According to the institute, the target can only be achieved in 20 years.

“According to our projections, it will take about 20 years for the NDC to fulfill it targets in the power sector,” IECP said in a report analyzing the NDC’s 2016 manifesto on energy.

IECP said it arrived at the conclusion following assessment of previous promises and achievements of the NDC government in the energy sector.

“Based on the analysis of the NDC’s 2016 manifesto and the government’s previous achievements, IECP is of the view that, the NDC cannot achieve all of these promises in the next four years. This is grounded on the fact that, between 2012 and 2016, the government has only achieved 35.06% of the power sector promises.”

IECP among other things also urged government to implement power sector policy reforms to enhance private participation.

“The implementation of effective policies will enhance private sector participation which will speed up the achievement of the party’s power sector targets. Private sector participation will also help reduce the capital needed by government to add additional generation capacities to the national grid,” it added.

NDC’s key promises in 2016 manifesto on energy

Key among NDC’s 2016 manifesto promises in the sector includes increasing the stock of power generation assets, developing more sustainable power sources, encouraging energy conservation, increasing generation capacity in excess of 5,000 MW by 2021 and achieving universal access to electricity by 2025.

The party is seeking to construct power plants to generate additional 3062 MW.

The NDC also promised to embark on massive renewable energy production. Per their manifesto, the NDC promises to generate additional 537 MW of power from solar, wind and biomass.

Click here to read IECP’s full report:

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The President launched the manifesto in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region today [Saturday].

The NDC is now the second party after the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) to have launched their policy document with three months to go to the polls.

The ceremony at the Sunyani Coronation Park in the Brong Ahafo Region was graced by thousands of supporters of the party from across the country.

The three-hour event saw speeches from the Majority Leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin,  Gender Minister, Nana Oye Lithur, Labour Minister, Haruna Iddrisu and Communications Minister, Edward Omane Boamah.

Several senior officials of the party also took their turns on the stage to say a few words, including the party’s National Chairman, Kofi Portuphy, General Secretary Asiedu Nketia and National Organiser Kofi Adams.

Vice President Kwesi Amissah Arthur said a few words as well, taking a few shots at Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the running mate of the New Patriotic Party’s Parliamentary candidate (NPP), Nana Akufo Addo.

President John Dramani Mahama, who was the last to speak at the event described the NDC as the most peaceful party in Ghana.

Addressing the large crowd President Mahama stated that his administration had done enough to merit a second term.

“It is our view that what we have put out is the best plan that can move this country forward. I encourage you all to study the manifesto and vote for the NDC in the presidential and parliamentary elections,“ the President said.

We have been candid and frank with the people of Ghana and we have demonstrated that we take them more seriously even as we come back to them to seek a new mandate to govern this country.”

He said that all the successes the party has chalked since he was elected into office in 2012 proved that NDC was the most united and most stable party in the country making them Ghana’s best bet in the quest to attain economic stability.

“We invite you to assess all the gains we have made since they gave us their last mandate in 2012 and relate them to what we have committed to do for the people of Ghana from 2017. We are confident that such an exercise would lead to the inevitable conclusion that the NDC remains the most prepared, most peaceful and most organized party today and is therefore the one party that can deliver on the aspirations of the Ghanaian people,” President Mahama said.

“I will continue to count on the dear people to work hard and win a one touch victory come December 7.”

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By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Photos by Godwin A. Allotey
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The NDC will today [ Saturday], launch its manifesto ahead of the 2016 election in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region.

Some of the supporters told Citi News’ Kojo Agyeman at the coronation park, that they expect the manifesto to touch on improving the lives and welfare of Ghanaians in all sectors including health.

“As a party, we can see that job creation is one of the strongest demands of the citizenry of Ghana, number two is healthcare and standard of living. So with the manifesto, I’m expecting that the policies and programmes in the manifesto would create huge avenues for a lot of jobs to be created for the youth,” Enyo an NDC supporter said.

Another member, Alhassan Ubatu, also said she expects to have more floating voters as well as members from opposition parties join the NDC after it unveils its good policies in the manifesto.

“By the end of this manifesto launch, we expect to win more souls for this party to vote for John Mahama. We are winning this December election,” she added.

Flagbearer of the NDC, President John Dramani Mahama, earlier this week presented highlights of the manifesto which he said hinges on four thematic areas.

The party says it expects around 50, 000 people to attend the manifesto launch.

President Mahama is seeking a second term and is facing stiff competition from flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is trying the presidency for the third time.

NDC copied our policies

Akufo-Addo and the NPP have accused President Mahama of copying some of their policies.

But President Mahama has rejected that claim saying their manifesto ideas are original.

