEL ODOI-SYKES JOHN
AGYEKUM KUFUOR
CHAIRMAN
PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
DATED.....MAY, 2000
ACCRA, REPUBLIC OF GHANA
vi
INTRODUCTION
(i) The New Patriotic Party (NPP)
The New Patriotic Party is the home of all those who believe in
the living philosophy of Joseph Boakye Danquah, George Paa Grant, Obetsebi
Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Solomon Odamtten, Kofi Abrefa
Busia, Kofi Amponsah Dadzie, SG Antor, JA. Braimah, Yakubu Tali (Tolon Na), REG
Armattoe and others, all of blessed memory.
These they held and we hold
to be true:
- The
individual must be enabled to develop in freedom to attain the highest level,
which his or her talents permit.
- The
provision of quality education, further training and an expanding economy
that creates jobs, as well as the provision of
good health facilities and medical
care for all Ghanaians form the basis for the
development of the individual and
the nation.
- A free
enterprise economy is the surest guarantee of economic growth and
prosperity. Government must create the environment
for business to thrive and
for effort and initiative to be rewarded. What
a person makes legitimately must
never be taken away arbitrarily.
- The
rights and needs of the individual are paramount as enshrined in the United
Nations Declaration of human Rights and the
Constitution of the Fourth
Republic of Ghana.
-
Individuals and societies make a state - states do not make individuals
-
therefore we believe in freedom of expression
and association, freedom from
oppression, from fear and from arbitrary
arrest.
- Justice
is either for all or it is for none. Every Ghanaian is entitled to the
protection of the law. The sovereignty of our
people and state should be
anchored in the Rule of Law and the
Independence of the Judiciary.
These are the fundamental beliefs of the NPP. They are the beliefs which inspired the
Progress Party Government of 1969-72 and informed all the
policies and programmes of that
government. Time has vindicated these economic and social
policies, the rural development
programme and the foundations we laid for agricultural
development.
vii
The NPP is committed to a
complete change from the NDC's shameful and depressing record
that has led Ghana and
Ghanaians into poverty and insecurity.
NPP's rise to power in this
country will usher in:-
* A superior
management team for the economy of Ghana. Superior in terms of
commitment, competence and moral probity.
* Effective
implementation of potent policies and programmes for solving the
eight (8) major economic problems of slow growth, high
unemployment,
incidence of rural and urban poverty, high interest
rates, high inflation rate,
excessive government debt and fiscal deficit, the ever
declining value of the
Cedi, and the narrow and unstable export base of the
country.
* A central
strategic policy for training, empowering and motivating each
individual to participate fully in productive activities
for ensuring prosperity to
himself or herself and the nation.
* Jobs, jobs and
jobs.
* A positive
partnership between the government and the private sector for raising
the level of business activity in the country.
* Strengthened
machinery of justice, rule of law in its fullness, and the
enforceability of contracts under conditions of fair
dealing and equity.
* Business
confidence. And resulting high levels of investments in the country
by Ghanaian businessmen, foreign private investors and
resourceful Ghanaians
abroad.
* A social contract
binding the government, employers and workers to balance
productivity gains with rewards and incentives in the
system: A dispensation in
which the partners would operate as a vehicle for
regular consultation - not one
called into being merely to smother crises.
* Restoration of
law and order in general, in the curbing of the progressively
alarming crime rate and making the streets safe for our
mothers, wives, sisters
and children.
NPP government will involve and lead all Ghanaians to move
Ghana away from
poverty and the associated hardships.
We will seek to create
a just and humane society where each is his brother's keeper.
We will restore our dignity as a sovereign and prosperous
nation.
viii
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 CALL FOR CHANGE
1.1.0 Vote For Change, Vote For Prosperity
1.1.1 The time has come for Ghana to break out of
the suffocating cycle of poverty and
under-development.
- Every family in
Ghana today is feeling the pinch.
- Fully one-third of our people are now
living below the poverty line.
- Another
one-third or more are bound to face the same predicament while harsh
price increases and the fall of the Cedi remain the
order of the day.
- The people want to move forward, to work
hard, and catch up with the world.
But for two decades this nation has remained trapped in
economic stagnation.
- Millions of our
youth are unemployed and demoralized.
- Those who can
find jobs still have to contend with low salaries and wages.
- Ghanaians have
had to watch helplessly while social services become ever more
inaccessible or unaffordable.
- This country,
which is blessed so generously wit natural and human resources,
is still unable to feed itself - all because of the
failed policies and confused
leadership of the NDC government.
- For eighteen
(18) years the government has called for ever-greater sacrifices
from Ghanaians, and promised an imminent take-off into
economic prosperity.
The sacrifices have been made by the impoverished
masses, with much pain and
suffering, while their rulers threw money around in senseless
high living.
Mounting taxes and crippling charges for basic
utilities and social services
became the daily lot of Ghanaians. But the promised
prosperity has not come.
- And another four
(4) years of this bad government can only bring even deeper misery to
Ghanaians and total catastrophe to the country.
1.1.2 Vital Change Required: Elect a competent
Government to bring prosperity
- Prosperity will
come when the people of Ghana elect a government which
knows how to manage the nation's affairs in a way that
brings prosperity. The
present government does not know how to do it. Eighteen
years of unfulfilled
promises of an economic take-off have proved that. It is
too late to believe that
the (P)NDC will ever learn how to create prosperity for
Ghanaians.
1
- In this
Election 2000 the opportunity has come for Ghanaians to elect an NPP
government which will have the competence, the
commitment and the vision
to put Ghana on the path to economic prosperity.
1.2.0 Proven Way Forward
1.2.1 Many countries similar
to Ghana have made the transition from a state of poverty to one
of modernization, high
productivity, high salaries and wages, international competitiveness and
rising standards of
living. They had to change their
ineffective governments and put the
leadership responsibilities
into more competent and committed hands before they could achieve
prosperity.
1.2.2 Generally their success
was built upon a framework of carefully selected pillars:
(i) The
mobilization of private initiative;
(ii) The
transformation of agriculture;
(iii) Enhancement of productivity;
(iv) Expansion of
industrial and export base;
(v) A fruitful
partnership between government and the private sector; and
(vi) Prudent
management of the public finances, leading to a sane economic
environment.
1.3.0 Good Governance, Business Confidence And
Investment
1,3.1 The propellant in all
those cases of national economic success is sustained high capital
investment by both local and
foreign entrepreneurs. And lying behind that investment is the
intangible but all-important
factor of business confidence. That confidence has to be earned
by good governance, free of
corruption, and by committed adherence to a mission of national
development.
1.3.2 Ghana's economic frustration of the last two
decades is due to the fact that its
government under both the
PNDC and the NDC has failed lamentably to inspire the confidence
of Ghanaians and particularly
of investors. Indeed, through its
ideology of revolution, its
unpredictable and immature
conduct and its managerial incompetence, the regime has done a
great deal to destroy
business confidence and to alienate investment.
2
1.3.3 In recent months, this
regime has tried to embrace a model of economic take-off under
the leadership of private
enterprise. But the conversion is not
deep-seated and has merely
come from expediency. Time
and again, the words and actions of the governing party and its
topmost leaders have pointed
the nation backwards to the bad days of revolutionary disorder,
hostility to entrepreneurial
success, especially the success of fellow Ghanaians, and the
overthrow of the rule of law.
These erratic swings and contradictions, have undermined many
investment proposals as well
as the general confidence of entrepreneurs in the economy of
Ghana.
1.3.4 Starting with summary
political executions and misguided assaults on the commercial
sector in 1979, and resuming
with the decimation of private saving and the banking system in
1982, this (P)NDC group have
continued till this day to frustrate many private entrepreneurs
who could have led Ghana into
its emancipation from poverty as has been done elsewhere.
Just recently, the clumsy,
petulant way in which they dealt with the crisis at Ashanti Goldfields
has once more shown that,
however long it stays in power, the NDC could never lead Ghana
into economic success based
on a true partnership with private enterprise.
1.4.0 The Economic Tradition of the NPP
1.4.1 In contrast to the
present government, we in the NPP tradition have for generations been
steadfast advocates of the
leading role of private enterprise in bringing about the transition
from poverty to prosperity.
The founding fathers of the Danquah-Busia tradition held on to
their belief in a liberal
economic and political order even through the heyday of economic and
political regimentation, in
the face of all manner of abuse and misunderstanding.
1.4.2 In the brief period
between 1969 and 1972 when our Party was in office, members of
the Danquah-Busia tradition
demonstrated the economic efficacy, and the power for supporting
social development, that lies
in a committed practice of the liberal political economy in which
we had been brought up. Ghana
in that brief period under the Progress Party achieved the best
record levels of real
economic growth, low inflation, high real incomes and solid international
credibility, manifested in
actual inflows of private capital that have never been attained in our
nation's history.
1.4.3 What the NPP offers to
Ghana today is the opportunity to entrust to the heirs of that
tradition the management of
the nation's affairs. It is time for this country to move up to the
new levels of economic
prosperity of which it is clearly capable, and to which our long-
suffering people are
manifestly entitled.
* The difference
that we are offering is competent management of public affairs,
and prudent and supportive conduct in all dealings with
the private sector.
* We offer the
elimination of rampant corruption and the application in its stead
of an experienced, honest leadership.
* Above all, we
offer a present and historic commitment to an entreprenuer-led
pattern of economic development.
3
1.4.4 Ghana must leave behind
revolutionary arbitrariness, and the remnants of dictatorship
which persist even in this
constitutional era. An NPP government
will strengthen the
machinery of justice so as to
restore in its fullness the rule of law and the enforceability of
contracts under conditions of
fair dealing and equity.
1.5.0 A Positive Partnership between NPP
Government and the Private Sector
1.5.1 The change to the free
enterprise ideology in the mid-1980s came under pressure of the
near-total collapse of the
economy. That collapse had principally resulted from the regime's
own onslaught on a system of
economy that they neither loved nor understood. Since then
they have constantly made the
error of confusing laissez faire with a policy of national
development led by private
entrepreneurs. Under the resulting policy of passive inaction by
government in support of the
local private sector much of Ghana's nascent industrial capability
has been allowed to crumble
through an indiscriminate liberalization of imports.
1.5.2 What the NPP offers in
place of the present policy of inaction is a policy of Positive
Partnership with the private
sector. Under an NPP government, the
whole machinery of
government, in every department
of policy, will be geared to support the efforts of individual
Ghanaians, in agriculture,
industry and the services, and that of foreign investors in Ghana to
increase their production and
to improve their competitiveness.
1.5.3 The management of economic
policy by an NPP government will be done with a level
of professional competence
and moral probity which the (P)NDC has never exhibited in the
last two decades and can
obviously not hope to produce in the next decade. The fundamental
difference between our two
parties is that the NPP CAN FIELD A SUPERIOR
MANAGEMENT TEAM FOR THE
ECONOMY OF GHANA.
1.5.4 Ghanaians know day by
day, in their own lives, the economic consequences of NDC
economic management. Election
2000 is our best opportunity to pick a better team for the race
towards Ghana's emancipation
from poverty and distress.
1.5.5 We must cast our votes for change:
·
change in economic
policy and management;
·
change towards a
Positive Partnership between public authorities and private
industry to bring prosperity to Ghana
and Ghanaians;
·
change that replaces an
un-trusted, unsteady political leadership with a
leadership steadfast in its commitment
to efficiency, probity and accountability.
·
change from laissez
faire to an organised pursuit of economic prosperity
through a focussed orientation of
government policy.
This is a call for positive
change. And the time for the call is NOW.
4
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 THE ECONOMY: BUILDING
PROSPERITY FOR ALL
21.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE
NPP'S ECONOMIC PROGRAMME
FOR JOBS, ECONOMIC SECURITY AND EMPOWERMENT
2.1.1 Pursuant to our
determination to establish here in Ghana a sound and healthy economy
that shall guarantee to every
citizen, without any discrimination whatsoever, access to
education, adequate means of
livelihood, suitable employment. meaningful access to health
care facilities and public
assistance to the needy, and in affirmation of our support for private
enterprise and individual
initiatives for self-improvement and economic security, the NP!' will
pursue a Twelve-Point
Economic Program dedicated to CREATE WEALTH for the people,
to provide jobs and economic
security and empower the Ghanaian people to take their destiny
into their own bands. Our CREATE
WEALTH PROGRAM aims to:
1.
Create jobs
for all persons able and willing to work and to reward each
of
them appropriately
2. Reduce the tax burden especially on workers and
pensioners, and on the
poor;
reduce inflation and stabilize the exchange rate.
3 Empower all
Ghanaians, especially our women and youth, by supporting
their entrepreneurial initiatives;
4. Accelerate economic growth and development of Ghana in order to enhance
opportunities
and raise the standard of living for all Ghanaians;
5. Take
all the appropriate measures to promote industry and agriculture
by strengthening and promoting
Ghanaian entrepreneurship in
order to ensure that Ghanaians
take hold of their own destiny
and that economic growth benefits the Ghanaian
people.
