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For the Economy, Akufo-Addo at the Castle
By Kofi Akosah-Sarpong
You are a Ghanaian trying to figure out who to vote for
in the December 7, 2008 general elections. In recent
days, there have been row between the ruling New
Patriotic Party (NPP) and the main opposition National
Democratic Congress (NDC) over their manifestoes as blue
prints for development.
As the campaigns go, the economy is coming in the
forefront. The NPP said the NDC, which ruled for eight
years, mismanaged the economy, with ex-President Jerry
Rawlings and his associates behaving like children let
loose in a candy shop and scattering the treasury. The
result, argued the NPP that pride itself as better
economic managers, is that when the NDC left office in
2001, the economy was a US$4 billion Gross Domestic
Product but now at US$16 billion Gross Domestic Product.
The NPP again charges that when the NDC left office in
2001 the minimum wage of workers was US$0.50 cents but
now at US$2.25. The NPP further makes the case that when
the NDC left office in 2001, inflation was around 42
percent but now down to 18 percent.
The NDC, on its part, argues that the NPP has been
“glorifying corruption,” “chopping the kitty waa, waa,
waa,” used the international media to exaggerate its
merger economic successes, and that despite the shinning
statistics they quote to support their better economic
management, Ghanaians are suffering and poverty is
widespread.
In the run up to the December 2008 general elections,
the political fever rising, other political parties have
joined the economic debates. Paa Kwesi Nduom, flagbearer
of the minority Convention Peoples Party (CPP), accuses
the NDC angrily of mismanaging and selling state
enterprises established by CPP’s late founder and first
President Kwame Nkrumah without transparency and
accountability. Edward Mahama, the presidential
candidate of the marginal People’s National Convention
(PNC), attacks the NPP for “our people are suffering
under the harsh property owing democracy policies of the
ruling New Patriotic Party, Ghanaians need solutions to
their economic problems not empty promises.”
Consequently, how do the presidential candidates
demonstrate to Ghanaians who should be put at the wheels
of the state as Ghana heads into the December 2008
elections: Who would be the best candidate at the Osu
Castle to grow the economy in the face of global
financial meltdown, rising food crisis and increases in
oil prices?
As a Ghana development watcher, I have followed the
utterances and activities of the top presidential
candidates against the background of their parties’
manifestoes. Here is my personal appraisal of their
abilities for strong economic leadership against the
backdrop that Ghana is among the last 35 poorest
countries in the world where life expectancy is at mere
59.1 years.
Edward Mahama: Unpromising. With his socialist streak
and despite his dedication to his cause, Mahama, a
medical doctor, has limited economic sense that’s
unsustainable in the current national and international
economic climate. Real-world economics isn’t Mahama’s
diet and there is no clear sense how Mahama will use his
socialist credentials for economic development.
Paa Kwesi Nduom: Well meaning on his mixture of
socialism and social democracy program. Nduom is trained
(with PHD) in business studies. Business planning is his
forte and has been a successful business consultant over
the years. But in Nduom, how to marry a legitimate
social democracy commitment to real economic development
with precondition for strong economy in the Ghanaian
case is fuzzy.
John Evans Atta-Mills: While both the NDC and the CPP
are social democrats, there are philosophical
differences in relation to the PNC’s socialism.
Atta-Mills is trained business lawyer and former income
tax commissioner. As the offshoot of Rawlings’ military
PNDC that ruled for almost 12 years and believed to have
destroyed a lot of businesses, the NDC is seen as
anti-business, anti-investment, and has outmoded sense
of how to tackle the economy. This means the NDC still
hasn’t shown any remarkable strength and new ideas of
how to deal with the economy despite ruling for eight
years. Atta-Mills is seen as the dummy of Rawlings, who
has iron grip on the NDC, and who will interfere in
Atta-Mills economic programs negatively.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo: Since the December 2008
campaigns resumed Akufo-Addo has shown more detail in
tackling Ghana’s economic challenges. Akufo-Addo has
degrees in economics and law, and has practiced in
France in oil/energy matters. For over 30 years,
Akufo-Addo has tied freedoms and democracy to economic
development. Current new researches prove him right. In
his campaign speeches, Akufo-Addo has demonstrated
brilliant grasp of Ghana’s economic challenges, floating
ideas to engage myriad economic tests. A striking
example is the US$1bn Northern Development Fund that
seeks to engage the dare development challenges of the
northern regions. And since Akufo-Addo was elected as
NPP’s presidential candidate, he has proved that when it
comes to having a background, a basis and grasp of
economic issues in all their confusing intricacies,
surely it must be acknowledged that Akufo-Addo surpasses
any other presidential candidate. No doubt, Akufo-Addo
is convinced that based on NPP’s record, his party will
transform Ghana to the “first successful “African Lion,”
fit to rival any of the “Asian Tigers.””
If the biggest challenges facing your country are
economic development, who should you put in control?
Kofi Akosah-Sarpong,
Canada, July 8, 2007
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