“They [NPP] say the will produce it on October 8, that gives them enough time to copy as many things in our manifesto as possible. And so they are free, the ideas are there we have the ideas, we’ve been governing this country, we are running the programmes, we know where we’ve come from, we know where we are going. And so we have the ideas to make this country better and we will continue to do the work to move this country to a new pedestal and I’m certain we will win this election and that by 2021 when I leave office, we would have made Ghana one of the model countries in West Africa and Ghana will be the envy of our sub-region,” Mahama added.

Follow the hashtag #GhElections on Social Media for election related stories

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The Police say they don’t have enough officers and logistics to provide security for the protestors as it coincides with the governing National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) manifesto launch in the area.

NDC members will be in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region on Saturday to official launch their 2016 manifesto.

But the Coordinator of the Aggrieved DKM customers, Maxwell Mahama told Citi News they are determined to go ahead with their planned demonstration.

“Whoever attempts to give approval will be in breach of the Public Order Act and even the 1992 Constitution. We don’t give approval when somebody wants to embark on demonstration, there is approval and there is notification or even permission.”

He continued that “the law is clear that we should notify the Police and we have done that according to law but the Police cannot say they will give us approval that is out of law, respectfully. Whether they will give us protection or not, we can also give ourselves protection. It is also in the law; we will give self-protection to ourselves.”

Background

Millions of cash deposited by customers of DKM were locked up, following the Bank of Ghana (BoG)’s move in 2015 to stop the company from operating over concerns that it was violating the microfinance regulations.

Hundreds of customers of DKM have over the months hit the streets over their locked up cash while others have threatened to vote out President John Mahama if he is unable to ensure their locked up cash are paid them.

Customers receive refund 

The BoG has began refunding the locked up funds to the aggrieved DKM customers beginning this month, September.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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President John Mahama during his presentation of the highlights of the National Democratic Congress’ 2016 manifesto said, if he is re-elected in the December 7 general elections, he will invest massively in the sector.

The infographic below highlights some of the President’s major plans to revive the sector.

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By: Nana Boakye-Yiadom/Vivian Kai Lokko

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According to the president, he directly participated in the drafting of the NDC 2016 manifesto and can vouch for its originality.

“I was directly involved in writing the manifesto for the NDC and so I know everything that is in that manifesto because I participated. People did not just write it and bring it to me; I participated in writing that manifesto so when somebody says we have plagiarized their manifesto I don’t think he understands plagiarism. Plagiarism is if you steal from a known document and put in another document. But there is no document known as NPP manifesto that we know about so how can we have plagiarized from a document that does not exist. If that document exists produce it today,” he dared the NPP.

President John Mahama on Tuesday presented highlights of the NDC’s 2016 manifesto prior to the official launch on Saturday.

He has subsequently been accused by the NPP of copying their policy ideas especially plans for the provision of some social amenities.

But while addressing chiefs and members of the Ga Traditional Council as well as NC supporters at the Ga Mantse Palace in Kaneshie today [Thursday], President Mahama said he is hopeful Ghanaians would give him a second term mandate on December 7.

“They [NPP] say the will produce it on October 18, that gives them enough time to copy as many things in our manifesto as possible. And so they are free, the ideas are there we have the ideas, we’ve been governing this country, we are running the programmes, we know where we’ve come from, we know where we are going. And so we have the ideas to make this country better and we will continue to do the work to move this country to a new pedestal and I’m certain we will win this election and that by 2021 when I leave office, we would have made Ghana one of the model countries in West Africa and Ghana will be the envy of our sub-region,” Mahama added.

NDC manifesto rehash of failed old promises – NPP

The Communications Director of the NPP, Nana Akomea, on Wedesday accused the NDC of “stealing” ideas from the NPP’s manifesto.

He said the NDC “steals our policies and cannot implement them. They even stole the title of our manifesto. So they have no deep attachment to the principles necessary to drive the promises they give. To them politics is all about ways and means. Nothing to do with actually making lives better.”

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By: Godwin A. Allotey & Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Kayayei, an ethnic Ga word, is a trade often undertaken by thousands of young female adults who migrate from the northern Ghana to cities like Accra and Kumasi.

The practice has been in existence in Ghana for decades and children between ages 15 to 18 and adults 45 years and above, engage in what is described as a hand-to-mouth job.

Analysts have suggested the need for government to make the northern part of Ghana economically viable and habitable to minimize the migration.

But presenting the highlights of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) 2016 manifesto in Accra on Tuesday, President Mahama said he intends to employ to about 10,000 of the head porters to give them a decent living.

According to him, the Kayayei will be part of a new employment model under the newly established Youth Employment Agency (YEA).

