Ahead of Ghana’s December 7 general
elections, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) launched their manifesto on
Sunday, 18th of August 2024, at the Ghana Secondary and Technical School (GSTS)
in Takoradi, Western Region.
The manifesto, dubbed “Selfless Leadership,
Bold Solutions for Jobs and Business”, was graced by the Party’s leadership and
rank and file, all-clad in outfits that drenched the “oil city” in red, white
and blue.
In their manifesto, the party highlighted
their commitment to fostering economic expansion, enhancing digital
infrastructure, improving public services, and promoting social equity.
Here are some key takeaways from the 260-page policy document:
- Economic Growth and Job Creation
- The NPP has promised to achieve and sustain 6% growth in Ghana’s economy by expanding key sectors such as Agriculture, Mining, Sports and Tourism, Arts, and emerging industries.
- They will also enhance the delivery of public infrastructure projects through increased Public-Private-Partnerships.
- The Party has pledged to create jobs for the youth through infrastructure development; industrialization; the National Cybersecurity Workforce Development Programme; and the introduction of an SME Bank to support small and medium enterprises.
- Other initiatives include setting quotas for the recruitment of persons with disability, and a Tax Amnesty Programme for businesses.
- Reducing the Cost of Living
- The NPP is promising citizens food security
by stabilizing the prices of locally produced foods through financing and
guarantees from a proposed new bank - Development Bank Ghana (DBG) and the new
initiative - Ghana Incentive-Based Risk-Sharing System for Agriculture Lending
(GIRSAL). The initiative will improve the quality of production and
preservation of staple foods, meat, poultry and fish products.
- Additionally, the party pledged to reduce the cost of public transportation by promoting and supporting Electric Vehicles (EV) for public transportation; expanding the Gold-For-Oil Programme (G4O) to stabilize fuel prices; stabilizing the prices of spare parts through the “Flat Rate for all importers” policy and expanding drivers’ licenses to 10 years, making it renewable every 5 years.
- Finally, policies on accommodation, available and affordable power and accessibility of public and private organizations through the Ghana card will be implemented to meet citizens’ needs.
- Providing Better Healthcare for All
- Under healthcare, the Party aims to
complete all Agenda 111 hospitals by ensuring that every district gets a district
hospital. More healthcare professionals will be recruited with improved
conditions of service.
- Healthcare services will also be
digitalized, starting with making National Electronic Pharmacy platform (NEPP) interoperable
with public and private healthcare facilities; completing the digitization of
public healthcare institutions under the E-health project; scaling up
telehealth services and establishing two additional sites in Funsi and Kintampo
in addition to the existing 6, to enhance drone delivery services and to ensure
total nationwide coverage.
- Finally, each healthcare worker will be offered incentives to purchase one vehicle with an engine capacity of up to 1,800cc, while ensuring compliance with the existing deprived area incentive package for health workers.
- Implementing Wide-Ranging Tax Reforms
- The NPP plans to implement tax reforms including the introduction of a one-time tax amnesty for all, a flat rate tax system in Ghana as it is done in Estonia and reduce Withholding Tax (WHT) for small-scale gold exports to 1% to discourage smuggling.
- The party also promises to abolish the tax on betting, digitize all aspects of tax administration to reduce leakages, improve efficiency and ease filing, as well as, harmonize port charges to align with charges in competing regional ports, particularly Togo.
- Expanding Educational Opportunities for All
The NPP seeks to improve and expand
education by implementing the following:
- Introduce a Free Tertiary Education Scholarship
for PWDs.
- Address housing deficit in public
universities by increasing student accommodation.
- Establish an Open University
- Exempt students who secure jobs immediately
after tertiary education from taking part in the National Service program.
- Protect and enhance the free SHS/TVET policies.
- Expanding Public Infrastructure Through
Partnerships
- If elected, the NPP plans to commence the
development of the Cape Coast Airport for which funding has been secured under
the Korean $2billion facility. The Government will also partner the private
sector to build an airport in the Upper East Region in their next
administration.
- There are also plans to develop a railway
network across the country with strategic focus on the Western and Eastern line
in the medium term through private partnerships.
- The Party pledges to partner the private sector to finance, build, and rent or lease-to-own public infrastructure, including schools, housing, water, roads, and equipment.
- The Party will ensure full implementation and expansion of the District Road Improvement Programme (DRIP), under which local governments have been supplied with equipment, to help maintain roads in their District.
- Implementing Affirmative Action for Women and
Girls
The NPP has promised to fully implement the
Affirmative Action Act, through the establishment of a Women’s Trade
Empowerment Fund (WoTEF) to support women-owned businesses. Women’s rights in
workplaces will be promoted and protected through the enforcement of laws on
sexual harassment, enforcing existing regulations on maternity leave,
governance and establishing daycare centers near workplaces, including marketplaces,
in order for mothers to seamlessly re-enter the workforce.
- Boosting Sports, Creative Arts and Tourism
- The Party aims to establish a Sports
Development Fund to develop sports infrastructure, talent, and grassroots
sports programmes, including the revival of Colts football and leagues across
the country.
- They also intend to continue the
construction of artificial turfs (astroturfs) for every constituency to boost
the development of talents including juvenile football.
- Tax incentives, including a flat tax, will
be used to incentivize private sector investments in sports, tourism, and
creative arts facilities.
- Through partnership with the private sector,
the NPP intends to establish a streaming and digital management platform for
Ghanaian content creators. A Travel Protocol Service (TPS) will also be
established for the creative community, to enable artistes, performers, and
other creatives, to honor international performances and shows.
- Providing Good Governance
- The number of ministers will be capped at
50 under a Bawumia-led NPP government.
- The Party also plans to implement the
election of MMDCEs through universal adult suffrage to enhance
decentralization.
- Parliament and other stakeholders will be
engaged to review the 1992 constitution
Conclusion
The NPP’s 2024 manifesto highlighted strategies intended to be applied in implementing policies towards economic growth, job creation, good governance, education, cost of living, among others. Just as we wrote in the NDC’s youth manifesto article, the issues and challenges in bringing this policy document to life in the next 4 years remain the same – Ghana finds itself in a fiscal hole. Even though the vice president and his party claim their plan will save the country some $1.9bn, their planned grandiose spending like construction of airports and other capital expenditures raises the question of whether those savings will be enough to help deliver their plan.
Download the full NPP manifesto at the end of this article.
This article is part of Penplusbytes' informational series ahead of Ghana's 2024 General Elections, implemented as part of our Voters' Compass project, under the African Elections Project. This is being done in partnership with VoteSwiper and supported with German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), zivik Funding Programme.
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