PROOF THAT H. E. ATTA MILLS IS A HYPOCRITE.

I know I am supposed to be continuing my analysis on the Green Book but I needed to do this to give my fellow communicators some perspectives to use. Please feel free to use it in whatever manner you want. Cheers. 

THE HYPOCRISY FILES

WHAT MILLS SAID AND WHAT HE DID- THE EXPOSE.

We must work together to fashion the requisite legislation that will help this country face and overcome her many challenges in these times of domestic and global uncertainty. In this quest consensus-building is vital and time is very precious.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

When the time came to practice what he preached, the majority railroaded the STX fiasco through parliament. The CBD loan was also railroaded through. Consensus was thrown to the dogs.

Permit me to acknowledge my predecessors; President Jerry John Rawlings and President John Agyekum Kufuor. Ghana is indeed grateful to them for their service to our Nation. We are also grateful to them for moving our democracy further along the path to maturation.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

Kuffour and Rawlings are yet to be paid their entitlements that are constitutionally their due. Ex- president Rawlings who is his party founder does not have a home. Nothing has been done to resettle him.

We will learn as a Nation to add to what is working, and to change course only when it is in the National Interest to do so. We will depart from the practice of undoing the valuable contributions of our predecessors. A house that is constantly rebuilding its foundation is doomed to remain stuck to the foundation level, never to reach completion and decoration, let alone occupation. Ghana deserves better.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 2.

Affordable housing projects were abandoned in the chase of STX housing which has now turned out to be an albatross around the neck of this government. Truly, Ghana deserves better. And this is one of the many abandoned projects. Our security forces still need a place to sleep though the affordable houses are almost complete.

During this administration, we will address transparency through a three dimensional approach

Ensuring the passage of the Freedom of Information Act

Expediting the passing of a National Broadcasting Law

Elaboration of a Code of Conduct in Government that includes key information disclosure, ethics and anti-corruption measures.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

The newly published green book 2 claims the fact that the Freedom of Information bill is before parliament is an unprecedented achievement. The broadcasting law is still languishing on shelves. The code of conduct is yet to be seen.

Regarding Parliament and Parliamentarians, we will embark on the following:

* The construction and furnishing of a standard “Member of Parliament Duty Post Office” in each of the 230 constituencies and the payment of an Administrator appointed by the Member of Parliament to man the office;

* The establishment of a “Member of Parliament Constituency Development Fund separate and apart from the District Assemblies Common Fund in order to release the District Assemblies Common Fund for the exclusive use of the District Assemblies and to remove one of the sources of tensions between the District Chief Executives and the Members of Parliament ;

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

None of these has even been put into a plan. For a man whose people are busy asking Nana Addo how much his free SHS will cost, do they know how much this will cost four years after they made this promise?

As promised in our Manifesto, we shall also introduce a Bill to amend the Public Office Holders (Declaration of Assets and Disqualification) Act, 1998, Act 550, in order to make it more functional and effective in ensuring probity and accountability.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 4.

Majority of His appointees have not even declared their assets as required by law. The plan to introduce an amendment to the law remains in their heads.

We will continue to respect the diversity and independence of the media and in shaping opinion in our democracy.

                                                Maiden state of the nation address of the ndc govt. page 7

The recent boycott of multimedia tells how much the president respects this promise he made.

to be continued soon

TAKING ON THE GREEN BOOK - AN ANALYSIS.

INTRODUCTION

 So the government has launched “Overview of the Better Ghana Agenda” and is daring all and sundry who do not agree to challenge it. I have taken up the challenge. I find it very instructive that the government thinks this book cannot be challenged and I will prove it otherwise. As the recent STX saga has shown, wisdom does not lie in the head of one individual so I will invite all comments and suggestions from all of you. Please send them to nkoppongdamoah@gmail.com and I will take all of them into consideration.

I have endeavored to look at the various sections of the book and challenged all that is within my knowledge.  This work however is not exhaustive. We continue to look at it and it must be noted that critique of this work must be ongoing through the years as some of them will be further highlighted over the future. ‘Green Book 1’ is beginning to expose itself so we look forward to the ongoing critique of all of them.

 1.       EXAMINING THE BASIS.

The introduction to the ‘green book 2’ is apparently written by the government communication team. This is a new creation under the Mills Administration and I will want all of us to do a critical analysis of this creation. On page 4 of his maiden State of the Nation Address, the president, H.E. John Evans Atta Mills reminded Ghanaians of his “promise to establish a lean but effective government”.  I will want to question the idea behind having a government communication team when we have a ministry of information with a minister and two deputies, a communications directorate at the presidency and other such institutions for handling government communications. Is there the need for this government communications team when we have party functionaries, ministers and their deputies and spokespersons for various MMDA’s all on the government payroll?