Available research data indicates that some of these Kayayei work in chop-bars (local restaurants), hawk on the streets, assist market women in trading, act as shop assistants and engage in other domestic chores, sometimes menial, just to make ends meet.

Most of them are considered to be non-literate, school dropouts, or young females who have escaped from outmoded socio-cultural practices such as forced marriages and female genital mutilation (female circumcision) among others.

They live in the streets and in open places whiles engaging in menial jobs such as carrying of heavy loads on their heads.

I’ll provide free hostel facilities for Kayayei-Nana Addo

Flagbearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the 2016 general election, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, had also promised to provide free hostel accommodation for Kayayei if elected as president.

This, Nana Akufo-Addo explained, will give decent accommodation to the Kayayei and save them from sleeping under perilous living conditions.

Nana Addo’s promise is an insult to Kayayei-Mahama

Following Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise to accommodate the Kayayei, President Mahama told the NPP flagbearer to find a better way of alleviating the hardships of the head potters.

He described Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise as the “most insulting” pledge to the Kayayei.

Addressing supporters of the governing NDC at Savelugu in the Northern Region, President Mahama said the promise to provide free temporary housing for such vulnerable girls is insulting to the dignity of northern girls.

“Because you (Nana Addo) are desperate to win, you are promising free everything; I will give free healthcare to children under 18 years. It is being implemented already…He says he will give free hostels to Kayayei. That is the most insulting one.”

“So our girls should remain there and continue to carry people’s goods. If you have a sickness, you must go to the cause of the sickness; you don’t treat the symptom…So if you want to solve the problem of Kayayei, then you will do what NDC is doing. We’ve been to the South; we are registering our little sisters who are Kayayei there. We are putting them in training, we are teaching them how to be dressmakers, hairdressers, how to be able to do work with their hands, we are giving them sewing machines and other equipment and then we are bringing them back to come and settle so that they can work for themselves,” President Mahama stated.

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By: Awudu Mahama/ghelections.com/Ghana

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President John Mahama presented the highlights of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) manifesto on Tuesday.

Critics have said some of the promises and plans in the NDC  manifesto are similar to those proposed by Akufo-Addo especially his plan for the  provision of some social amenities.

Akufo-Addo had promised to create factories for each of the 216 districts and give all the 275 constituencies GHc1 million each to undertake developmental projects.

However, President Mahama on Tuesday also promised among other things to provide each pupil a tablet as well as build central markets in each district.

He also promised every district a compacting and shredding machine for plastic waste treatment.

Some Ghanaians on social media said Mahama’s promises were not different from Nana Akufo-Addo’s, but speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Fifi Kwetey, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Ketu South constituency denied the claims.

“You notice for example we are already trying to give every community that hasn’t got access to secondary school a community day secondary school, that is already on, you will notice that we’ve already made a lot of efforts to increase the text book availability to our children. These are things that already have been happening; it has nothing to do with this newly discovered desire of the NPP to bamboozle people by just mentioning anything that comes to mind,” he argued.

Akufo-Addo’s promise only to deceive Ghanaians

Fifi Kwetey also claimed that Akufo-Addo’s promises are only to deceive the public to vote for them.

“For them [NPP] invariably, they say it because they believe that the ordinary people cannot see through and that they can deceive Ghanaians and come to power. That is exactly the symptoms that is happening now, with one this one that, it’s just basically following the same tradition of trying to deceive people promising anything hoping that once you have access to power you can do whatever you want to do.”

We won’t steal manifesto ideas from losers

Both parties, the NDC and NPP, have accused each other of plagiarizing manifesto ideas with the NPP claiming that the NDC is likely to steal its ideas.

But General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia refuted the claim.

“I have heard so many people say that NDC is waiting for NPP before we release our manifesto. We don’t learn from losers. We set the pace. I repeat NDC does not learn from losers. We rather set the pace for them to copy”.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The amount according to policy think tank IMANI Ghana, would enable him to implement about 75 percent of the promises.

“From the ballpark costing exercise performed on the scope of the NDC’s planned projects and programs, as detailed in the annexes, the party would need to spend a sum of $24 billion over and above their 5-year spending average if they are to implement 75% of their full manifesto,” IMANI stated in a piece in which it assessed the NDC’s manifesto highlights.

[contextly_sidebar id=”alcqrb0T4INDSTUAfijSe4K4OAhai734″]IMANI’s assessment follows the presentation of highlights of the governing National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) 100-paged 2016 manifesto ahead of the official launch on Saturday.

The manifesto hinges on four thematic areas and cuts across every sector of the economy withe the president  adding that he will aggressively implement it in its entirety if his mandate is renewed by Ghanaians on December 7.