6. Ensure
access to health care and quality education for all and in
particular promote scientific and
technological advancement in
Ghana;
7. Work to
promote home ownership among Ghanaians as a means to
strengthen the family, provide
economic security and control
street crime and violence as well as
encourage personal savings;
8. Ensure an
even balanced development of all the regions in Ghana;
5
9. Alleviate
poverty and ensure a respectable safety net tat enhances human
dignity for the poor and disadvantaged;
10. Light the
eternal flame of nationalism and build up in every Ghanaian
a strong sense of patriotism and the
capacity to defend and
consolidate the independence of Ghana, the
survival of its
democratic system of government and
generate a sense of
participation and ownership in its
development, prosperity and
progress
11. Totally develop the rural areas through the pursuit
of an aggressive
integrated rural development programme;
12. Husband and
protect the national heritage especially the environment, our
land
and forests, minerals and timber and all our natural
resource
endowments.
6
2.2.0 OUR ECONOMIC POLICY
2.2.1.0 Introduction
2.2.1.1 NPP government will
initiate and implement policies to deal with the six major inter-
related problems facing the
Ghanaian economy today. These are slow
growth, high
unemployment, increased
incidence of rural and urban poverty, high interest rates, high
inflation rate, and excessive
government debt and fiscal deficit, and perpetual decline in the
value of the Cedi. The NPP
believes that economic growth and increased employment for our
people will depend largely on
finding solutions to these problems.
2.2.20 Justification for
Re-Launching Economic Growth
22.2.1 Ghana's economic
fundamentals are weak and hence its inability to withstand any
adverse external shocks,
especially the recent global economic fluctuations. At the onset of
tic Economic Reform Program
in 1983, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) projected that
by now Ghana's GDP annual
growth rate will be about 3 percent. The IMF also projected that
by now the agricultural
sector would be growing at an annual average rate of 6-8 percent.
These estimates were based on
the magnitude of international assistance that was being
channelled to Ghana. Owing to
economic mismanagement, corruption and poor priority
setting, these targets have
not been achieved. Indeed, Ghana's GDP average annual growth
rate of 4 percent over the
last 15 years is not only below the IMF projection, it is just barely
above the 3.3 percent annual
population growth rate. The agricultural sector's average annual
rate of growth for the last
decade is about 2.5 percent, far below the population growth rate
and the IMF projection.
2.2.2.2 Ghana's per capita
income in 1994 was $420. Today, it is about $390. The Ghanaian
currency, the Cedi,
depreciated by 33% in 1999; less than half way through this year, it has
already depreciated by over
30%. Our current account balance has been in deficit for years.
Today, our gross
international reserves are so low that it can provide less than 2 months of
import cover rather than the
recommended minimum of 3 months cover. In 1994 Ghana was
ranked fourth as investor
destination in Africa; however, by 1997 it was ranked eighth out of
ten countries.
2.2.2.3 Every single economic
and financial indicator suggests that the Ghanaian economy
is facing a very serious
crisis that has its roots in the nation's inability to chart a sustainable
growth path after almost two
decades of (P)NDC Structural Adjustment Program. The
economic problems we face in
Ghana today cannot be attributed to adverse external factors
alone. To attempt to blame
our problems on external factors, as the NDC has done, is to
mistake the symptoms of the
problems for the real problems.
2.2.2.4 The current crisis
has brought to the fore the fundamental weakness and the fragility
of the Ghanaian economy. It
has shown clearly that sustainable growth cannot be achieved at
the generosity of the donor
community nor from primary commodity exports. Today,
Ghanaians have accepted the
grim reality that the NUC Structural Adjustment Program has
failed to transform our
primary commodity export, and import dependent economy into a value
added exporting country; nor
has it helped our nation to chart a sustainable growth path
capable of withstanding short
term external shocks.
7
2.2.2.5 To reverse all the current and imminent
negative economic trends and re-launch
economic growth will require
a fundamental change in content, direction and focus of
economic policy. The NPP is thus committed to a radical and
fundamental change in
economic policy. Today,
change in Ghana is not just desirable; it is an imperative.
2.2.2.6 The first step in
re-launching growth will be to restore Macro-Economic Stability
This means achieving low
levels of fiscal deficit, inflation rate, interest rates, public debt and
maintaining stable exchange
rates. Our approach to restoring macro economic stability will be
to harmonize fiscal and
monetary policies, restructuring the entire government machinery,
stimulating greater
productivity for the agricultural and the industrial sectors and otherwise
increasing government
revenues.
2.2.3.0 Fiscal Policy
2.2.3.1 NPP government will
adopt a dual fiscal policy approach. Firstly, we will undertake
a major drive for job
creation and increased growth. Our second area of emphasis will be a
comprehensive approach to
controlling debt and deficits. The two
policies will support
economic growth while growth
and jobs will in turn enhance government revenues and help
reduce fiscal deficit.
2.2.3.2 The NPP government
will reduce the fiscal deficit, from the current level of 6.5
percent of GDP to about 2
percent by the end of 2003. This will be accomplished through
fiscal discipline that will
include re-ordering of spending priorities, cutting waste and frivolous
spending, reducing official
corruption, especially in contract awards and increased vigilance
in monitoring government
expenditures. An NP!' government will clear all public sector
arrears and will only
initiate new projects when adequate funding has been secured.
2.2,3.3 An NPP government
will cut the size and budget of the offices of the President and
the Vice President, the
budget and the size of the Cabinet Secretariat, the number of Ministers
and other Presidential
Appointees, and channel the resources to spur greater economic growth.
22.3.4 Our domestic debt is
so huge that our interest expense now constitutes more than 25
percent of the entire
government expenditure, constraining government's flexibility to channel
more resources to the
productive sectors of the economy. Eliminating the budget deficit will
save our country more than
one trillion Cedis every year. The NPP government is committed
to channelling the savings to
support new government initiatives. It must however, be
emphasized that our approach
to deficit reduction will be systematic and gradual in order not
to undermine economic growth.
2.2.3.5 Another reason for
our growing deficit is the fact that the NDC government has
consistently set unrealistic
and unattainable revenue and other macro-economic targets. An
NPP government will set
realistic, achievable targets and implement the policies necessary to
meet them.
2.2.3.6 The NPP approach to
dealing with the fiscal deficit will not be confined to cutting
expenditures alone. It will
also place emphasis on mobilizing more revenues for government
through effective reform and
restructuring of the tax administrative systems, ensuring
maximum value for all
government expenditure and investment, and reducing corruption and
waste in public expenditure.
8
2.2.3.7 Specifically, an NPP government will
re-structure the tax administration of the
country to ensure greater
efficiency in tax collection. Today, Ghana collects less than 45
per cent of the potential tax
revenues. The uncollected tax revenues
are lost to corrupt tax
collectors, illegal granting
of exemptions by government and tax officials, and the existence
of tax loopholes that enable
some of the most successful firms and individuals in Ghana to
avoid taxes. First, an NPP government will ensure that
only Parliament can grant tax
exemptions. Second, the NPP
tax reform program will ensure that all tax loopholes are
plugged to reduce revenue
leakages. The reform will involve further computerization of major
activities of revenue
collection agencies to ensure better and more up-to-date information and
data on all tax payers in the
country. The on-going program to
issue tax identification
numbers for businesses and
firms in the country will be extended to all Ghanaians.
2.2.3.8 Today, records show
that many agencies, ministries, and departments of government
that collect fees and taxes
for the state do not deposit their collections into the Consolidated
Fund as required by the law.
Admonition from the Auditor General for compliance has largely
failed. An NPP government
will issue administrative directives for immediate compliance In
a bid to increase revenues
available to government.
2.2.3.9 Finally, the NPP
believes that revenue collectors are easily corrupted because they
are poorly trained and are
poorly paid. In addition to this, the excessive rules and regulation
in the tax codes and the
system provide avenues for bribery and corruption. The NPP reform
of the tax administrative
system will address these problems.
2.2.4.0 Monetary Policy
2.2.4.1 The essence of our
monetary policy is to lower real interest rates, and keep inflation
low, so that Ghanaian firms
will be competitive with our trading partners, especially those in
the West African sub-region. Our long term-goal is to ensure that our
inflation and interest
rates are brought in line
with those in the ECOWAS countries,
2.2.4.2 A fundamental goal of our monetary policy is
also to ensure stable exchange rates
and an enhanced
predictability in economic policy making.
The NPP thus plans to join a
Monetary Union in a bid to
ensure greater stability of our currency, enhance sub-regional
trade, improve co-ordination
of economic policy and accelerate plans for full regional
integration.
2.2.4.3 Recent events within
the financial sector have demonstrated the need to strengthen the
monitoring and supervisory
roles of the Bank of Ghana and to restructure its administration.
Appropriate measures will be
taken to deal with this problem.
2.2.4.4 To strengthen our
rural banks to play a more effective role in rural development and
to spearhead government's
efforts at poverty reduction, an NPP government will vigorously
pursue the establishment of
an Apex Bank to take charge of our Rural Banks, ensure greater
efficiency in their
activities and ensure higher capitalization and availability of loanable funds.
9
2.2.4.5 The NPP government
will seek further de-regulation of the financial sector and
encourage the setting up of
specialized financial institutions to provide new financial services
including insurance, pension
schemes, housing mortgage loans schemes, and long- term sources
of financing for business.
The Ghana Stock Exchange will be strengthened and, with the NPP
proposed Ghana Investment
Fund, will become the prime providers of long-tam funds for
business investment in Ghana.
2.2.5.0 Creating an
Innovative Industrial Sector
2.2.5.1 The essence of our
industrial policy is to increase productivity of the sector in general,
and create a vibrant,
competitive and innovative industrial sector capable of competing in a
global world economy.
2.2.5.2 The NPP government
approach to the development of the industrial sector will be a
total departure from that of
the incumbent government. The NPP approach will be guided by
the principles of innovative
and productive industrial policy. Whereas for example, the NDC
has relied almost entirely on
primary commodity exports and the importation of raw materials
for the sector, the NPP
approach will rely on creating a diversified, innovative, and fully
integrated and resilient
industrial sector where new ideas and technological innovations are
used continuously for
improvement of products and services.
2.2.5.3 The role of an NPP
government in this innovative economy is to work with the private
sector to identify strategic
opportunities for the future, and to redirect existing resources
towards the exploitation of
those opportunities.
2.2.5.4 An NPP government is
committed to dealing with the major factors that constrain the
effective development of the
industrial sector. Among these are lack of affordable long-term
capital to finance industrial
investment, especially small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs),
and inadequate supporting
infrastructure and services, such as inadequate supply of electricity
and water. Others are
bureaucratic and cumbersome procedures, and poor legal environment
that impact negatively on
business planning and activities. The poor macroeconomic
environment and obsolete
plant and equipment have all conspired against industrial growth and
productivity
2,2,6.0 NPP's Small Business Assistance Programme
2.2.6.1 The NPP believes that
government must play an active role in securing an increasing
flow of capital for
SMEs. An NPP government will thus
provide the leadership, and also
challenge the banks and other
financial institutions to develop concrete ways to help secure
funds for SMES, especially
funds for innovation, technology development and adoption,
development of new products
and services and for productivity enhancing investment activities.
2.2.6.2 An NPP government
will provide government loan guarantees under a new program
called the Small Business
Assistance Program. Under this
program, an NPP government
will guarantee 80 percent of
the loans provided to qualified SMEs.
10
2.2.7.0 Creation of Ghana
Investment Fund
2.2.7.1 To take advantage of
new technological developments, Ghanaian firms on the cutting
edge of technology must have
venture capital to succeed. What is required for such capital is
a partnership approach
between the private sector, individuals and the central government.
2.2.7.2 NPP government will
provide the leadership in bringing all these partners together
to create the Ghana
Investment Fund (GIF). The GIF will be established as a private
investment corporation made
up of financial institutions like banks, insurance companies,
labour unions, governments
(central, municipal, local) and private individuals all of which will
hold shares in the company.
2.2.7.3 NPP government will
contribute up 30 -50 billion Cedis each year for four years to
raise 25 per cent of the share capital. The
remaining 75 percent will be expected to come from other shareholders. GIF's
investment decisions unlike those of the NDC Business Assistance Fund, the
Poverty Alleviation Fund, and the proposed Export Development and Investment
Fund, will be motivated by profit and not by political expediency. The GIF will
provide long-term capital to Ghanaian firms in identified areas such as medical
technologies, electronic and computer technologies, software development,
environmental technologies, assembly platforms and estate development.
2.2.7.4 Ghanaians abroad remit
about $300 million to Ghana every year. They will remit
even more if they were
provided with special incentives and attractive investment schemes in
addition to a stable
macro-economic and political environment. The NPP is committed to
providing such an environment
to encourage Ghanaians, especially those abroad, to team up
with foreign and local
partners to invest in Ghana.
2.2.8.0 Close Partnership
with Private Sector
2.2.8.1 In place of the
on-going bureaucratic drift, the NPP's industrial policy will seek to
connect with the plans of
actual private sector entities
·
in manufacturing,
·
in commerce
·
in the transport,
tourism, cultural and entertainment services,
·
in mining and quarrying,
·
in housing and
construction,
·
in industrial credit and
finance.