Also, let us examine the transparency in the creation of this body. The president adequately said that “Transparency in government and the fight against corruption are cardinal for sustainable development. During this administration, we will address transparency…..” (Maiden State of the Nation Address by the NDC Government, Pages 3&4). This particular creation of the government has been so non-transparent that it baffles all who bother to take a close look. A number of questions come up:

1. Who set up this team and who is the head?
2. Who are the members of this government communication team?
3. What are the selection criteria?
4. How much are the members of this team paid and are their salaries and allowances drawn on the consolidated fund?
5. Are they taxed on these salaries and allowances?

I raise these issues because the ‘Green Book 2’ document is hinged on the credibility of this group that we know very little of. More worrying is the fact that this group is able to use the coat of arms of our dear nation. For us to consider this document and give any serious thought to what it is that they are saying, someone must answer these questions first.

Having cleared that, it is instructive to note that no one person bothered to sign the document. The introduction to the book is said to have been authored by this ‘Government Communication Team’ but no one appended his signature to the document. The problem this poses is that the group pushing this agenda is unknown to us so perhaps Ghanaians would have been better disposed to give some credibility to the document if anyone we know had appended his signature to this document. It is a government document so if the minister of information or perhaps even the president had signed it, then we could consider it. As it stands now, is it fair to assume that no one in government wanted to put his or her credibility on the line for this document?  These are just broad introductory questions.

“The NDC government will measure its successes, (not that we are going to be obsessed with touting such successes) in the extent to which we shall be able to implement the policies contained in this Manifesto…”-  H.E. Professor John Evans Atta Mills (foreword to the 2008 manifesto of the NDC, 3rd pg).

Again I have to question if things like having a government communication team to ostensibly tout the successes of the administration is not in direct contravention of this statement. That aside, why are we having discussions of the government’s achievements without any references to its manifesto? Clearly from the above quoted statement, anyone who undertakes such an exercise is not helping the Mills cause in any way. The government made a promise to strictly measure its achievements by the policies and in its manifesto so the ‘Green Book 1&2’ is not good enough an analysis. They should do it again.

I would understand if the chroniclers who put together the green book document have a difficulty in ascertaining which manifesto to use. This is because the NDC withdrew the manifesto they used for the 2008 campaign after they won the election and replaced it with a new one, citing mistakes in the pre-election manifesto. Such mistakes involved promises to build stadia for all regional capitals among others. With such a situation, one can sympathize with chroniclers who for one reason or the other decided to leave all mention of the manifesto out the green book. Sympathies aside, such an attempt to divert attention from what must be done as a result of an unsolicited attention is disingenuous and must be condemned. The government communication team must go back and do the right thing.

 2.       THE ‘UNPRECENDENTED’ ACHIEVEMENTS.

The prevailing context of these are that within three years of governing this country, this government has been able to achieve some things that have never before been done. It is instructive to note that this claim of unprecedented achievements is sited in an appeal that Ghanaians re-elect President Mills. Thus logically, they are claiming exclusive rights to these achievements and so let us examine them one by one.

-          Ghana under President Mills has recorded GDP growth rate of 13.6%. This is the highest in the nation’s history.

COMMENTS.

Firstly the figure is incorrect. Just a day after this publication was graciously outdoored in pomp and pageantry, the Ghana Statistical Service released new figures that put the GDP growth rate for 2011 at 14.4%. Granted that the figure quoted was the previous official estimate, this is a pertinent issue in that a government that promised: “not that we are going to be obsessed with touting such successes” certainly could have waited a while longer to provide us with the most recent data.

Secondly, the context within which the fact is quoted makes it deceitful and almost fraudulent. Ghana achieved non oil induced growth of 7.5%, which is less than the 2010 estimate of 8% final or 7.7% initial estimates. So in reality, without oil, our economy’s rate of growth will have slowed by a significant 0.2% in 2011. That is just one side of it. The 6.9% growth of the economy attributed to the production of oil is only a testament to the lies of the NDC. When the announcement was made in parliament on June 18th 2007 that Ghana had discovered oil in commercial quantities, “Mr. Lee Ocran, NDC member for Jomoro said a similar report was made 37 years ago to the day that Ghana had struck oil, arguing that it turned out that we had not made anything worth jubilating about.” As providence will have it, Mr. Ocran is today the minister of education at a time when his government is claiming ‘unprecedented’ economic growth as a result of this same oil discovery. The fraudulent nature in which this government has sought to portray this achievement in political light favouring itself lies in the fact that it does not have exclusive right to claim this achievement. The discovery and initial works were started by NDC 1 under President Rawlings, continued under Kuffour and he is continuing. Any benefits and achievement under economic growth as a result of this oil find in therefore not exclusive to the reign of this government. The classification of this fact an achievement of this government is therefore an exercise in deceit.