IMANI Ghana said looking at Ghana’s financial standing; $22 billion would have to be borrowed by the NDC government if it is retained while the rest is generated internally.

“From an analysis of revenue growth, donor appetite for budget financing, and other net positives, $22 billion of the amount would have to be borrowed and added to the debt stock taking this country’s debt to GDP ratio above 100%,” added IMANI Ghana.

Below is IMANI’s full piece:

President Mahama presented the highlights of the NDC’s manifesto in the evening of 13th September 2016 in Accra.

By ‘highlights’ he obviously meant the most important, most high-impact, and most representative aspects of the 100-plus page manifesto document he shall be unveiling on 17th September 2016.

IMANI can thus use this speech alone to analyse the most critical parts of the NDC’s campaign platform for 2016, and perhaps even make an input into the yet to be launched full version.

It is IMANI’s hope that this brief analysis shall present the general public and the media with an objective assessment of how the NDC’s plans for Ghana shall impact the country regardless of how extreme the partisan debate develops over the next few days.

IMANI’s IMANIFESTO program, which dates back to 2007 in various forms, has been designed to enable citizens navigate the election campaign promises of political parties in the midst of a highly polarised environment where the bulk of media coverage usually goes to the competing political parties.
There are four sections in this brief article.

I. Firstly, the annexes at the bottom of this piece, which contain descriptive notes we used to calculate the financial impact of the Manifesto commitments in the NDC Flagbearer’s highlights speech.

II. Secondly, a very basic scenario analysis exercise, which attempts to look at how the spending proposals found in the commitments shall impact what we believe are the three greatest risk factors of NDC rule, should the party win power in this year’s elections.

III. Thirdly, a d-day report, in which we examine how this country will look like on 13th September, 2020, should the NDC win power and implement 75% of the commitments in its manifesto without any adjustments.

IV. Lastly, a proposed set of adjustments to the NDC’s planned program for 2017 – 2020 comprising of IMANI’s policy perspectives on how they can avoid some of the adverse findings in this brief.

A. SCENARIO PLANNING: HOW WILL THIS MANIFESTO IMPACT NDC’S 3 BIGGEST GOVERNANCE RISK FACTORS

To predict how Ghana will look like on 13th September 2020, following a victory at the polls for the NDC on 7th December 2016, we first need to look at the biggest risks facing NDC rule on 13th September 2016.
There has been a sustained trading of accusations between the NDC and the political opposition. Various interest groups in support of and opposed to the NDC have also made all sort of claims over the last seven and three-quarter years about the character of the NDC’s governance.

But there are three issues or factors that have emerged over the last five years of NDC rule, which are supported by such objective evidence that no one, not even the NDC’s most loyal supporters, can wholly dismiss.
Not in any particular order, the three factors are:

I. Rising Public Debt. The escalating rate of public debt growth as measured by debt-to-GDP ratio data is a subject that has fostered a lot of controversy. From December 31st, 2008 to date, Ghana’s debt to GDP ratio has increased from 32.3% to roughly 70% (Note that by benchmarking against GDP, several variables that normally interfere when comparing economic variables at different points of time disappear.).

In contrast, Nigeria has a debt to GDP ratio of about 13%. Cote D’Ivoire has a debt to GDP ratio of about 42%. Kenya has a debt to GDP ratio of about 52%. IMF Debt sustainability analysis show that over the medium-term horizon all three countries have a declining profile of total public debt to GDP ratio. These are some of the key countries we are typically grouped with when investors are sizing up frontier economies. That we are not only such a glaring outlier today but is projected to get worse should worry us immensely. As we will show later, the trajectory of our debt growth is far from benign. This factor is a major determinant of the fiscal leeway of the NDC government.

II. Waste & Leakages. The alarming rise in the level of resource misapplication through maladministration; documented corruption (SADA, GYEEDA, SMARTYS etc.); poor value for money transactions (Ameri etc); weak state defence against contractual liabilities (eg. The ‘judgement debts’ saga) and costs incurred through poor planning, tracks the adverse findings of Auditor General reports of the last 5 years (showing compounded growth of more than 250% in the scale of financial regularities). This factor is a major determinant of the spending efficiency of the NDC government.

III. Slowing GDP Growth. Between 2005 and 2011, it was quite difficult to plot a clear and consistent curve for GDP growth in Ghana. The rate declined from 5.9% to 4.35% in 2007, rose to 7.9 in 2010 and then climbed up even further to an all-time high of 14% following the discovery of oil. The most consistent 5-year fall in GDP growth we have however witnessed since independence is most likely the one we have seen since 2011. Such consistency tells a story, and that story is the story of a lack of new growth pills. Having milked the last set of growth pills, such as debt relief, telecoms, financial services booms, and the oil find, to build a $40 billion economy, we now appear stuck in a ditch, frantically searching for the new steroid. This factor is a major determinant of the growth burden of the NDC government.