2.2.8.2 Our firm
determination is that Ghanaian entrepreneurs should play a leading role in
every department of Ghana's
economic development, notwithstanding the fact that in the
industrial sector they will
invariably need to have access to foreign technology, and in many
cases team up with foreign
partners.
2.2.8.3 The objectives which government will seek in
its engagement with the private
industrial sector will be:
To help overcome the chronic
shortage of affordable capital which
entrepreneurs in
industry require for medium and long-term investment
11
To
motivate investors to structure their capital investment, labour mobilization
and production programmes in such a way as to maximize
employment
generation in every industrial undertaking, consistent
with high productivity;
To
encourage each manufacturing, mining and other industrial enterprise to
enlarge as much as possible its linkages with other
Ghanaian producers and
suppliers, both upstream and downstream. Fully 60% of Ghana's annual
import bill is spent on intermediate goods for other
producers rather than final
goods for the consumer market. More of that trade should
go to Ghanaian
suppliers.
To
promote and encourage "value-added" operations on agricultural
produce and minerals
from the mining ( and quarrying) sectors to improve the
nation's export earnings.
To
support the marketing efforts of Ghanaian producers especially in the
ECOWAS area,
To
institute programmes of manpower training tailor-made to suit the
requirements of particular enterprises. Tax incentives
for manpower training
will be improved
And the present abuse of Ghana's non-formal education
programme for political purposes will be replaced by
bona fide initiatives in aid
of the productive sectors.
2.2.8.4 While final decisions
remain with private investors, it is clear that Ghana has some
very promising economic possibilities tat government
should energetically foster.
The
processing of agricultural and forest products will now see concrete action
by government backed by ample supplies of investable
funds. Tomatoes,
vegetable oils and cotton are ripe for processing and
export.
Intensification of the processing of cocoa from our
current level of processing
only 18% of our
annual output, which falls below the world processing average
of around 30% to approach the current levels in Malaysia
and Brazil of 70%
and 85% respectively.
Large-scale exploitation of Ghana's bauxite, clay and stone deposits
will be
commenced.
Ghana's aluminium-based products will be promoted to penetrate the wider
international market
The
promising pineapple export trade, now reeling under government's
mishandling of
its vital transport requirements, will be revived.
12
Major
fishing and processing ventures have been allowed to decay while
European and Asia producers continue to prosper off
Ghana's maritime
resources. Government will help to reverse this trend.
A
budding entrepot (ie business centre for import/export, collection and
distribution of
goods) is steadily leaving Ghana for neighbouring
countries in order to escape from erratic,
time-wasting policies and procedures at our ports, on
our roads and at our borders. Ghana
will not become a Gateway to West Africa" without drastic changes on the
ground; but the
present
government is too weak to enforce discipline and reforms against its man y
camp-
followers who have been given jobs in the operative
agencies and securities services.
2.2.8.5 The policy of Positive Partnership with the
private sector means that government
itself must play a forward
role in promoting the exploitation of these industrial opportunities,
not just wait for investors
to come knocking on the door. This promotion activity wilt build
on the ideas and connections
of private sector companies already operating in Ghana.
2.2.9.0 A Trade Policy
That Promotes Ghanaian Exports
2.2.9.1 More than 80 percent
of Ghanaian exports are primary commodities with little or no
value added. The focus of NPP
policy is to encourage more Ghanaian firms to develop a
culture and orientation for
export trade; an orientation to take advantage of export markets.
An NPP government will
encourage more Ghanaians to become exporters, especially, to the
countries of the Economic
Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS).
It will help
Ghanaian exporters to develop
the skills and the knowledge to get into the export market.
However, Ghana's success in
expanding and diversifying our exports will be to a large extent
determined by our success in
producing goods tat are competitive at the international level,
in both price and quality.
This will also depend on our ability to fund, develop and adapt new
technologies that are
productivity enhancing and thus cost reducing.
2.2.9.2 Indeed, the trend
around the world today is nations funding and implementing policies
to give their industries a
competitive edge in an increasingly competitive world markets. An
NPP government will thus
actively support the gathering, financing, administering and
diffusion of new technologies
for our firms
2.2.9.3 To this end, an NPP
government will help establish a Technologies Information
Network, involving our
universities and research institutions, industry associations, and key
government agencies. The purpose of this Network will be to
gather information on
technology and related
services from around the world and make it easily available to industry.
The Network will also help
firms identify, acquire, and adopt the best technologies. Qualified
science and technology staff
will be attached to our Missions abroad to feed the Network with
relevant information.
2.2.9.4 The trade
liberalization policy adopted by the (P)NDC governments has subjected
Ghanaian firms to unfair
trade practices, including the dumping of cheap imports onto the
Ghanaian market. Many
Ghanaian firms unable to compete with foreign firms many of which
enjoy government subsidies in
their respective countries, have thus collapsed. The data on
business failure over the
last few years show the distress state of many Ghanaian firms. In
1996, 377 Ghanaian firms
failed; in 1997, 422 firms failed; 601 failed in 1998 and 608 failed
in 1999. The prospect for the
reversal of this trend under the current regime is rather dismal
Appropriate measures will be
taken by the NPP government to reverse this trend.
13
2.2.9.5 While an NPP
government believes in free trade, it also believes that Ghanaian firms
deserve a trade policy that
is not only free but also open and fair, and which will provide
increased opportunity for
Ghanaian firms to enter new markets and to compete fairly. In this
respect, an NPP government
will work with all our trading partners to negotiate an Anti-
Dumping Code to guide our
trade relationships.
2.2.9.6 Further, a National Subsidies Code,
consistent wit the rules and regulations of
World Trade Organization and
the protocol of EGO WAS will be developed to provide fiscal
support and other subsidies
to Ghanaian firms to enhance their ability to compete in a global
economy. In addition,
qualitative and quantitative trade restrictions will be used to support
Ghanaian producers.
2.2.9.7 An NPP government
will also provide tax incentives and support to Ghanaian firms
that need to restructure
their firms as a result of the NDC trade liberalization policy and to
mitigate the adverse effects
of technological change.
2.2.10.0 Service
Industries
2.2.10.1 The NPP Government
will restructure and give special attention to the Service
Sector. Policy Initiatives
shall be taken to make the sector a source of strength for economic
development. Emphasis shall
be placed on:
* Development of
the tourist industry and trading activity to make them
less import intensive and substantially increase their
net foreign
exchange earnings, granting special credits and
technical up-grading to
"chop bars", lower-end hotels and restaurants
to improve their
surroundings and services to tourists;
* Improvement of
mechanisms for efficient and orderly conduct of internal distributive trade,
and promotion of complementary developments in commerce,
including the enhancement of
the skills of our local practitioners;
* Up-grading of the
numerous small garages and fitter's shops througb (a)
access to credits to acquire equipment and tools, (b)
making available
technical training through linkages with tertiary
engineering institutions,
to provide supporting services to agriculture and
industry;
* Rehabilitation
of our urban markets international famous as the home
of the enterprising West African "market
women" and provision of
adequate drainage and healthy surroundings to make them
suitable
places for trading and major tourist attraction;
* Refurbishment of
the traditional markets and creation of new ones to
cater for traders without any discrimination
whatsoever;
* Designation of
areas as "flea markets" where, on selected days, avenues
will be provided forte increasing numbers of sweet
vendors and others to
parade their wares in `walk only' areas to make a
living;
14
* The development
of local consultancies to compete with and match the
many externally based consultancies;
* Encouraging the financial system to mobilize savings for
funding production,
economic and social infrastructure. Stock Exchange and
insurance companies will
be given tax and other incentives to become the
centrepiece of this policy.
Encouragement will be given to product innovation.
2.2.11.0 Economic and Social Infrastructure
2.2.11.1 The NPP Government's
production effort will be supported with adequate
infrastructural developments.
Economic infrastructure will include:
* establishment
of container berths;
* transformation
of ports to operate not only for revenue collection but also to
create adequate facilities for promoting exports and
trade in general;
* modernization
and extension of railway network. Connection to the Northern
Regions within the next decade.
* Maintenance and
expansion of roads and extension of network of feeder roads in
particular.
* Transhipment
facilities;
* Communication
services;
* Adequate
drainage facilities particularly in the urban areas to protect life and
property.
* Adequate water
supplies in the urban and rural centres.
* Programmes to
ensure affordable energy and power sufficiency for domestic a
industrial consumption.
* Construction of
houses and other facilities for such critical groups as teachers,
medical personnel and security services as well as for
rural renewal.
2.2.12.0 Agriculture
2.2.12.1 The agriculture
sector constitutes the bob around which the economy of Ghana revolves.
It contributes 40% of the
GDP, employs about 65% of the labour force, furnishes 40% of our
foreign exchange earnings and
provides generously towards our food security. Its five sub-sectors,
(i.e. viz. Crops, Livestock,
Fisheries, Cocoa and Forestry) contribute 63%, 5%, 5%. 16%, and
11% of the Agricultural GDP
respectively.
15
2.2.12.2 Sadly, Ghana cannot
feed itself It is a net importer of food, with imports of 1.0 trillion
Cedis in 1997, 1,3 trillion
in 1998 and 1.5 trillion in 1999 7.3%
of our total GDP is spent
importing food. For example,
Ghana imports rice and sugar in large quantities, these are food
commodities which Ghana used
to produce and can still grow, if our farmers are given the support
and encouragement. The
importation of fish has been given higher priority over stimulation and
development of the local
fishing industry, for a country that has an extensive marine coastline and
vast inland waters. The rate
of population growth in Ghana of 3.1 to 32% per annum exceeds
the rate of growth of food
production.
2.2.12.3 In addition to
safeguarding our food security, we need to produce raw materials both
for our industries and for
export much more efficiently, with improved technologies and the
introduction of more educated
labour to gradually replace the aging small-holder. We must invest
more in the sector and be
much less dependent on the vagaries of the weather
2.2.12.4 The NPP's policy
objectives in this sector shall be:
* Transformation of
agriculture into high productive ventures using high-yielding
planting materials and other inputs; and
disease-resistant and high-yielding stocks for
breeding.
* Making
agriculture profitable to sustain rural economic activity as a major
instrument against poverty alleviation.
* Retention of the
youth in a more economically vibrant rural setting to stem rural-
urban depopulation.
2.2.12.5 The emphasis of the
NPP Government will be to:
* encourage
commercial production and promote linkages between small-scale and
integrated large-scale commercial farmers with linkages
to agro-processing
industries.
* reform the land
tenure system and, in particular, facilitate the use of land by land-
owners and traditional authorities as equity
contributions for farming, real estate,
tourist and other commercial investments. This system
will allow subsequent
generations to benefit from the investment income from
the land.
* encourage
replanting of cocoa in the traditional cocoa growing areas with high
yielding and disease resistant planting material and
increasing fertility of the soils.
The resulting increased 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 minimizing deforestation and environmental
degradation.
* exploit to the
fill areas of the country which have comparative advantage for food
production, such as grain production.
* introduce special
support for inputs and exports
16
* facilitate
entry of the educated youth into modem commercial farming by
improving their access to land, capital, and farming
support systems.
* promote close
collaboration between national, regional and international research
in order to ensure timely technology transfer,
well-informed extension services and
higher productivity.
* promote cattle
ranching, poultry farming and the production of small ruminants
(sheep, goats and "bush meat'). To ensure the
availability to livestock farmers
disease-resistant and high-yielding stocks, and
promote commercial production of
feed for various types of animals at reasonable
prices.
* encourage the
provision of landing facilities (including those for storage,
preservation and processing) at major fishing areas
to facilitate marketing for
local consumption and for export.
* review policy
on the balance between importation of fish and the development of
our own indigenous fishing industry.
2.2.13.0 Food Production
2,2.13.1 The NPP government
will take specific actions to raise productivity in food production;
to promote the livestock and
fisheries industries; to boost the productivity of women in food
production; to make provision
for storage, preservation, transportation, processing and marketing;
and to introduce a Farmers
and Fisherfolks Security Trust to cater for them in their times of
need and in their old age.
These actions will include:
* earmarking a
substantial proportion of the GDP for investment in food production
and other agricultural sub-sectors;
* introducing
special support for food production inputs;
* designating
the Afram Plains (in the Eastern) as a grain basket of Ghana, and conferring
on it a special food production programme on a pilot
scale for replication to other regions
of the country after two years.
* investing in
and promoting cost-effective water-harnessing facilities, such as large
and small scale dams, drip irrigation, etc. and to
make irrigated and prepared land
blocks available for rent;
* improving
water transportation and modernizing and extending the railway
network;
* promoting
commercial production of different varieties of feed for various types
of animals (poultry, cattle, pigs, sheep and goats,
grass cutters);
17
* encouraging
the introduction of new technologies through foreign investment,
research and extension.
* revamping
the highly neglected feeder road network through decentralising the
feeder roads
development programme.
2.2.13.2 The establishment of
constituency-based small-scale private companies dedicated to the
rehabilitation, maintenance
and construction of feeder roads will be encouraged. Loans from the
Business Assistance Programme
of NPP government will be forthcoming for the purchase of their
basic equipment. And tax
incentives will also be offered to attract qualified persons to the rural
areas to undertake the
contract works.