Governance, as we have often been told is a continuing process. Benefits of some initiatives are realized only after certain times have passed. When the fruits of seeds sown by past administrations materialize within your era, please give recognition where it is due instead of attempting to claim it as an “unprecedented achievement”. Honest men do this.

-          Longest sustained single digit inflation.(sustained for more than 22 months and now at 8.6%)

Comment.

In recent times, as government has attempted to tout this as an achievement, various people have scrutinized it. I choose not to question the veracity of the figures put out by the Ghana Statistical Service because we have to build strong institutions to further our democracy. However those who choose to question the figure raise very serious concerns. Take for instance Mr. Kweku Kwarteng, who has stated that for July 2011, “for certain areas they have left some of the items completely out of the inflation basket. We went to Wa and we discovered that for Wa for instance, 11 items; pawpaw, coconut oil, palm kennel, pork, palm wine, men’s kente, women’s kente, things like starch, pyjamas, were completely left out of the inflation basket, adding, that the team uncovered similar situations in other regional capitals like Ho, Koforidua and Takoradi. Many of the prices of the items that were cited had prices of 0, Property tax in the whole of Kumasi is 0. In Bolga, pineapple price is 0, coconut oil price is 0’. This invariably means that no one pays property taxes in Kumasi and all the other items listed are free in the market for all to go and grab. As I said earlier, I will not question the institutional competence of the Ghana Statistical Service but we need to keep these things in mind when discussing inflation in Ghana.

However, I will dare say that the inflation numbers are not a reflection of reality. It is important that we note that our calculation of inflation does not take into account payment for utilities and fuel etc. Aside that, bear in mind that from the above, some of the things in the inflation basket are actually calculated as having no prices. Thus the inflation figures churned out have no bearing on the reality. In actuality, the rate of inflation is higher than what is being bandied about. How else can we explain a bag of cement rising in price from about 9 cedis in 2008 to close to 20 cedis in 2012 though we have had single digit inflation for the past 22 months. How also could the unit cost of a standard six classroom block have risen from 700 million old cedis to close to 3 billion old cedis in just three months? The payment of gargantuan judgment debts may have taken a toll on the economy of the country but definitely not by that much.

to be continued soon.

TRULY SETTING THE RECORDS STRAIGHT

In recent times we have been assaulted by some ministers and government spokespersons on a setting some records straight agenda. I know they got it wrong so lets try and straighten it.  I think in 2008 then candidate Mills set a pattern that should be followed when he said:“The NDC government will measure its successes, (not that we are going to be obsessed with touting such successes) in the extent to which we shall be able to implement the policies contained in this Manifesto…….”

        PROF JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS (foreword to the 2008 manifesto of the ndc.)

This is from the horse’s own mouth so some of us, no matter how biased, strongly feel that any attempt to “set the records straight” genuinely must look at the performance of the government in light of its promises. We must measure the ‘achievements' against the standard of the promises. That is the rational way to go.

“The NDC insists that we must plan a growth path that will lead to building a Better Ghana in which all with potential will be able to prosper.”

                                            PROF JOHN EVANS ATTA MILLS (foreword to the 2008 manifesto of the ndc.)

For me, the first question is where is the plan? What plan has the government told us about or rolled out for initial discussions?  Where is the plan? Or is it a case of good living made some people forget their promises?

For tonight, I shall only touch on the promises made in the area of governance. It took the first page and a half of the overview version of the manifesto of the NDC in 2008. I must however mentioned that my search for the full copy of the manifesto was very unfulfilling as there are serious doubts as to which manifesto is the real one good enough for consideration. For those of you who do not know, the NDC has 2 manifestos for 2008; one signed by their candidate and the other not. Interestingly, the signed document was withdrawn after they won the 2008 elections and a new unsigned one emerged with the excuse that the first one had ‘mistakes.’