As far as IMANI is concerned, these three major risk factors of rising public debt, persistent waste and leakages and slowing GDP growth, when combined together, strongly constricts the government’s capacity to sustain investment without unhinging other levers of the economy (‘fiscal leeway’); affects the delivery of projects on time and within budget (spending efficiency); and raises the cost of living, offsetting the gains of infrastructure as real incomes fall and the living conditions of people deteriorate (‘growth burden’).

It is against this matrix of 3 risks and 3 constraints that the ‘highlight promises’ made by the NDC flagbearer on 13th September 2016, and detailed in the annexes below, were analysed to determine what the shape of Ghana would be on 13th September 2020 should the NDC succeed in implementing 75% of their manifesto without the adjustments proposed by IMANI.

In building the scenario, the first thing the IMANI’s analysts did was to compute ballpark costs of the projects and programs that in our estimation, fall off our medium-term expenditure trajectory, and which therefore are likely to most severely impact our finances. We computed these off-track expenditures based on our more than a decade’s experience analysing Ghana’s budget and public spending patterns.

Projects and programs likely to stimulate economic growth or address institutional deficits for the attainment of various structural objectives were isolated and their positive net effect factored into the analysis. Savings due to possible rationalisation or restructuring of existing recurrent expenditure were also considered.

Finally the impact of the new net spending, fresh overheads, administrative overreach, additional costs of controls, leakages, and the second-order effects of these parameters was assessed on key macroeconomic variables such as inflation, GDP-per-capita growth, debt service-to-revenue ratio, exchange rate, import cover, interest rates and credit dynamics.

The total effect of this composite calculations is described in the next section.

B. THE D-DAY REPORT: WHAT GHANA WILL LOOK LIKE ON 13TH SEPTEMBER 2020

From the ballpark costing exercise performed on the scope of the NDC’s planned projects and programs, as detailed in the annexes, the party would need to spend a sum of $24 billion over and above their 5-year spending average if they are to implement 75% of their full manifesto. From an analysis of revenue growth, donor appetite for budget financing, and other net positives, $22 billion of the amount would have to be borrowed and added to the debt stock taking this country’s debt to GDP ratio above 100%.

The prevailing composite interest rate for total public debt will exceed the current effective rate of more than 9%.
With the exchange rate hovering just about 8:1, the total debt service requirement in local currency will exceed 76 billion, a crazy 19% of then GDP, and an even crazier 50% of all Government revenues.
The current account deficit will be in the 25% range, interest rates will be galloping at 70% and inflation will be hovering at 45%, whilst domestically the government would have no choice but to start borrowing at a 60% treasury bill rate making the 42% recorded in 2001 look rather tame.

At these levels of inflation, weekly changes in the price of goods, shortages of fuel at the pump, rolling blackouts, and a repressive forex regime, would by now be commonplace and start feeding into the job market, as businesses rapidly downsize and investors nervously hunker in their bunkers.

Of course, things do not have to be this way.

The NDC government has the option, even now, before it launches the full version of the manifesto, to carefully review the financial implications of its freakishly long laundry list of off-track projects and programs by fundamentally reframing the strategy behind these choices.

It can achieve several of the targets and social objectives it has in mind by cleverly inducing private sector spending in particular directions.
In the next section, we provide specific philosophical suggestions as to how many of the party’s lofty goals can be attained without ratcheting debt up to the frightening levels suggested by the raw estimates in the annexes.

C. HOW TO ‘PUT PEOPLE FIRST’ IN A LASTING WAY

There is no doubt that this is the most ambitious ‘social democratic’ blueprint of Ghana’s future the NDC has ever developed.

At some points in the President’s address, one couldn’t help but be stunned. The promise to go back to the Kwame Nkrumah – era industrialisation vision and resurrect certain viable parts of it was a clear challenge thrown to the traditional Nkrumahist parties in Ghana that the NDC having for long laid claim to the mantle of the Osagyefo now intended to up the stakes further.

They have now even gone to the extent of promising a wholesale collectivisation of agriculture in their sweeping grab of Nkrumah’s legacy.

‘Farming Service Centers’ for every district that dictate every aspect of farmers’ work; ‘National Employment Centers’ to record the skills of every young person in the community; and polyclinics in every corner, are just a few of the nuts and bolts of this grand vision.