2.2.13.3 Far from retrenching agricultural extension
officers as NDC government has ill-
advisedly done, NPP
government will train more and deploy them to support a vibrant extension
service sector. They will disseminate and demonstrate
improved farming methods and make
research results (such as
all-weather high yielding, pest-resistant crop seeds and seedlings, etc.)
more accessible to farmers.
2213.4 NPP's Rice Policy
22.13.4.1 NPP government's
policies will emphasize the expansion of rice production in Ghana
and the enhancement of' local
market for the local produce. The
abandoned Aveyime Rice Project will be resuscitated. In addition the local
capacity for value-added operations on paddy rice (ie quality milling) will be
actively promoted.
2.2.14.0 Cocoa Production
2.2.14.1 Measures will be
instituted to:
* substantially
increase the country's current output of around 400 kilos per hectare to
1,000 kilos per hectare as has been achieved in
Malaysia and Indonesia.
* safeguard
quality control and efficiency in the internal and external marketing of
cocoa. In this regard, the NH' Government will
adopt a systematic approach with
the aim of ensuring that the farmers benefit from a
liberalized cocoa industry. The
Produce
buying Company (PBC) will be transformed to make it more effective.
The Quality Control Division shall continue to be
charged with maintaining the
quality of Ghana's exported fermented beans as
second to none on the world
market.
* protect
farms in general, cocoa farms in particular, and other rural production
assets and lives from the hazards of bush fires.
The NPP government will put in
place well-equipped community-manned Fire Control
Service to rid the rural
areas from the perennial scourge of bush fires.
18
2.2.15.0 Job Creation and
Employment
2.2.15.1 Reliable data on
unemployment are not available. However, it is clear that employment
in the formal sector has
shrunk as a result of retrenchments (or redeployment, in (P)NDC
language) in the public
sector and the shedding of labour in the manufacturing sector under the
(P)NDC. The informal sector has expanded somewhat.
But the clear perception is one of
massive unemployment in both
the urban and rural areas. The unemployment seems to be heavily
concentrated in the 18 to 30
age-group. Graduate unemployment has increased alarmingly, whilst
over 60% of JSS graduates and
a similar percentage of SSS graduates are also unemployed, thus
creating a potentially
explosive sub-sector of society. The labour market has not provided the
250,000 jobs required
annually by our people. To create this number of jobs the economy
needs to grow at an annual
rate of 6-8%; it has however been growing at barely 4%.
2.2.15,2 Apart from job
openings, which an economy expanding under stabilized conditions will
generate in agriculture,
industry and in the service sectors, our major programs for road
construction and
rehabilitation, for urban renewal, sanitation and environmental protection and
reclamation, for low cost
housing and rural development will generate jobs to absorb large
numbers of the unemployed.
This will be coupled with training and re-training incentive packages
as well as vocational and
technical schooling. The NPP government will also provide incentives
for self-employment and will
particularly support the informal sector, including women and
youthful entrepreneurs with
financing. The NIP government will actively seek out and encourage
non-governmental and
charitable organizations which have expertise and experience in training
and re-training and the
financing of self employment schemes.
2,2.1 5.3 Specifically, the
NPP Government will ensure that:
* the labour force
is trained to meet the demands of the emerging knowledge-
based
industries. To this end the first step is to overhaul the education system
with the view to arresting the decline in the quality
of education,
* intensive
training is vigorously pursued in some of the modern information
processing
industries, such as software production and data processing to meet
internal and external demands,
* conditions and
incentives for lifelong learning are created for the work force
* agriculture is
transformed to attract the youth and
other interested individuals
into agricultural servicing activities like processing,
handling and marketing,
* labour intensive
construction activities are created
in the form of real estate,
tourist
accommodation and infrastructure, and urban renewal projects such as
drainage to counteract floods and epidemics, water
extension projects,
construction and maintenance projects on feeder roads,
etc.
19
.215.4 Furthermore, the
following direct interventions shall be pursued by NPP Government to
provide immediate employment opportunities for our
youth:
* Establishment of a National Youth
Corps to create at least 100,000 jobs by the
end of its first year and even more in subsequent
years. This will involve the
provision of affordable credit and supporting services
for engaging young people
in productive economic ventures.
* Introduction of a Greener Ghana Project to involve over
100,000 people in
active reforestation activities as their individual
economic ventures. The
participants shall have the chance of accessing
long-term and relatively soft loans
to undertake tree plantations, and inter-crop the
plantations with crops that yield
income in the short run. The participants shall also
be given training and
incentives to double up as volunteers for the
community-manned Fire Control
Service.
* The Youth in Agriculture programme and
the District assembly Poverty
Alleviation Fund which have been so abused and
politicised as to render them
ineffective, shall be revitalized through infusion of
more capital and strengthened
administrative structures. Under NPP Government, they
shall operate without
political prejudice and interference.
* The National Mobilization programme needs
to be reorganized and given proper
policy direction. It will be encouraged to operate as
a co-operative and to become
self-supporting and profit-oriented.
* Location of industrial estates to
facilitate youth transition to self-employers in
various industrial pursuits (e.g. woodworking, kente
weaving, tie and dye fabric
production, mass production of dresses, etc.).
* The establishment of Ghana as a platform
for producing for export to
neighbouring and the international markets will
generate employment avenues for
technically skilled labour in the electronics and
electrical appliances assembling
industry.
2.3.0 The NPP's Policies
for Selected Areas of the Economy
2.3.1 Urban Renewal
2.3.1.1 The NPP government
will initiate and carry out realistic policies for urban renewal and
development. Measures shall
include:
(a) development of roads,
drainage and culverts to improve accessibility, mobility and
sanitation and to
reduce the incidence of floods to the minimum.
(b) ensuring modernisation
and availability of urban housing. For instance, subject to the
agreement of
stakeholders, slums shall be replaced with "apartment houses" with
modem
conveniences,
which will be cost-effective and environmentally friendly.
20
(c) re-siting of motor and other service
workshops to make them economically viable through
inter-dependent and productive linkages.
(d) the planning and installation of sewerage
systems for the urban areas.
(e) the construction of urban markets to cater
for the increasing numbers of traders and the
needs of the expanding cities.
23.2 Rural Regeneration
2.3.2.1 In pursuance of the generally acknowledged
commitment of its tradition to rural
development, the NPP will
pursue rural regeneration. Policy measures shall include:
(a) provision of inputs
from local sources, such as the use of local clay deposits for the
manufacture of affordable bricks and tiles,
and credits on affordable terms to enable the
people build and rehabilitate their houses,
schools and other structures;
(b) provision of infrastructural facilities such
as roads, water, electricity, communication and
postal services.
(c) encouragement to the people to embark on
cottage and small-scale ventures and other
economic pursuits.
2.3.3.0 Protecting Our
Coastline
233.1 Ghana is blessed with
an extensive marine coastline. The 200-mile Economic Exclusion
Zone is a reservoir of vast
economic resources which can only be filly exploited if the coastline
on which people and investors
can establish homes and economic ventures with confidence is
secure and stable. The NPP
government will therefore give priority attention to the protection
of the country's 960 km
coastline from erosion by the sea. It will systematically make provision
for the construction of sea
defences structures where the coastline is threatened. Emergency
situations will be given
prompt attention.
2.3.4.0 Protection Against
Floods in the Northern Regions
23.4.1 Apart from the
policies already stated above with regard to the protection of urban and
rural communities against
floods, the NPP is aware of the annual flooding of large parts of the
Northern and Upper Regions as
a result of the opening of spillways of dams in Burkina Faso,
especially when this happens
during the rainy season.
2.34.2 The NPP government shall embark on a very
comprehensive program to provide
structures to protect these
regions.
2.3.5.0 Water and
Electricity
2.3.5.1 What Ghana's
industrialists and city dwellers need is that uninterrupted supplies of water
and electricity are assured
at all times. Today, interruptions in supply, which should have been
rare mishaps, have become
routine in every part of Ghana. This inconvenient and expensive, and
it discourages investment. At the same time, charges for water and
electricity keep going up relentlessly.
21
2.3.5.2 The challenge of
policy is how to increase supplies of water and electricity while keeping
costs of production and
charges to the consumer under control. Eventually, the aim of the NPP
is to manage construction of
the next generation of electricity and water supply facilities in such
a way that unit costs of
production will actually come down and stay down. The economies thus
achieved will be passed on to
consumers in lower charges.
2.36.0 Urban Water
Supplies are in the process of being leased out to private sector
operators.
It was in the process of
arranging this that the NDC showed itself still unable to resist the
temptation of make secret and
questionable deals, in total violation of all principles of
transparency and good
governance, and against Ghana's own laws on financial administration,
thereby earning a rebuke from
the World Bank. NPP government will review all existing contracts on urban
water supplies.
2.3.6.1 Long neglect of the
water supply system means that today about 50% of the purified
water produced for our cities
is simply lost in transmission through leaky pipes. The Ghanaian
consumer is then forced by
the Water Company to pay not only for what he uses but for all the
lost water as well. An NPP
government will move rapidly to check this scandal.
2.3.7.0 Rural Water
Supplies are being extended to reach more communities in the smaller
towns and the villages. This
progress has been due principally to the generosity of foreign donors
who have poured in millions
of dollars. The government's own contribution remains feeble and
is beset with the familiar
incompetence and corruption. The NPP will at least triple the domestic
budget allocation to Rural
Water Development in the first term. By 2010 at least 90% of all
Ghanaians will have access to
clean water supplies, and water borne disease will largely become
a thing of the past.
2.3.8.0 Coherent Energy
Policy
2.3.8.1 The electric power
crisis of 1998 caught the nation unprepared partly because for years
government had failed to
assure the requisite investment in new electricity generation capacity to
meet demand, which has been
increasing by some 15% per annum. Some of the panic measures
then taken pushed up power
costs to ruinous levels.
2.3.8.2 What Ghana lacks
most of all is a Coherent Energy Policy. Just adding new thermal
plants power of the
traditional specifications will eventually erode the advantages of low energy
costs which gave Ghana its
vigorous start towards industrialization thirty-five years ago with the
commissioning of Akosombo.
NDC policy seems to have inexplicably abandoned the early
construction of Bui Dam,
which is the next most favourable source of the relatively cheap hydro
power. Bulk supplies of gas
from domestic sources such as the Tano Basin would at least save
the foreign exchange cost of
importing fuel oil and gas to general electricity.
2.3.8.3 The NPP government
will put into operation a scientific Energy Policy which certainly
includes construction of the
Bui Dam and bringing on stream rapidly the utilization of Ghana's
own gas supplies. The West
Africa Gas Pipeline project will take its proper place within that
scheme, which should also
foresee a steady reduction in Ghana's reliance on oil-fired power
generators
22
2.3.9.0 Gas
2.2.25.1 There is an
indisputable national need for promoting the substitution of gas for firewood
and charcoal, the production
of which has contributed so greatly to the destruction of Ghana's
forest cover. Latterly, this
policy has been jeopardized by failure of government to take any
meaningful steps to held down
the cost to Ghanaian families of changing to cooking by gas. On
the contrary, steep increases
in government's own taxation of cooking gas has put the whole
policy in jeopardy. The NPP
will promptly review these perverse decisions and ensure that once
again the poorest people in
Ghana will have an incentive and the means to change from
destructive charcoal and wood
burning to cooking by gas.
2.3.10.0 Petroleum
2.3.10.1 The Achilles heel of
the Ghana economy is its total dependence upon foreign sources
of fuel. In the face of the
nation's unstable capacity to earn the foreign exchange needed to buy
that fuel, the smooth running
of economic activity is constantly under threat. Besides, the ever-
sinking Cedi puts fuel costs
on an endlessly upwards escalator
2.3.10.2 Following the
upheavals and insecurity of the revolutionary days, companies engaged
in promising exploration work
left the country and the Saltpond production field was shut down.
The (P)NDC inherited a
serious national project to find and develop domestic sources of energy,
but they have turned Ghana's
petroleum development programme into a clannish enterprise for
their cronies, who are
gambling away billions of Cedis. After two decades, the GNPC has not a
gallon of local petroleum to
show, while all around us neighbouring countries are successfully
developing their oil
industries.
2,3.10.3 The petroleum sector
will be a prime field for the application of the NPP's policy of
Positive Partnership. The
world petroleum industry has more than enough resources of capital
and technology to develop the
oil and gas potential that undoubtedly exists in Ghana. An NH'
government will build a
businesslike partnership with the international petroleum industry to our
mutual benefit,
2.3.11.0 Telecommunications
2.3.11. 1 This is the Information Age and Ghana should
as a matter of urgency update our
telecommunications
infrastructure to link up the entire country and provide adequate links with
the outside world. This is
vital for economic and social development in the global village in which
we now live. Today, the telecommunication industry in
Ghana is plagued with so many
bottlenecks. All the problems
and crucial issues affecting the growth and efficiency of the industry
will be resolved by the NIPP
government through appropriate regulatory action to enable
Ghanaians enjoy the full
benefits of modern telecommunications at affordable costs.