I have lifted directly from the manifesto and not bothered to edit. So let us judge for ourselves. All commentary after question marks are mine to add humor or provide some perspective. Let us all judge for ourselves whether the achievements of the government are indeed ‘unprecedented’. I dare say that the failure to fulfill promises is rather the unprecedented thing about this administration.

GOVERNANCE.

CRUSADE AGAINST CORRUPTION.

1. Make no excuses for corrupt government officials:??? Muntaka forgery and embezzlement. Etc
2. Strengthen CHRAJ to fight corruption - even without an “explicit complainant”- ???????? this is still to be seen.
3. Revise the law on Asset Declaration to increase transparency and accountability-??? how many appointees have declared their assets, let alone revised the law?
4. Enact a freedom of Information Bill so the public has access to official information.???????the law is still a bill.

LAW AND JUSTICE

1. Stop the political manipulation of justice.?????
2. • Place an upper limit on the number of Justices on the Supreme Court. ????????
3. • Empanel all Supreme Court Justices on all cases for consistency.?????????
4. • Separate the Attorney General from the Ministry of Justice – for efficiency and transparency.??  - They are rather interested in judgment debt payments

HUMAN SAFETY AND SECURITY.

1. Set up a truly non-partisan, competent independent commission on the murder of the Yaa Naa Yakubu  Andeni II and his elders –for long lasting peace in Ghana.?? we all know what happened.
2. Support the Neighborhood Watch Program to boost the efforts of the Police.????????
3. Provide living space for effective police. ?????? where is STx

COMBAT NARCOTICS

1. reverse Ghana’s image as an easy target for money laundering and drug transport point.??- cocaine turned into baking soda. Tagor was released
2. Seize and forfeit assets of drug traffickers to meet national and international obligations.??
3. Equip the security services and anti-drug agencies to confront sophisticated criminals.- ???NACOB boss says noting has been done. His own party man. Mills says ministers have been compromised.

WOMEN  AND GOVERNANCE.

1. Strive to achieve at least 40%???????? Need I comment?
2. Representation of women, both in government and public service, as well as within our own party- FAILED

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

1. Apply scientific, objective criteria to the demarcation of districts (Not political) and align sub-district structures with the new districts.-????? no census results yet so how were the new districts created?
2. Review the confusing policies sub district and sub metropolitan councils could not apply.?? Does this even make sense?
3. Make the Urban, Zonal, Town, Area Councils the operative government unit ??? what happened to this one too?
4. Make government appointees accountable.
5. •We must return to the original intent – to represent the disadvantaged and marginalized groups, and bring expert knowledge.
6. •Require scientific, management training for the DCEs before assuming office.
7. Make the District Assemblies and local officials accountable to the electorate.
8. Apply the Constitutional Act that requires Assemblies to meet with the electorate before and after each meeting.
9. Educate the public on its rights and powers to hold the DA and DCE accountable – including through the process to revoke a mandate or put up a vote of no confidence.- their own foot soldiers are not aware thus their militant methods employed to remove DCEs.
10. Publish financial allocations to DA so that communities act as local monitors
11. Deepen the decentralization of government.
12. Stop tying the DA Common fund to projects dictated by the Ministry - allow priorities to be determined locally. ??? the exact opposite is being done.
13. Separate the DA Common Fund from the MPs Common fund.??? All of them were never done

PART 2- ECONOMY.

 AN ACTIVIST AND ENABLING STATE

Make investments in strategic areas to direct private investment toward important sectors.?? Basic problem with this problem is that the parameters are unclear. What is ‘important sectors’? this gives them room to play around it.

Reform regulations to be business friendly and compatible with rapid growth.??? Again the question is what regulations? So they casn always quote something and get away with it. This is clearly an immeasurable goal.

ACCESS TO MARKETS

Use all means possible to get relief in international trade arrangements to protect domestic industry?? Rather we are being told that govt cannot protect the industries, especially the poultry industry.

Amend the Public Procurement Act to favour Ghana’s goods in all public procurements??? This also never happened. To make matters worse, this regime has seen unprecedented sole sourcing of projects due to ‘emergencies’. The procurement law has been totally circumvented.

Achieve agreements with ECoWAS countries to provide aid in exchange for export markets for Ghanaian made goods??? They should show us just one of such agreements. Totally failure.

 Actively seek markets via the Exports Promotion Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs??? We have rather seen Ambassadors like Victor Smith who was on radio in Ghana on a daily basis instead of pursuing this goal.

FINANCIAL SECTOR GROWTH

Work with financial institutions to encourage lending to business operations.???? How do we measure this one? It is too broad and critically, nothing has been done.

