Matters Arising From Budget 2009 And State of the Nations Address

Hon. Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, MP for Takoradi

The birth of nation Ghana, gave hope to the many Ghanaians who felt there was a need for freedom to manage our own affairs. Governments have come and gone, from Dr Kwame Nkrumah, who had huge account balance to Dr Jerry John Rawlings, who came to power through the barrel of a gun to president Kuffour who gave Ghana economic freedom.

Today the mantle of leadership has fallen on the laps of his Excellency President John Atta-Mills who has promised prosperity for all Ghanaians in four years. As a matter of national duty he has presented his sessional address followed by a budget statement setting out his vision for the country on how to achieve his prosperity for all agenda. Yet the sessional address and the budget have been premised on an NDC manifesto, the authenticity of which is in doubt.

In going through these two statements, there are four key areas that I have an interest; namely; Youth, Oil, education and private sector.

The Youth Of Ghana

The youth of this country constitute over 60% of the population; they are the heartbeat of the country and the future of our great nation. Their contribution to national development can not be over emphasised. From Hon Kofi Barko, Hon. J. H Mensah, Madam Esther Ocloo an industralist since the 1950s, to Charles Cobbinah of Orped, Moses Baiden of Margins, Comfort Ocran of legacy and legacy, Wilson Arthur of Skyy groups of companies to Joseph Agyapong of Zoomlion and many more.

Going through the address it is realised that while 15 lines where devoted to sport only three lines were devoted to the youth. I believe that the agenda for the youth is sport and not real empowerment with vision and resources. In fact the youth of Ghana want to be productive, noticed and encouraged to play key roles in national development. If the youth make up 60% of the population, then our ability as a nation to move the country forward is to tackle the issues of the youth.

The most pressing of these issues is unemployment. While we would like to commend president kuuorr for the national youth employment program, which has also been acknowledged by the TUC as one of the major employment intervention by a Ghanaian government in living memory, the current sessional address and the budget have no plans of expanding it, except to mention a review.

Therefore the obvious implication for youth unemployment is to set up our own businesses using skills and knowledge acquired so as to ensure a generation full of promise, initiative and entrepreneurship. However, capital remains a challenge and where it is available it is small and eroded by inflation and foreign exchange losses. It is for this reason that the national youth fund must be reactivated, decentralised and equally shared amongst the districts of Ghana without central government or organization encumbrances attached.

The other significant challenge facing the youth is education. Educational challenge may be for the formal or informal sectors. The most serious being the informal sector due to lack of a well managed national apprentice scheme that set equal, proper and quality standards for all Ghanaians and its implication for the growth and development of the country. This is so because the informal sector engagement covers about 70% of Ghanaians in employment and thus a major source of social control.

Moving this further, there is therefore the need for life long learning, and this call for the establishment of an open university in Ghana to support apprenticeship training and refresher for master craft men and women. My proposed host of such a university is Takoradi, the host of our emerging oil and gas hub and the third largest city of Ghana, but without a university.

Oil, Gas Management & Managing Expectation

Ever since Ghana discovered oil in commercial quantities off West Cape Three Points in 2007, the people of Ghana and especially those in the Western Region in particular heaved a sigh of relief that their quest for a strong economic base for individual well being had been achieved. In this direction it was therefore a shock that the president’s sessional address was not elaborate to even first acknowledge that a huge oil asset has been left by the kufuor government for the NDC government to increase it revenue and to boost GDP. Secondly no road map for Ghanaian participation and localisation of the local content. Currently as we speak, some companies have started operating without local consultations and participation, while plain truth information dissemination is primarily by non governmental organisations (NGO).

As a start, I suggest that the dissemination of information for opportunities should be done by government through stakeholder associations, setting up of a model oil service business, nationally certified training programs for appropriate manpower levels with emphasis on master craft men and sea men. Also non-formal education with emphasis on English for illiterate who desire to work, should also be considered.

Moreover, the proposed new oil service harbour is a must-do project to revive the fortunes of Sekondi and Esikado which houses the regional capital and a powerhouse of the independence struggle. Furthermore there will be nothing wrong if government through the various local chambers of commerce can identify individual indigenous businesses or government corporations to be empowered financially to enter the oil business.

Education:

According to Nelson Mandela, Education is the only thing that can ensure the poor man’s child and the rich man’s child can lay equal claim to a country’s presidency. However, the provision of education goes with a huge financial burden on government budget though the alternative is more costly. The current educational reform promulgated by the Kuffour administration has been accepted by the current Mills government with only one caveat, the 4 year duration of the Senior High School. To them the additional year is costly to parents even when parents have not been consulted. But parents knew before the start of the new reform, that their wards only had a 50% chance to succeed in the WASSE examinations after three years of schooling. Why don’t we add one year to increase the success chance to say 85%?

It is for this cost of education reason that all over the world marketing education has become part of foreign, international trade or tourism policy as a means of raising revenue to finance education, especially teacher motivation and facility upgrading. Ghana has all it takes to be an educational hub for the whole of the sub region on fee paying basis. There is peace, well trained teachers, quality delivery, academic infrastructure, hostels etc. What we lack is a policy and a marketing drive. there are so many examples from United Kingdom, to United States that can be internalised to our benefits and prosperity.

Private Sector:

The president H.E J. E Atta – Mills has affirmed his resolve to work with the private sector and it would directly be monitored at the presidency and seat of government. At the 100 days meet the press, the minister of trade and industries made it clear that the business of the NDC government is to govern, making it clear the private sector would be allowed to do business.

The economy, as inherited by the NDC is resilient according to the president as stated in his state of the nation’s address. Parliamentary hansard vol. 62 column 480 line 1. Therefore to whom much is given, much is expected. However, BoG prime rate has increased to 18.5 from 17%, inflation 20.5% from 18%, the cedi has depreciated against all major currencies, infact – the cedi is appreciating the dollar?", NDC MP for Juabeso, Hon. Ehi.

Besides, in the 2009 budget statement as presented on behalf of the president by Dr Dufuor, minister of finance, GDP growth rate has been revised downwards to 5.9% from 6.2% (2008 provisional GDP growth rate) or 7.3% This means our desire for a $1000 middle income status by 2015 has been pushed to 2020 just for political reasons and a direct contravention of NDC prosperity for all in 4 years (by 2012) and knowing very well that $1000 will no more be a middle income by 2020.

If the NDC should succeed in turning the economy around, it’s leadership should start make positive statements and gestures that build confidence in the private sector and encourage investors to continue to invest capital in the economy.

Also the government should stop having a scarcity mentality but demonstrate a can-do attitude; after all governments are voted into power to solve problems and not as a complaining machinery always passing the bug. That is why I find it heart warming when his Royal Highness, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on a visit to the castle challenged his Excellency the president to stand up and confront the underdevelopments confronting the country.