2.3.12.0 Housing and Home
Ownership
2.3.12.1 The NPP proposes to
launch a special Housing The People Scheme, which shall focus
on low-cost housing, urban
renewal and rural housing. Under the package, employers shall
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. A home ownership mortgage insurance will be established, while
mortgage banks will be encouraged. The Social Security and National Insurance
Trust
(SSNIT) will be encouraged to
assist in the development of local building materials and participate
in mortgage insurance for
workers.
2.3.12.2 Measures will be
taken to remove constraints on housing development, such as land
disputes and litigation,
corruption in land administration and other abuses which inflate
construction costs. In
addition, the scheme will actively promote industries that exploit local raw
materials to produce low cost
houses and will step up research efforts to support such industries.
23
23.13.0 Tourism
2.3.13.1 The NPP government will create an enabling
environment for the sustainable
development, marketing and
promotion of tourism industry in Ghana.
The types of tourism which will be promoted are those that emphasise
fishing in and boating on the country's remarkable inland waterways, viewing of
forest flora and wildlife, experiencing the local sub-Saharan weather,
landscape and related features, cultural tourism, the slave trade and other
historical events related tourism and development of Ghana as a centre fro
conferencing and as the ideal location of African Headquarters of big
multi-national companies. Other
initiatives of NPP government will include the downward review of the cost of
entry visa acquisition and airport taxes.
Tax concessions o importation of some essential inputs for introducing
or enhancing some specific types of tourism in Ghana (eg tax on speed boats)
many also be considered. Promotion of the development of relevant
infrastructure at tourist centres and training of personnel to enhance
efficiency in the sector to international level, and promotion of joint
ventures with foreign investor shall be undertaken during NPP regime to make
the sector one of the leading foreign exchange miners for the country.
2.3.14.0 Small and
Medium-Scale Enterprises (SMEs) and Self-Employment
2.3.14.1 In recognition of
the fact that the engine of growth in the free enterprise economy
is small businesses and
self-employment, the NPP government is committed to removing the
major constraints to their
growth and development. Among these are lack of affordable long-
term capital and inadequate
supporting infrastructure and services, such as inadequate supply
of electricity and water. The
others are lack of opportunities for managerial and skills training
and re-training, bureaucratic
and cumbersome procedures, and poor legal environment that
impact negatively on their planning and operations. The poor
macro-economic environment
and obsolete plant and
equipment have all conspired against their productivity.
2.3.14.2 The NPP government will provide government loan
guarantees under a new program
lied the Small Business Assistance Programme. Under this
program, an NPP government
will guarantee 80 percent of
the loans provided to qualified SMEs.
This and other
arrangements for provision of
start-up credits and other pro-small business and self-
employment fiscal measures will ease access to credit.
2.3.14.3 Our industry revival programme will also pay special
attention to the small-scale
business sector and seek integration of the formal and informal
sectors to ensure expanded
internal markets and more jobs. In addition to easing access to
credit, the NPP government
will promote vigorous entrepreneurial and tailor made managerial
training programs to
enhance human capacity.
24
2.3.15.0 The Environment
2.3.15.1 Our natural environment of biological
resources (plants, animals and micro-
organisms), mineral
resources, soil, water and ocean resources and the atmosphere, and the man-
made environment of settlements, public buildings, civil works, etc. are
all under threat
from human activities and
natural causes. Our very existence, the
quality of life and our
standard of living depend,
both in the short- and long-term, on a delicate balance between
ourselves and the natural
environment. At least 40% of the worlds economy and 80% of the
needs of the poor are derived
from biological resources. The NPP is committed to the creation
of a healthy balance between
environment and development.
2.3.15.2 The NPP government will pay special
attention to the exploitation of our
agricultural, forest, energy
and mineral resources, inland water and offshore resources and
their effects on the
environment. We shall take specific actions on the efficient use of energy
both in the home and in
industry, on waste management and all kinds of pollution. The NPP
will provide strong support
to the Environmental Protection Agency and its network of
institutions to competently
monitor the environment, implement preventive and control
measures and propose
necessary actions to government.
2.3.15.3 Incentives and rewards will be offered for maintaining clean industrial establishments, for `greening"
degraded lands and other activities which set good examples the protection and restoration of
the environment. There shall be a program for the
regeneration of forests that
have been depleted and for the protection of closed forests. We
shall also encourage and
co-operate with NGOs which promote environmentally friendly
activities.
3.16.0 Technological Innovation
2.3.16.1 Ghana's success in producing goods and services that are
competitive in both price
and quality will, to a large extent, be determined by our ability
to fund, develop and adapt new
technologies that are productivity enhancing and thus cost
reducing. It is not coincidental that,
since the nineteenth century, leaders of successful nations have
chosen industrial activities
characterised by economists as "increasing returns"
activities. They chose these activities, not
because of any initial comparative advantage, but through
technological innovation, they then
proceeded to create competitive advantage over time. In many of those countries, these
activities were knowledge intensive and lean on resources.
2.3.16.2 Indeed, the trend around the world today
is for nations to fund and implement
policies to give their
industries a competitive edge on the increasingly competitive world
markets. An NPP government
will actively support the gathering, financing, administering
and diffusion of new
technologies for our firms.
3.16.3 To this end, an NPP government will help establish a Technologies
Information
Network, involving our universities, research
institutions, industry associations, and key
government agencies. The
purpose of this Network will be to gather information on
technology and related services from around the world and make it
easily available to industry.
locally generated technologies will be critically assessed and
included in the Network's
database. The Network will also help firms identify, acquire, and
adapt the best technologies.
Qualified science and technology staff will be attached to our
Missions abroad to feed the
Network with relevant information.
25
2.3.16.4 To encourage
technological innovation by Ghanaians, open competitions will be held
at regular intervals, at
regional and national levels, aimed at rewarding persons or groups of
persons for outstanding
interventions, through the application of science and technology, which
will provide solutions to
clearly defined problems.
26
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 DEVELOPING AND MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES
3.1.0 Developing The
People To Develop Ghana
3.1. 1 The NPP's approach to
national development is centred on the need to train, empower
and motivate individual
Ghanaian men and women so tat in liberating themselves and their
individual families from the
shackles of poverty they will likewise liberate the whole nation.
Ghana has to compete and
prosper in a new age of technology. Manpower development is
therefore at the very centre
of the NPP's development strategy. This country must equip its
people to do better and
better all the myriad things that have to be done daily to produce
wealth and welfare. Everything that the NPP promises in the
promotion of agriculture,
industry, social welfare
comes back to that central point: arming the individual with
knowledge, skill and physical
assets and spurring him on to help himself.
3.1.2 The technological empowerment of the people is pursued through
two channels:
The
formal system of education in schools, and universities which is concerned
with preparing the youth before they enter the work
force.
The
training and equipping of people with particular working skills, which
hitherto have attracted by far too little attention and
resources from policy
makers, and in which the NPP government intends to
bring about a major
revolution.
3.1.3 The past decade and a half has been taken up wit an
expensive programme of reform
in basic and secondary education. The reform has been predicated
on the false promise that
formal classroom education in
schools can become the main chaimel and platform for the
dissemination of productive skills
or that applicable knowledge of such skills can be imparted
a as by-product of adult
literacy programmes. That promise has not been fulfilled because it
is essentially untenable.
Formal school education is best at developing through numeracy and
literacy and some manual
dexterity, the ability of young people to understand how things work and why, to develop their sense of
initiative, service and society, and to enhance their capacity
to absorb the skills and
techniques of productive life. But the principal vehicle and location
for the acquisition of
directly productive skills must remain the farms, the offices, the
workshops and factories of
the nation.
3.1.4 It is symptomatic of the present mis-directions of policy
and mistaken priorities that the
National Committee for Vocational Education and Technical Training
(NAC VET) is the
Cinderella of Ghana's educational establishment. Its entire
programme for FY 2000 to make
education more responsive to the manpower requirements of the
nation" is budgeted at a total
of c1l3.5 million, which
is less than US$3,000. It is also remarkable tat till now there is
practically no structured co-operation between government and the
private sector to use
systematically existing production and service facilities in the
real economy for manpower
training. All those hundreds of thousands of youngsters who are
pouring out of Ghana's
school system every year should be finding their way straight into
apprenticeships and
vocational training, not roaming the streets unskilled, unemployed
and frustrated.
3.1.5 On a broader view, the present lack of a coherent manpower
development policy
threatens to leave Ghana with the long term debility of a
workforce which in its formative
years has not been given the opportunity to learn good habits of
work under authoritative
supervision. The hard sociological fact about all those nations
which have made the transition
from poverty to economic success is that their people work
extremely hard and are thoroughly
disciplined. Our youngsters here in Ghana should learn the same
habits right at the start of
their working lives.
3.2.0 Manpower
Development
3.2.1 Under the NPP government the present Ministry of Labour and
Social Welfare will be
re-focussed into a Ministry of Manpower Development and tasked to
produce the skilled
motivated workforce that will take Ghana out of poverty. The allocation of budgetary
resources will be transformed to reflect the problem of poverty.
Every young Ghanaian has
a right to be helped to acquire the skills for a lifetime of
productive work. That right will be
supported by the NPP on an equal footing with the right to basic
education which is now
enshrined in the Constitution.
3.3.0 Formal Education
Policy
3.3.1 To complement its initiatives on apprenticeship and skills
promotion in the country,
NPP government will give priority to
a. providing
access to basic education for all Ghanaian children, and to higher
levels of
education for all capable of benefiting from it.
b. raising the
quality of teaching and learning in our schools, colleges, institutes,
universities and polytechnics; and ensuring that
quality education and training
is available
to all citizens, rich or poor, wherever they live, especially, in the
historically
disadvantaged areas such as the Northern, Upper West
and Upper East regions.
c. extending basic
computer literacy to pupils on their graduating from the secondary level of
education.
3.3.2. The NPP accepts
the challenge and national duty to resolve the on-going crisis in
education; to build up our human resources in all disciplines
relevant to nation building; to
ensure Ghana's full participation in the global economy, and so
improve the quality of life for
all Ghanaians by increasing opportunities for employment and
social development.
3.3.3.0 Basic Level Education
3.3.3.1 At the basic education
level, NPP government will reform the chaotic NDC reforms,
and ensure provision of quality education nationwide, especially
in basic schools of the rural
areas and in public basic schools of the urban areas. The
following prime initiatives will be
taken: -
(i) Priority
investments will be made to close the glaring gap (in terms of
infrastructural and equipments) that exist between
rural schools and the top
schools in urban areas.
27
(ii) The
centrality of the teacher in a bid at improving educational standards will be
fully acknowledged by NPP Government. Accordingly,
NIP government shall
design and implement incentive package for teachers
in general, and those in
the rural areas in particular. The occurrence of
salary arrears for teachers shall
be avoided. And intensive training and re-training
arrangement for teachers
shall be instituted.
(iii) NPP government will pursue a policy of deepening the
involvement of the
religious Missions in the administration and
supervision of basic schools of the
country. The wearing of various schools' specific
uniforms and the disciplinary
environment that prevailed in schools in the era of
mission schools will be re-
introduced.
(iv) Encouragement
and support will be given to private basic schools to continue
to perform
even better to complement the public school system.
(v) We will
implement a programme for sustaining the girl child's education by
enforcing the provision of financial support for
provenly needy basic school
girls in the society.
3.3.4.0 Secondary Level
Education
3.3.4.1 To ensure eqnitb1e geographical spread of top SSS schools
in the country, at least
one school in each District will be developed to the status of the
few better endowed Senior
Secondary Schools of the country.
(i) To achieve
this result, higher budgetary provisions will be made for education
alongside the funding from the Ghana education Fund.
Education funding, now
at 3% of National Revenue, shall be raised to 5% of
National Revenue by NPP
Government.
(ii) NPP
Government will encourage the establishment of more vocational and
technical schools and technical instructors training
schools. The Government
will support existing ones.
(iii) As much as 95% of each stream of' basic school
entrants fail to reach and go
through the university level of education. NPP
Government shall establish a
subsidized
apprenticeship scheme of a national dimension to enable those who
fail to receive university education acquire skills
for worthwhile vocations.
3.3.5.0 Funding
Tertiary Institutions
3.3.5.1 NPP Government
will fully regard tertiary education in Ghana as a vital social
investment and handle its funding wit deserving commitment. ON the specific initiatives, the NPP
government will:
(i) pursue
economic policies that will enable it deal
effectively with tertiary education
funding. Among other initiatives, waste in
Government spending shall be avoided to for
enable the Government make a higher budgetary provision
funding tertiary education.
29
(ii) ensure that the established National
Education }fund is
independently managed by a competent Board of
Trustees. All citizens who
qualify to enter tertiary education in Ghana will be able
to benefit from such
education, irrespective of their social background.
NFP Government will
introduce a mechanism to make the National Education
Fund sustainable.
(iii) ensure that the mechanism for loan repayments under
the
SSNIT Loan Scheme reviewed to be more effective.
(iv) ensure that all approved loan schemes for tertiary
students do get
extended to students of all officially recognized
tertiary institutions in the
country.
(v) Support and
encourage the universities to make every effort to reduce and eventually clear
the backlog of students awaiting admission to the
universities.