There is of course much to admire in a string of policies designed to make everyone happy in Ghana by dishing out goodies left, right, and center. Who in their right minds can oppose free tricycles for the disabled, tested and approved by the Ghana Federation of the Disabled? Or a complete eradication of mother-to-child HIV transmission through free and prompt access to potent medicines? Or a definite and conclusive HALT to open defecation by 2021?

The problem is that it takes management to ensure the timely design and coordination of the design of all these programs, to staff the institutions, to raise the money, to spend it effectively, and to harness the results to generate more resources to sustain the program.
Given the risks and constraints that the NDC is confronted with, which we have carefully outlined above, the overarching strategy behind its manifesto should be a set of policies that minimises those risks and helps navigate the constraints.

Programs and projects should be connected together and joined up in a way that achieves that overriding risk management goal. Channels for program management effectiveness should be outcome rather than input-focused; trigger incentives by enabling the right community relationships; and harness the country’s latent strengths not create a plethora of new, inexperienced, institutions.
In this light, the first order of business for the NDC is to build means-testing capacity into all the many, many, welfare programs that it has in mind so that scarce public resources go only to the neediest, while every beneficiary is encouraged in subtle ways to vacate the freebies as soon as they are able. Providing blanket free goods to everyone is the quickest way to drop efficiency. Celebrating the continuous rise in the number of children being fed by the state (apparently by more than 4x in 6 years) is not a viable measure of progress.

Without consolidating government departments and identifying those services where the government has no clear advantage in providing (example: processing licenses and managing their printing) and which should therefore be delivered by private service providers in a competitive tendering regime, there is simply no way to free capacity to deliver all these planned new services without doubling the size of the public service and tripling the cost of wages and administration.

It should be evident upon accessing the key ‘highlight promises’ in the annexes below that the NDC has a lot of room to reorganise the overarching strategy behind its planned programs and projects to achieve many of the admirable social goals that it has so eloquently espoused in the manifesto, from universal prosperity and security to gender parity and scientific advancement.
D. ANNEXES
I. Four Pillars of NDC’s Manifesto

Putting People First: Social services
Strong and Resilient Economy
Expanding Social & Economic Infrastructure

II. Key ‘Highlighted Promises’ & Some Assumptions

(Ballpark calculations are based on patterns of expenditures established under the administration over the last five years. Proposed projects are benchmarked against already completed projects of similar or identical scope).
1. Expansion and upgrade of 125 existing secondary schools.

2. Additional investment in vocational and technical training (direct budgeted cost was given as $100 million)

3. Free secondary school package to be extended to at least 200,000 boarding students.

4. National Apprentice Program to reach 20% of eligible beneficiaries.

5. Multiple campuses to be set up for the upcoming Eastern Region-based University. Main campus in Somanya. Satellite campuses in multiple locations, including in the Afram Plains.

6. All 200 Community Day SHS projects to be completed.

7. Student Loan Scheme to achieve 80% coverage of College of Education enrolees.

8. All schools under trees to be cleared.

9. Two cycles of 100% increase in capitation grants for 70% of eligible schools.

10. Early childhood learning specialisation program to attract teaching trainees to cover 40% of planned 2-year official pre-school initiative.

11. Pilot of one tablet per pupil project.

12. New facilities to facilitate official 2-year pre-school initiative.

13. 25% (30% target) of all new community SHS facilities to be equipped with equipment for technical training.

14. New bureaucracy in the civil service to support newly created role of Deputy Minister responsible for technical and vocational education.

15. 12 new training schools to train technical and vocational institute instructors (initial one in Agona Swedru). [IMANI projection of 12 facilities based on benchmarking with colleges of Education situation.]

16. Fresh injection of investment into new technical universities to enhance teaching and learning of science, math, technical and vocational courses.

17. Two specialised Oil & Gas skills training institutes.

18. Three new colleges of education to ensure sustainability of quota-free access.

19. Additional investment into new medical school facilities.

20. Expand public sector hiring of graduate teachers.

21. Create a new nationwide industry-academia collaboration program to facilitate internships.

22. Build a career counselling program across the second and third cycle educational tiers.

23. Increase the number of trained midwives at the current, accelerated, rate.

24. Complete the country’s second military hospital in Kumasi.

25. Establish a maritime tertiary hospital facility.

26. Complete the Wa teaching hospital in 2017.

27. Upgrade the Takoradi hospital.

28. Establish new hospitals in several district capitals, including Salaga and Konongo-Odumase

29. Establish both a hospital and polyclinic in Adenta

30. Nearly a 100 more polyclinics in several towns (at least 5 per region), including in Bamboi.

31. Tie NHIS funding to petroleum receipts, which in a volatile oil market would almost certainly require a subsidy from the consolidated fund to smooth variable inflows.