3.3.6.0 Polytechnics and Other Tertiary Institutions
3.3.6.1 Our five public
university institutions are already over-crowded, understaffed, and
under-equipped. The new
JSS/SSS system has further increased the pressure of admission to
these and other tertiary
institutions. The NPP government will
seek to alleviate this
pressure by rapidly
establishing decentralized polytechnics. High quality institutions
offering focussed courses in
built-up areas will be encouraged to facilitate commuting
from existing residential
facilities. Links will be introduced with industry to make training relevant to
manpower needs of industry, and to encourage industry's cooperation and support
for day release training programmes.
3.3.7.0 Role of Private and Religious
Organizations
* 3.3.7.1 Religious and other private organisations
will be encouraged to participate in the
establishment and management
of tertiary education within an overall national education
framework. The current trend of religious
organizations establishing universities will be
encouraged with safeguards
administered by the National Accreditation Board to ensure
quality.
3.3.8.0 Science and Technology
3.3.8.1 Sustainable human and
social progress is possible only with the complete integration
of science and technology in the development of solutions for the
most pressing challenges of
the future. Scientists and
society must be aware of their mutual obligations. Society must a(so
be aware of its
responsibility to invest in science over the long term. The NPP is aware of
these crucial issues, Its
government will liaise with our universities and other institutions of
ience and technology to forge
a master plan for anchoring their research, extension and other
preoccupations within the day
to day activities and concerns of our farmers. artisans,
government and
industrialists. The aim will be to
strengthen and redirect their applied
research capabilities to
national developmental efforts.
3.3.8.2 At a time in the history of the world when
rapid change in technology and
30
restructuring of the
economies constantly taking place, training and retraining have become
necessary for the total work
force, from the lowest floor level to the highest management level,
to make them better able to
face these changes. The NPP recognizes this need and will make
every effort to ensure that
this aspect of the management of change is constantly given due
attention. The NPP government
wilt make provision for training and re training to satisfy this
need and also to tackle
unemployment and to increase the productivity and management
competence of our workers in
order to meet the demands of the modern work force.
3.3.8.3 World trends signal the need for scientific
and technological literacy for each
individual. The NPP will
seriously address this need. Facilities for science education will be
provided to enable training
in science and technology to be extended to persons of all ages.
These will cover both the
formal and the non-formal education systems. Special attention wilt
be given to girls and
out-of-school children and adults. The press, radio and television will
be used to promote the
understanding and appreciation of science and technology by the
general public.
3.3.8.4 In addition, in order to face the scientific
and technological challenges of the
economy in the twenty-first
century, the NPP will:
- aim at doubling
the number of scientists and technologists within a decade, with
particular attention to the training of women.
Entrepreneurial training will be
incorporated into courses for all scientists and
technologists.
- enhance
specialized post-graduate and advanced technical training in the
universities and other appropriate national
institutions.
- give due recognition to scientists and technologists, through realistic
remuneration, improved conditions of service and other
rewards.
- promote science
and technology at grassroots level, through science exhibitions
and fairs in villages as well as urban centres,
popularise income-generating
technologies,
and facilitate interaction between entrepreneurs and
scientists/technologists.
- institute annual
science and technology awards for innovation and best
performance in key areas from district to national
level to bring out the best in
all categories of learners and practitioners.
- encourage
innovators and inventors though a scheme for funding the
development of new ideas for solving practical problems
and the recognition of
merit by suitable awards at regular intervals.
31
3.5.0 The NPP's Health
Policy
3.5.1.0 Recognising that the
major causes of diseases and premature death in Ghana result from deficiencies
or defects in our social, cultural and economic environment, the NPP government
will vigorously pursue the removal of these handicaps as prescribed in other
parts of this Manifesto. Its health policy will be devoted to health promotion
and disease prevention as a priority. In addition, the care of the sick will be
pursued on an equitable basis so that the needs of the sick are addressed
according to their circumstances rather than their ability to pay or nearness
to visible high-level resources.
3.5.2.0 Public Health
3.5.2.1 NPP Government will ensure that at least a
community health nurse is located in
every hamlet of the
country. A vigorous campaign shall be
pursued to eradicate malaria
alongside the prevention of
the spread of typhoid and STDs such as HIV/Aids. More
Community Nurses shall be
trained to carry out this campaign.
3.5.3.0 Health Insurance
Schemes
3.5.3.1 Under NPP Government, workers and their
Employers, Local Communities
Religious Bodies, etc. would
be encouraged to establish their own health insurance schemes.
The public health facilities
will be improved to give quality service at affordable cost even tot
hose not covered by any
insurance scheme.
3.5.3.2 A special institution
will be created for supervising health insurance. That institution
shall be managed
independently of Government. SSNIT shall concentrate on administering
the national pension scheme.
3.5.4.0 Abolition of "Cash and Carry"
System
3.5.4.1 NPP Government shall
abolish the iniquitous `cash and carry" system of NDC. Under
NPP administration, nobody in
Ghana will be denied medical attention because of his or her
inability to pay. Emergencies
shall be treated promptly in all public hospitals, and payment
of fees, if any, will be
discussed when the patient is out of danger. Fee Payment exemptions
shall be extended on account
of health and age. Exemptions for lepers, paupers, mental
patients, TB patients etc.
will be maintained. And the District Assemblies will contribute to
the Exemptions Fund for each
District.
3.5.5 0 Brain Drain of
Medical Personnel
3.5.5.1 NPP's programme for
halting this brain drain shall include:
(1) Genuine
improvement of conditions of service of health workers;
(2) Modernization
and provision of better equipment for the health sector;
(3) Improvement of
intellectual stimulation of health workers. For example, all
efforts shall be made to establish and soundly staff
the Post Graduate Health
College to enhance skills or our local health
professionals.
(4) Encouragement
to local doctors to set up their own private practices.
32
3.5.6.0 Overseas Treatment
of Top Government Officials
3.5.6.1 Incoming NPP Government shall abolish this
practice. Current1y, the budget
provided for this type of
treatment is shrouded in secrecy, and so also the method of selection
of patients and the types of
diseases treated abroad. NW' Government will rather put emphasis
on improving health
facilities in Ghana so that overseas treatment at public expense can be
curtailed.
3.5.7.0 Promotion of
Traditional Health System
3.5.7.1 NPP Government shall
seek closer collaboration between orthodox and traditional
health practitioners in
Ghana. We shall seek to put traditional medical practices on a more
scientific basis and use
modern technology to update traditional therapies.
3,5.7.2 Population Policy
3.5.1 Population is the
engine of national development; at the same time it is a consumer of
national resources. It is necessary, therefore, to take on board
the dynamics of population
growth and its implications
for national welfare, Despite over 30 years of implementing a
national population policy.
Ghana' s population is still growing at 3.1 to 3.2 percent per
annum. At such a rate of growth the population is
likely to double within about 22 years.
Over 45% of the population is
under 15 years old. This rapid growth of our population and
its youthfulness are very
serious matters of concern which need to be addressed, especially
when viewed in relation to
the performance of our economy, our education and health needs
and the impact on the
environment.
3.5.2 . The NPP government will pursue a
comprehensive and effective
population policy to ensure
that the population growth rate is brought into balance with
economic growth so as to ensure
a better quality of life for all Ghanaians.
35.3 The NPPs population
policy is geared towards achieving a significant decrease in the
growth rate within the next
ten years. A major component of the
policy will be the
enhancement of formal and informal
education for girls and women for reasons both of equity
aid as one of the most cost
effective methods for fertility management. The NPP views the
education of the girl child
as the key to sustainable family planning. The NPP government
will encourage the
development of holistic projects and programs aimed at addressing all the
reproductive health needs of
the country:
i. effective family
planning and safe motherhood messages nationwide, to achieve
an increase in contraceptive use by 50%; this will be
done alongside the
campaign against the spread of HIV(A[DS and other
sexually transmitted
diseases to stabilize the rate of increase and support
for those living with
HIV/AIDS;
ii. family life
education as an integral part of the school curriculum and of
programs for the out-of-school youth;
33
iii. special
attention to adolescent reproductive health needs to ensure family
planning;
iv. safer
motherhood to reduce maternal mortality by 50%, and providing parents
with realistic choices in the planning of their
children and promoting access to
the means for practising responsible parenthood;
v. awareness of
both national and personal implications of population explosion;
vi. need to bring
men into all reproductive health programs, not as passive
observers but as partners and persons with their own
contributions to make.
3.5.4 The NPP government will strengthen the
National Population Council to enable it
assume a more effective
co-ordinating role in population advocacy embracing such issues as:
population and the environment,
- concerns of the aged, children and
persons wit disabilities,
- HIV/AIDS and
other sexually transmitted diseases,
population and the law.
3.6.0 Opportunities For
Women
3.6.1 Women have undoubtedly
been the backbone of the family and our economy. Trading
and agriculture would never
have been what they are without the dominant inputs of women.
In spite of all their
contributions, the voice of women is not sufficiently heard in government
and the legislature. The NPP
fully welcomes the new international agenda of empowerment
of women, and the NPP
government will move beyond merely talking about it to ensuring that
it is effected in Ghana.
3.6.2 The NPP government will repeal laws which
interfere with the attainment of full
equitable treatment of women
and will enact laws which will ensure the attainment of equal
rights for women and the
reinforcement of their empowerment.
3.6.3 The NPP government will
strengthen women's groups, especially the National Council
on Women and Development
(NCWD), to ensure that the Ghanaian woman's voice is heard
at the highest levels. Women
will be encouraged to be part of the policy-making process; this
will be done by making sure
that they are sensitised to their civic responsibilities. Women's
participation in the
economic, political and social life of the nation will be properly
acknowledged and enhanced.
Under our industry revival program, female-owned and female-
headed enterprises will have
greater access to credit on favoured terms. The program will also
support female
entrepreneurial initiatives and assist women venturing into business or self-
employment.
3.6.4 In order to ensure the implementation of our
policy across all sectors, the NPP
government will establish a
Women's Desk in every Ministry. The Minister of Women's Affairs will be a
member of cabinet.
34
3.7.0 Caring For Children
3.7.1 The exploitation of
child labour continues to disgrace our country. While the NPP
appreciates the immediate and
enormous economic pressures that cause this situation, it is also
aware that the practice is a
major contributing factor in creating the economically
disadvantaged groups in our
society. Irresponsible parenthood is also a contributing factor to
the lack of proper care for
children and to their exploitation.
3.7.2 In working steadily towards a social policy
which will ensure that child labour is
drastically reduced, the NPP
government will support and implement United Nations policies
on child labour. The
phenomenon of street children will also be similarly addressed through
appropriate education and
legislation.
3.7.3 The NPP government will
provide the resources needed for compulsory schooling to
JSS.3 to lay a solid
foundation for a good quality work-force.
17.4 Sporting facilities for
the youth will be expanded through the efforts of the government.
Religious and charitable
societies will be encouraged to play a bigger role in providing
recreation facilities through
youth clubs, etc. (See 3.7.2)
3.8.0 Sports
3.8.1 A sporting nation is a
healthy nation. As a sporting nation Ghana was pre-eminent in
Africa in the 1960s. The
subsequent decline of Ghanaian sports can be attributed to a lack of
vision and commitment by
successive governments who downgraded sports as an invigorating
culture. Our policy is to
ensure tat every young boy and girl in this country discovers his or
her God-given sports talent
early in life and to have the opportunity to build on it.
3.8.2 The NPP pledges to give
full momentum to the revival of Ghanaian sports and to
integrate sports development
into the mainstream of nation building. The NPP government
will make adequate provision
to ensure the vigorous promotion of sports through the
educational system, and
through such identifiable bodies as the Police and the Army.
3.8.3 Further, as the NPP
looks forward to Ghana staging major international sporting events,
the NPP government will
proceed with the development of the necessary infrastructure. Apart
from constructing a modem
multipurpose stadium in Accra, the NPP government will support
the Metropolitan and District
Assemblies to construct a fully equipped sports stadium and
gymnasium for each Regional
capital. Businesses and other private
organizations will be
encouraged to provide sports
facilities.
3.8.4 The NPP government
pledges to improve the management of sports and to decentralize
its administration to
autonomous sports bodies. Regional and national sports agenda will be
developed as vehicles for
systematic sports competition to raise and maintain high professional
standards. Sports training at the tertiary institutions
at Winneba and Cape Coast will be
strengthened.
35
3.9.0 Culture
3.9.1 Ghana has a rich store
of traditional wisdom and institutions.
The guardians of this
treasure house are the
traditional authorities. The NPP
government will uphold their
participation in the
governance of the country.
3.9.2 Respect for our
traditional institutions is but one aspect of our commitment to promote
our national culture. Without
a vigorous attachment to traditional values, there can be no
respect for us as a people,
nor can there be discipline within the society. The NPP government
will integrate primary and
J.S.S educational institutions into their neighbourhoods to ensure
that the traditional culture
and values are developed in the products of the educational system
and that modern education in
turn influences the evolution of traditional culture
3.9.3 Copyright
administration will be so managed that there will be proper compensation for
all indigenous creative
artists, such as musicians, playwrights and cultural groups.