32. Complete the upgrade all the regional hospitals, including Tema.

33. 120-bed Bekwai hospital.

34. New, national mosquito control, spraying, program

35. Additional laboratories for traditional medicines research.

36. Relocation of Accra Psychiatry Hospital to Pantang and conversion into a world-class mental health facility.

37. Strict implementation of the Mental Health Act 2012, with its resourcing implications.

38. Two more advanced psychiatric hospitals, one in Ashanti the other in the Northern Region.

39. Youth Enterprise Support program to be expanded despite absence of independent evaluation of effectiveness. Additional 100 million GHS to be committed.

40. Azumah Nelson Sports Complex to be refurbished into a new modern facility.

41. New sports stadia in Upper West, Upper East, and Volta, Eastern, Brong Ahafo.

42. In each region one of the community senior high schools shall be fitted into a center of excellence in sports. Talent developed in these facilities shall feed national sports teams.

43. Electronic card system and database to be implemented for the ‘vulnerable aged’.

44. Electronic register of all vulnerable households to be established. This will require a census program.

45. 10,000 ‘kayayei’ to be drafted into the National Youth Employment Program.

46. Vulnerable aged without pensions to be granted a bimonthly pension under ‘Eban’ scheme.

47. New free tricycles for physically challenged persons. Prototype already developed and referred to the National Federation of Disabled for assessment and approval.

48. Additional increase in the District Assembly Common Fund votes to be reserved for the disabled.

49. Free NHIS registration with pre-paid subscriptions for the disabled and physically challenged.

50. A Government multi-channel, cross-platform, electronic payments platform to be introduced. This shall make payments for all government services, taxes, levies and charges electronic on an obligatory basis.

51. A new capital markets development initiative.

52. Provisions to be made for the protection of depositors’ funds in the banking system.

53. A ‘Labour Intensive Public Works Program’ to be initiated to employ 300,000 unskilled Ghanaian workers.

54. Aggressively invest in the textiles, garments, and leather industries. Lots of interest already seen from the Far East due to the ongoing relocation from China in search of lower cost destinations.

55. Database of all Ghanaian youth and their skillsets and employers will be given incentives to recruit from the database in regional ‘National Employment Centers’.

56. Implement feasibility studies of all the Kwame Nkrumah era factories. Aboso Glass Factory to be revived.

57. Masloc loans scheme to be expanded and sustained.

58. Expand investments into SADA, including provision for more than 100,000 hectares of irrigation-fed farmland.

59. Provide stipends to selected indigents in deprived regions.

60. Afua Sutherland Children Park in Accra to be developed to match the new Rattray Park, which, apparently, is now a ‘center of tourism’ in Kumasi.

61. Complete the Kasoa Interchange

62. Build a new interchange at the Obetsebi circle area.

63. Intelligent traffic systems to be introduced. Control centers will be built to oversee traffic conditions and manage vehicular movements in major cities remotely.

64. Master craftmen to be recruited and paid to train NYEP beneficiaries. Several garage complexes in Ghana, such as those at Suame and in Kumasi, shall be the sites for these programs.

65. Revamp the Agricultural cooperative initiatives.

66. The Youth in Agric program to be aggressively boosted.

67. Storage facilities to be constructed across districts to minimise post-harvest losses.

68. Farmer Service Centers to be established within reach of the 5 million or so farmers. The first 50 of these are already under development in collaboration with SADA.

69. Every district shall host a farming mechanisation center with a minimum of 10 tractors, all equipped with the full complement of implements such as harvesters.

70. An agro-credit scheme shall be established to serve all farmers.

71. All farmers shall receive inputs on a credit basis. Repayments shall be processed post-harvest through produce purchasing boards in the districts.

72. A new plantation scheme shall be established by Cocobod to attract youth sharecroppers.

73. Two more shea butter factories in the North

74. A new Cashew Board for Ghana, headquartered in Brong Ahafo region.

75. Cotton production to be taken to 100,000 metric tons a year based on input subsidies.

76. Free coffee seedlings to be provided to all interested farmers. 4 million of these are already being nursed. 6,000 metric tons of coffee are currently being produced in Ghana. The volume of production is to increase to 100,000 metric tons as a result of this policy.

77. Cold-chain infrastructure shall be deployed across all landing sites in coastal Ghana.

78. The Ghana Industrialisation Fund and the Ghana Exim Bank shall be capitalised.

79. More cash shall be Injected into Juapong Textiles following recent investments

80. A ceramic factory is planned for Buipe.

81. The Tema Oil Refinery shall be expanded to be able to produce 160,000 refined fuel products a day. This implies a crude capacity in excess of 200,000 barrels, more than 4 times current capacity.