3.9.4 Modem science and
technology will be integrated into Ghanaian culture, through the
educational system and by
dissemination through radio, television, the Press, the Internet, etc.
(See paragraphs 3.2.17 and
3.2.18)
36
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 Ensuring Freedom, Peace and Security
4.1.0 The State Of The Nation Today
4.1.1 As stated by the Chairman and Presidential
Candidate in the Foreword to This
Manifesto, the NDC has
continued the culture of violence, exclusion and lack of tolerance
which the PNDC established as
their distinctive mode of administering the affairs of this
county. Maintaining law and
order, under the NDC government, has been a thorny problem.
Machomen and machowomen have
beaten up innocent citizens with impunity; policemen have
been attacked and killed in
an unprecedented manner; armed robbers have raided, harassed and
even killed defenceless
citizens and made life insecure; over twenty women have been killed
in mysterious circumstances;
land tenure has become increasingly insecure. These are only
a few examples.
4.1.2 There are clear and
serious limitations on the Rule of Law. The Judiciary is not seen
by the general public as
independent of the Executive. Individual human rights and freedoms
cannot be said to be
flourishing in this country! We are living in a highly polarized society.
This is not the liberal
democratic Ghana of our dreams! This is not the type of nation we want
our children to inherit.
4.2.0 Creating A Viable Democracy
4.2.1 The historic mission of
the NPP is to create in Ghana a viable democracy where there
is instinctive respect for
the enjoyment of human rights to their full and for the promotion of
social justice. It is only
within the confines of the democratic state, where the individual has
fix!! confidence in the
existence of these rights - particularly the rights to free expression,
association and movement -
that individual initiative and ingenuity can be stimulated to develop
a prosperous free-enterprise
economy capable of resolving the problems of jobs, housing,
affordable food and
accessible social services facing the majority of our people.
4.3.0 Justice And The Rule Of Law
4.11 A viable democratic state must be governed
according to the rule of law. The NPP
government will entrench the
rule of law to prevent a recurrence of the human rights violations
of the past - violations that
engendered the martyrdom of two of the founders of our tradition.
J B Danquab and E Obetsebi
Lamptey paid the ultimate price in the defence of the rule of law
in the dungeons of Nsawam
prison. In more recent times, there have been many more of such
violations which have led to
the death of many innocent citizens (including the notorious case
of the three judges and an
army officer), the destruction and seizure of properties, and the
culture of silence which is
only now in retreat.
37
4.3.2 The NPP recognizes that respect for the rule
of law needs to be buttressed by the
relevant institutional
structures, the most significant of which is an efficient and impartial
system of judicial
administration. It is also convinced that the role of the Courts in the process
of entrenching respect for
the rule of law and human rights, as well as providing an efficient,
honest, independent forum for
the resolution of commercial and investment disputes, is crucial
to our ability to build a
free enterprise, market-oriented system in which human and private
property rights are respected
and protected.
4.3.3 The NPP government will ensure that the
Courts are provided with all the facilities
necessary for efficient
administration of justice so that the delays, which have been a chronic
feature of judicial administration,
are brought to an end. We shall also ensure that the nation
gets a judicial system in
which integrity, honesty, impartiality and efficiency become the
hallmarks of its
administration, a system which is independent and free of political interference.
4.4.0 National Reconciliation And Unity
4.4.1. The integrity of the
state and the unity of our people are vital prerequisites for national
progress. We cannot afford to
perpetuate the politics of exclusion and polarisation and the
politics of divide and rule,
which characterized the (P)NDC era. A conscious and systematic
search for consensus and
compromise will be a feature of NPP rule, so that we can forge a
greater unity in the nation
and promote a more harmonious society. This will require policies
of courage and foresight.
4.4.2 The festering sores
within the body politic must be healed. This is necessary so that the
nation can look confidently
and boldly into the future and not be dragged back by the past.
For this purpose, and as a
special assignment, the NPP government will, as a matter of urgent
priority, establish a
National Reconciliation Committee to consider all surviving cases of
human rights abuses and award
appropriate compensation for the victims. This will include
restoration of seized
properties, unconditional amnesty to all Ghanaians in exile and forthright
release of persons imprisoned
for politically related offence.
4.4.3 We shall ensure that
the rule of law is applied to all persons. Our policy shall be devoid
of vengeance, vindictiveness,
victimisation, or favouritism. We aim
to promote genuine
reconciliation of our people
and reinforce the unity of the society as we strive to uphold the
rule of law.
4.5.0 Good Governance
4.5.1 The NIPP is of the view
that good governance means much more than adherence to the
rule of law and absence of
human rights abuses. It also involves
accountability and
transparency, consistency,
tolerance, effective participation and communication, and delegation
through decentralized power
structures, particularly the District Assemblies. We respect the
autonomy of elements within
civil society, such as the media, the TUC and NGOs.
4.5.2 To the NPP, good governance also implies
government free from corruption and
patronage, where the
governors act in the interest of the governed, where efficiency and
humanity prevail, where
contacts are awarded on merit and where the best man or woman is
appointed to the job. Good
governance should be pervasive, reflecting honesty and integrity
at all levels of public
administration.
38
4.5.3 Pursuant to the above
conviction, the NPP government will ensure good governance by:
* reducing the
potential for, and level of, corruption in the country though
removing rules and regulations that create rigid
bureaucracy and provide
opportunities for corruption;
* regular audits
of government ministries and agencies (including the District
Assemblies) and
expeditious application of appropriate sanctions to
offenders;
* competitive
bidding for government contracts;
* restoring
credibility to the executive branch of government by setting a higher
moral tone by
example and precept;
* giving priority
to absolute transparency in the management of state resources;
* insisting that
public servants execute their assignments with honesty,
transparency, discipline, equity and accountability;
* providing for
training and re-training to produce the technical experts,
specialists, technologists and other human resources
required for the effective
execution of government policies and programs at all
levels;
* accelerating
the decentralisation process;
* preserving the
independence and freedom of the Press and the electronic media
and facilitating their access to information.
* Implementing
with commitment and competence appropriate policies and measures for
solving the socio-economic, political and cultural
problems of the country.
* Reviewing on-going measures at appropriate intervals to
identify ways of improving upon
implementation or better paths to achievement of the
envisaged objectives.
4.6.0 Decentralisation And Local Government
4.6.1 Much of the political frustration in Ghana
since independence can be traced to the
excessive centralization of
government and governmental power in the capital. This has led
to a situation where local
government, which should be the cradle of political development and
a ninety for the development
of politicians, has been virtually non-existent. At another level,
people have to travel
hundreds of miles to Accra for many services which should be within
easy reach anywhere in the
country .
4.6.2 The NPP believes in the decentralization of
government and the bureaucracy. The
decentralization policy,
which was initiated by the NPP tradition, is premised on the
assumption that:
a. development should respond to people's problems and reflect
their goals, objectives
and priorities:
development is a shared responsibility between central
government, local government,
NGOs and the people - especially those in the rural areas
where the majority live;
c. virile local government institutions are necessary to provide
focal points of local
energies, enthusiasm, initiative and organization.
4.6.3 The NDC government has
not lived up to the spirit of the Constitutional provisions on
decentralization. It was not expected, for example, that the
President would appoint a third
of the membership of the
District Assemblies in the manner in which this has been done; or
to vet nominees of
"interest groups in the districts' who have been invited to name their
representatives - The NPP disagrees with the present
arrangement for the appointment and
removal of District Chief
Executives; ultimately, they will have to be freely elected.
39
4.6.4 The NPP government will correct the
anomalies that have undermined effective
decentralization. It will provide more resources for the local
authorities at the Regional,
District and local levels to support their planning functions and
in the delivery of health,
education and other services such as providing good drainage and
sanitation and managing the
environment. Towards this end, the NPP government will increase
the share of resources
going to the Districts from 5% to 7.5% whilst encouraging the
Districts to raise and properly
manage their own funds.
4.6.5 NPP government will halt the abuse of the District
Assemblies' Common Fund prevalent
during NDC's rule, We will on transparency and fairness in the use
of the District Assemblies
Common Fund.
4.6.6 NPP government will
take steps to amend Article 248 of the 1992 Constitution to make Local
Government elections partisan. A partisan local government system
shall be more congruous
with the existing constitutional requirement of a partisan central
government system. A partisan
local government with elections held at or near the middle of the
term of office of the State
President has the effect of sending a signal to the ruling party
regarding the people's
assessment of its performance; and can thereby jolt the ruling
party to improve on its
performance.
4.6.7 NPP government will review District boundary lines, and
where necessary, create additiona]
Districts to ensure effective and evenly spread development of the
country - For similar
reasons, NPP government may subject to the constitution of Ghana
consider the creation of
new regions.
4.6.8 NPP Government will direct the District Assemblies to embark
on a massive manpower
development programme for meeting acute staff shortages in the
fields of financial
management, planning, and engineering. Under this programme, a large number of
unemployed graduates in te country shall be absorbed in the
District Assemblies. However,
to avoid over burdening District Assemblies with unduly large
workforces, contracts of
specialised services to qualified Consultants by District
Assemblies shall also be encouraged.
4.6.9 Organizational structures for carrying out development
projects in towns and villages shall be
improved in strengthen involvement and active participation of
Chiefs.
4.6.10 NPP government shall
encourage co ordination among NGOs and all other organisations
assisting development initiatives in Ghana.
4.7.0 Chieftaincy
4.1.1 The NPP agrees and will comply with the Constitutional
provision taking away the
recognition of Chiefs from central government and therefore
discontinuing the contentious
gazetting and subsequent manipulation of Chiefs by central
government. It also supports the
provision barring chiefs from active party politics, a provision
which derives from the dual
role of the chief in the social cohesion of the people and as a
rallying point for total community
participation in local government. The NPP government will ensure
that chieftaincy affairs
and related conflicts are kept out of party politics and
governmental action; these will be
handled, effectively and without undue delay, by the National
House of Chiefs.
40
4.7.2 Further, the NPP
recognises the indispensable role of chiefs in local government and
as the symbols of traditional
solidarity. 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 funds due to chiefs
to enable them carry out
their functions. The NPP will support the National House of Chiefs
to codify and systematize
traditional laws and culture. The NPP will give due deference to
Chiefs as authentic voice of
the people.
4.8.0 The Security Services
4.8.1 The security services, comprising the
Police and the Armed Forces, under the
administration of the NPP
government will focus on the internal and external security of
Ghana. Their main concern
will be the survival of the state and the protection of its territorial
integrity and its democratic
system. They will not be part of party apparatus. Security service
personnel will thus be
expected to show absolute neutrality in political conflicts and will be
guaranteed secure tenure,
subject to normal disciplinary measures.
4.8.2 The application of the
principle of the democratisation of violence by the (P)NDC has
created a situation in which
assault weapons are in the hands of private citizens; these weapons
have been used by armed
robbers and for threatening the lives of innocent citizens. The
powers that the commandos and
other para-military bodies were given have unfortunately led
to certain persons who are
close to government being allegedly associated wit armed robbery
and other crimes, such as
gold robbery and the killing of innocent persons.
4.8.3 The NPP government
will:
normalise civil-military relations so that the military will
be restored to its former full-
fledged professional status and not be exploited as a police
force in a manner which
pitches it against the civilian population.
ii. stop the undesirable civilization of the military and the
militarisation of the civilian
populace.
iii. end the misuse of military personnel for
settling private scores.
iv. grant a two-month amnesty for all assault weapons and
ammunition currently held by unauthorised persons in private homes to be handed
over to the regular army, and thenceforth outlaw private possession of AK 47 and allied weapons which should only be in Police and Military
custody.
v. ensure that members of the para-military forces who wish to be
absorbed into the
REGULAR FORCES will be so deployed and given a healthy
career and not be
exploited by any one particular individual or organization.
Others will be employed in
other sectors where they will contribute productively to the
economy.
41
4.9.0 The Armed Forces
4.9.1 The Aimed Forces have
had the traditionally-defined role of defending the interests of
the country against external
threats. With time, this role has been extended to embrace the
defence of the territorial
integrity of the country, internal security and international peace
keeping operations.
4.9.2 The NPP is proud of the
skills, courage and professionalism displayed by our armed
forces in their many peace
keeping missions around the world, most notably in Rwanda and
in Liberia. We are proud that
their abilities continue to be recognised by the United Nations
which continues to give them
an ever increasing role to play. The
NPP government will
embark on a serious career
progression program for members of the Armed Forces to further
enhance their efficiency and
combat readiness while in active service.
4.9.3 The 1992 Constitution, in Article 210 (3),
gives powers to the President to call the
Armed Forces to other
functions for the development of Ghana. So far the President has not
determined and defined the
areas of development in which the expertise of these highly
qualified, skilled and
disciplined men and women should be engaged. The NPP believes that,
in the task of development,
every Ghanaian and every Ghanaian institution is important. What
additional roles, then,
should the Armed Forces assume in helping the nation face the truly
major threats of development,
i.e., poverty, hunger and misery, disease, illiteracy, poor
education and lack of
adequate shelter? Under the NPP government, this will be a matter for
discussion within the Armed
Forces, in the first instance, and dialogue between government
and the Armed Forces.