82. An alumina plant shall be set up in Ghana.

83. A fertiliser plant in Shama is planned, and shall be fed with gas from the ENI fields.

84. Steel mills to be established to be powered by planned energy surpluses.

85. Additional 2000 megawatts of power (80% of total current output) to be added to the grid.

86. The shipyard and drydock recently handed over to the GPHA shall be refurbished into the foremost shipbuilding and repair facility in the Gulf of Guinea.

87. A Jewellery village and gold market shall be established at Tepa in partnership with KNUST. Value addition to Ghana’s gold is planned to expand considerably.

88. 10 large-scale water treatment plants shall be established.

89. A 30-km aqueduct is planned for Damango to enable the municipality tap the water resources of the Black Volta.

90. Barbering saloons are already using rooftop solar panels provided for free by the government. More such distribution is planned.

91. First large-scale biomass gas production plant is being developed in partnership with a Norwegian investor.

92. Dualisation of all major highways is planned. The first three are Accra to Kumasi; Accra to Takoradi; and Aflao to Accra.

93. two ‘bridges’ shall be built over the Accra – Tema motorway to replace current tunnels.

94. Outer ringroads shall be developed for major towns and cities, starting with: Tema to Kumasi (bypassing Accra) and From Kintampo to Bolga (bypassing Tamale).

95. The Black Star Shipping Line shall be re-established as a subsidiary of GPHA.

96. Feasibility studies for a deep-sea port at Keta shall be completed and if positive the project shall be commenced.

97. Phase 2 of the Kumasi International Airport shall be completed. A new runway for large-body aircraft like Boeing 737 and a new terminal shall come on stream.

98. Phase 2 of the Tamale Airport shall be completed. New Hajj terminals are planned.

99. New airstrips in Bolgatanga and Cape Coast (to boost tourism) are planned.

100. Work shall be completed on the railway line from Kojokrom to Sekondi-Takoradi.

101. The existing freight railway line shall be extended to Awaso and Kumasi

102. The Boankra inland port to be completed and adorned with a freight rail system.

103. The Tema – Akosombo railway line shall be completed.

104. A Barge shall be commissioned to complement planned infrastructure for the upcoming Buipe inland water port.

105. The Northern Railway Line to Burkina Faso shall commence.

106. Suburban rail systems are planned for Accra to Amasaman and Nsawam; and Kumasi to Ejisu.

107. New bus fleets to be procured for the State Transport Company, with fifty already about to be put in service.

108. The Bus Rapid Transit system has already commenced (Amasaman to Accra buses already in place). Known as the Ayalolo Express, they shall soon cross-cross suburbia.

109. Expansion of the Metro Mass Transport fleet is planned.

110. The Ghana – Mauritius ICT Park to be completed.

111. The National ID Card program will ensure that every Ghanaian receives an ID card.

112. A national integrated identity system is to be constructed.

113. The House numbering and house addressing system to be completed. The data shall be digitalised so that Ghana can replicate the GPS model.

114. A Western Ecotourism Authority is planned.

115. Every district shall have a compacting and shredded machine for plastic waste, and regional recycling centers shall be established.

116. All public buildings, schools and facilities shall use biofilm systems to manage waste. Biodigesters shall also be installed, especially in schools.

117. All storm drains shall be kept desilted.

118. Open defecation to end by the end of the term.

119. District-wide affordable housing schemes are planned. BRRI, Habitat International, and other partners have developed technologies to keep the cost to within 50,000 GHS for a 3-bedroom house, and 30,000 GHS for 2-bedroom house. The sub-market interest rate mortgages shall be managed by District Assemblies.

120. A special rent-advance scheme shall be implemented in partnership with the banks for people with a regular, known, source of income. Below-market interest rates shall apply.

121. All districts shall have central markets.

122. A Commission of Inquiry shall be set up to discuss the viability of increasing the number of regions in Ghana to 15

123. The government will modernise the Registry of Births & Deaths. Community volunteers shall use mobile phones to register all new births in the community.

124. A new headquarters for the National Media Commission and an expanded Media Development Fund shall support media growth.

125. All vulnerable households shall receive free set-up boxes to enable the switching off of the analogue signal.

126. The Fireservice shall be equipped with high-rise fire-fighting equipment.

127. Scanners on all land borders shall be installed, and the Police shall build regional SWAT and counter-terrorism squads.

128. New remand blocks in existing prisons shall be constructed to ensure that yet to be convicted persons in custody are not contaminated by hardened criminals.

129. Kumasi prison to be relocated and converted into a medium-security facility.

130. Public hospitals to be established under the Immigration, Prisons and Fire service institutions.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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