4.9.4 The NPP government will
explore and clearly define this possible new role with the
Armed Forces. It should be
possible to tap the rich experience in organizational ability of the
Armed Forces, their technical
skills and discipline to help deal with some of these
developmental problems. With
the definition of this possible new role, the Armed Forces will
be adequately equipped and
trained to handle all their professional obligations with honour and
pride.
4.9.5 As a first step, the NPP government could
expand the existing Field Engineers
Regiment to Brigade level
with one Combat Regiment and two Civil Engineer Regiments
stationed in each of the
Northern and Southern Commands. They could be adequately
equipped, trained and
motivated to undertake the construction of roads, bridges and houses,
and the provision of water
supply systems in healthy competition with civil contractors.
4.9.6 The Electrical, Mechanical and Engineering
Services could be adequately trained,
equipped and supported to
establish technical and vocational schools in some selected
Garrisons and Districts of
the country. Similarly, the Military Hospital Nursing Training and
Hygiene schools could be
expanded to accept more civilians for training. In addition, the
Physical Fitness Training
Corps could be assigned the task of training instructors for first and
second cycle institutions for
the Ghana Education Service.
4.9.7 The disbanded Armed
Forces Farms could be re-established. The
Farms Regiment
could be equipped and linked
with the Agricultural Institutions and Faculties of the Universities
for training to be able to
undertake large-scale farming and fishing. Their produce could be
used to feed the Armed
Forces, sold to the general public and exported.
42
4.9.8 Monies generated from
the numerous social and commercial activities will go to the
Armed Forces. Other viable ventures could be introduced
on the basis of the success of the
first phase. The NPP government will also ensure that a
larger percentage of the monies
generated through their
peace-keeping role is paid to the troops.
The percentage that is
retained by government will
be judiciously used to provide the requisite accoutrements for the
Armed Forces to enhance their
capacity.
4.9.9 Improvement and expansion in welfare
facilities, such as housing, barracks, roads,
schools, etc. will be
seriously addressed by the NPP government.
4.9.10 We shall embark on a
serious career-planning programme for members of the Armed
Forces to facilitate and
enhance the integration of their officers, men and women into civil life
after their retirement. They will thus be able to fit into the
industrial and service sectors,
where their communication,
engineering and artisanal skills can be tapped. Their participation
in self-employment ventures
shall also be encouraged and promoted through improved access
to funding.
4.10.0 The Police Service
4.10.1 The Police have the constitutional and
statutory duty to maintain law and order in
Ghana. But today, owing to
lack of adequate resources and other reasons, there are several
complaints about their
efficiency and effectiveness. Morale in the service is at its lowest ebb.
The Force has a strength of
about 14,000. This means that the ratio of policemen/women to
the population is about
1:1300. In some of the more advanced
countries the ratio is about
1:400. There are many other problems: equipment
for data gathering and processing,
communication, mobility, and
crime detection are non existent or obsolete; command is over
centralized; police barracks
are in a deplorable state; conditions of service are poor: and in
some of the charge offices
even ordinary writing paper and pens are hard to find.
4.10.2 The NPP Government
will:
carry out accelerated recruitment into the Police Force;
the recruitment process will
include a careful investigation into the background of all
applicants;
ii. institute a re-training
program to enhance efficiency, improve discipline and further
empower all serving Police personnel;
iii. provide adequate communication and
transport facilities for the Force to enable
them improve their image with the general public and
increase their efficiency;
iv. give high priority to Police housing;
v. ensure that promotion will be based on clearly established
professional criteria and not
on favouritism and other unprofessional tendencies which
have plagued the Force and
lowered morale in recent years;
vi. take steps to establish good relations between the Police and
civil society and the
civilian populace in general;
43
vii. explore possible models of decentralization
and implement the agreed model.
10.3 The NPP government will
particularly emphasise provision for training the police to the highest limits
and provision of equipment and other logistics essential for efficient conduct
of police work. We will thereby
challenge the Ghana Police Force to render the professional service expected of
it by the people of this country.
4.10.4 We shall encourage the
growth of Neighbourhood/Community Watch Schemes and the
formal and informal
interaction of the community with the police.
4.11.0 The Prisions Service
4.11.1 Our prisons are
over-crowded and dehumanising. To the NPP the object of prison is
to rehabilitate not to
provide inhuman punishment to inmates.
4.11.2 The NPP government
will reduce the over crowding in our prisons by, for example:-
a. providing more open prisons; it will establish prison
farms in which prisoners will
be exposed to more modern agricultural methods and other
skills in order to provide
them with appropriate income generating expertise.
b. encouraging non-custodial community service sentences
where appropriate.
4.11.3 The prison service is
an important security institution. Its
security status will be duly recognised by the NPP government. We shall re-train staff to upgrade their skills
for better discharge of their duties; and provide them with facilities and
improved terms and conditions of service befitting their important status.
4.11.4 The NPP government
will encourage the participation of religious and other benevolent
organizations in establishing
income-generating and self-financing centres of activity as a
means of importing socially
healthy and income-generating skills to inmates. The NFl'
government will, through such
centres, establish "halt-way
houses to smoothen the re
integration of discharged
convicts into society.
4.12.0 Freedom Of Association
4.12.1 The NPP belongs to a
tradition which has always believed in freedom of association
for all Ghanaians. A
necessary consequence of this belief is the recognition of the importance
of a party or panics in
opposition to the ruling political party. Multi-partism is the essence of
liberal democracy and the NPP
believes that there must always be an alternative and credible
party of government. For this
reason, the NPP government will provide financial support for
the operations of political
parties and will co-operate with all other political panics as essential
organs in the governance of
the country.
4.12.2 We shall also encourage the development of
strong, independent and responsible
associations including trade
unions, professional bodies and religious organisations as essential
pressure groups for a
healthily functioning democracy.
4.13.0 Access To Information
4.13.1 In the competitive market economy which the
NPP seeks to create, access to
information for better decision-making
is a crucial element. Access to information also helps
to ensure honesty,
transparency, discipline, equity and accountability. The NPP government
will therefore ensure that
there will be easy access to all kinds of information. Information
will be classified to he out
of reach of the citizen only in limited areas.
44
4.14.0 The Media
4.14.1 Freedom of expression
is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Fourth Republic. The
NPP government will uphold
this freedom. Indeed the NPP government wilt ensure free and
diverse private ownership for
the print and electronic media. The NPP believes that the vigour
and independence of
newspapers, radio and television is a reflection of the confidence of a
people and the health of
democracy in a country.
4.150 Workers And Unions
4.15.1 The NPP government will encourage and
support the trade union movement as a
crucial partner in the
building of a viable democratic state.
We shall encourage the
participation of the movement
in the re-training and organisation of workers in an ever
increasing competition in the
global economic environment.
4.15.2 We shall help
strengthen the bargaining capabilities of the movement and provide an
effective machinery and
environment for free and fair bargaining and negotiation on alt work-
related matters between
workers and employers so as to create a new era of industrial peace
and ensure that the various
units of production are fairly rewarded.
4.15.3 Our policies and programmes for moving Ghana forward will confer immense
benefits on workers. We will enhance
the health status of workers and their households. Our initiatives will seriously address the housing needs of
workers. Our educational policy will
ensure access to quality education in rural and urban areas of the
country. And our national
apprenticeship programme will equip school leavers with skills and the mental
attitudes essential for easy and effective entry into the working world. Job
opportunities will increasingly result from our simulation of the productive
sectors of the economy. And an
increasing number of our youth shall enter gainful employment through our
specialised employment generating programmes. The increasing numbers of workers
will enlarge the base for supporting membership drives of the unions and
workers associations.
4.15.4. During the entire NPP
rule, programmes for enhancing productivity at the various
work places will be
intensively promoted and facilitated by the government to the relief of
investors, employers and
workers.
45
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 GHANA AND THE WORLD
5.1.0 International Co-operation And A Just
World Order
5.1.1 The guiding principle
of the NPP's foreign policy will be the vigorous promotion on
the international scene of
the vital interests of the country and its citizens, wit the goal of
achieving prosperity and
dignity for all Ghanaians and ensuring the nation's security. A
commitment to peace, understanding
and co operation, and an uncompromising dedication to
the promotion of multi-party
democratic systems of government will be the cornerstone of our
international endeavours,
especially in Africa. Emphasis will be
placed on economic
diplomacy and achieving an
equitable and just world trading relationships and economic
systems. The NPP government
will seek to establish and deepen friendly relations with other
countries, respecting their
values and customs and ensuring reciprocal treatment. It will not
accept illegal overthrows of
government anywhere in the world
5.1.2 The NPP government will
emphasise respect for the rule of law and human rights in
African and world politics.
Peaceful co-existence and very close co-operation with all our
neighbours, especially in the
West African sub region will be given a true and concrete
meaning in the quest for the
economic and social well-being of our peoples.
5.1.3 The NPP government will
make consular services more efficient world-wide. It will open
cost-saving consular offices at strategic locations to facilitate the
acquisition of travel
documents for visitors and
investors and to make Ghana tourist and investor friendly. It will
provide strategic and basic
information to project and sell the image of Ghana for the benefit
of Wade and other forms of co
operation in fields such as the arts, science and the acquisition
of technology.
5.2.0 West Africa
5,2.1 West Africa has
experienced violent overthrows of government and the resultant
political and social
upheavals, wars and instability over the past three and a half decades. The
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 of the sub region and
the security of our peoples.
It will promote dialogue and negotiation as a means of settling
disputes and resolving
conflicts in the sub-region.
5.2.2 Recognizing the
advantages of an expanded market for intra-sub-regional trade and
economic co-operation, the
NPP government will work towards the realization of all the
objectives of the West
African Economic Community, notably 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 realization of an African Economic
Community. The NPP government
will encourage all sub-groupings within the sub-region to
harmonize their objectives
and operations with a view to eventually facilitating the achievement
of a united and strong West
Africa.
46
5.3.0 Africa
5.3.1 The NPP believes in the Organization of African Unity and
the NPP government will
do all in its power to make it work more efficiently and
purposefully for the advancement of
the African continent and its peoples.
5.3.2 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 depressing. There have
been several man-made disasters resulting especially from coups
d'etat, civil wars and
dictatorial rule, in addition to natural disasters such as
drought and floods. These as well as
environmental degradation, poverty and ignorance, food
insecurity, the onslaught of various
diseases including HIV/AIDS have devastated the continent and
continue to threaten us. The
NFP government will work tirelessly, though the Organization of
African Unity and various
international organizations, to change this image. Within these
organizations, the NPP
government will, among other things, promote liberal democracies
and market-oriented
economies, play a positive role in the resolution of conflicts,
and promote well-argued
population policies.
5.3.3 The NPP
government will support the genuine aspirations of all African countries
towards the realization of Africa's developmental objectives. It
will therefore work within the
framework of the OAU 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 realization of
our goals.
5.3.4 The NPP
government will actively pursue the harnessing of Africa's human and
material resources for the benefit of all of its people, through
co-operation in the scientific,
technological and cultural fields.
5.4.0 People Of African Descent
5.4.1 The NPP shall continue to welcome to Ghana people of
African descent and make them
feel at home. It will develop close social and cultural ties
with our kith and kin to our mutual
benefit. The NPP government will reserve a special welcome to
those endowed with skills and
resources which can contribute to the economic and social
development of Ghana.
5.5.0 The
Commonwealth
5.5.1 The NPP is very
much 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 organization. The NPP government shall work in
close collaboration with
the Commonwealth Secretariat and the member countries to make
the Commonwealth more
relevant and meaningful to its peoples. To this end, the NPP
government will actively support
development-oriented activities and good governance in member
countries.
5.5.2 In line with the Commonwealth's policy on democratisation
and human rights, the NP!'
government will seek to exclude from participation in the organization,
non democratic and
non representative governments.
47
5. 6. 0 South-South
Co-operation
5.6.1 The promotion of co-operation among Third World
countries has been given further
impetus by the activities of the South Commission. The 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 and technology, as well as science
and other forms of culture. They will, in particular, be
empowered to promote active co-
operation with Third World countries that produce capital
goods and possess technological
know-how, managerial skills and other forms of expertise as
well as the financial resources of
the oil-producing countries for our mutual benefit.
5.7.0 United Nations And Other International
Organizations
5.7.1 Under the leadership of the NPP, Ghana will continue
to play an active role in all
international organizations of which it is a member. More
specifically, we will champion with
renewed vigour the cause and ideals of the United Nations
and its specialized agencies. Our
collaboration with other international organizations will be
guided, in the first instance, by the
* extent to which such
co operation will enhance our productive capacity and the well-being of
our people; and secondly, the extent to which the
organization s ideals and programs are In
* conformity with our
stated objective of ensuring an equitable international order with strong
emphasis on democratic values. We shall, in particular,
direct all our efforts in the fora of the
various international organizations at working towards the
eradication of poverty, hunger,
disease, ignorance, illiteracy, rising foreign debts,
deteriorating terms of trade, spiralling
inflation and unemployment.
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MANIFESTO 2000 OF THE NEW PATRIOTIC PARTY
IS PUBLISHED
WITH SPONSORSHIP
FROM THE KUKURDU CLUBS