 INDUSTRIALIZATION

Decentralize industrialization to the district level.??? Maybe it will happen in 2032 if we maintain Mills

Build on Ghana’s oil resources to develop industries such as fertilizer and LPG cylinders.??? At least over here, some work is being done but they cannot complete it in 4 years.

Introduce duty-free inputs for target industries.?? Again they failed to mention the target industries so how do we measure?

Develop limestone deposits at Buipe, Nauli and Nadowli for cement.???? We are still waiting. Maybe sometime within our lifetimes it will materialize.

Rejuvenate the textile industry, from seed production to processing and printing???? Still waiting.

Establish shea processing in all northern regions to achieve 50,000 tons per year.?? Green book two has mentions only one under construction in Buipe. We should therefore forget about the production capacity being reached then.

Support salt processing to benefit the communities and the petrochemical industry.??? This still remains a dream.

Rehabilitate abandoned but viable manufacturing enterprises, such as Kumasi Jute, Aboso Glass, Tannery and Coir fibre,

Pomadze Poultry.????? Not even plans are ready for this one.l

Explore an integrated Iron and Steel industry at oppon Manso.???? No comment. Pathetic.

AGRICULTURAL GROWTH

Create a District Agricultural Advisory Service to advise on technology and marketing.??? At best, laughable.

Provide supportive marketing infrastructure – roads, fish landing sites, blast freezers, cold store facilities, rural electrification – all critical for agricultural growth??? Green book one told us that funds had been secured for this. Green book two is apparently silent on this one. Another stx that happened.

Correct the quality and management problems of pre-mix fuel.??? The problems still exist. They are even worse now.

FORESTRY

Adopt a plan for public and private Plantations Development and Afforestation.??? It exists in the heads of the authorities.

Facilitate logs importation from African countries to support the timber industry??? Maybe we are importing invisible logs.

Ensure that timber revenues benefits the communities and the future of our forests???? Of course it benefits some people. Just not the communities.

Promote the use of lesser used trees (rubber, coconut and bamboo) for construction??? Still is a dream.

Develop inland and coastal wetlands and rehabilitate mangrove resources??? We are waiting.

Streamline the allocation of Timber Utilization Contracts.?????? What happened?

Promote added processing and investment in technology and recycling wood residues.???? Still waiting.

Reinforce protection and management of National Parks and other wildlife protected areas to sustain bio-diversity, research, education, recreation and ecotourism. ???Still waiting though we have apparently employed and are paying 10000 people as part of an eco brigade that only they know what they are doing.

Abolish investment agreements that make mining operations exempt from legislative reforms and national emergencies.??? Aren’t the agreements still the same?

Capture more income for the communities and for development.??? How? Hmmmmm. Plain rhetoric.

Expand and diversify the sector beyond the current minerals; provide fiscal incentives for iron ore, limestone and other industrial minerals??? (singing) we are waiting, we are waiting, we are waiting, we are waiting.

EMPLOYMENT POLICY-  we must notice that mention is made of a policy and not a plan.

Launch a major public works and infrastructure programme for job generation.??? Maybe they are still planning.

Train top SSS graduates from all regions of Ghana in ICT and mobile phone technology.?? Did I read all regions? yoooooooo

Require more products to be assembled in Ghana, to provide jobs and support a machine tools industry in Kumasi and Sekondi  for a sustainable manufacturing.?? Any legislation so far? We are waiting.

PART 3- INVESTING IN PEOPLE.

HEALTHCARE.

To allow for a one time premium payment for registration with the NHIS scheme.?? We are still waiting for this one too.

Register and give NHIS cards for infants at Birth registration centres?? Those women who have given birth in the last four years can testify that this promise is still a dream.

Target women between 15-49, especially pregnant women, to register???? Once again, the deceitful practice of giving immeasurable promises. Nothing has been done.

Apply improved communication and information technology to medical training??? We are still waiting.

Develop a reward package for lecturers in the medical sciences??? Still waiting

Facilitate construction and access to housing????? How were they going to do this? Stx? Just how?

Work with health care providers to create a workplace free of tension??? Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc on strike. Is that their idea?

Improve rural access to medical care.?? The less said, the better.

 Provide wide incentives for rural practice for public and private medical practitioners??? We are still waiting.

Build infrastructure to reduce traffic accidents and injury??? They will tell us they built traffic lights. Who didn’t?

Extend decent, affordable houses for a healthier living environment??? Stx is dead. What next? Affordable housing was not continued.

Prevent illness from contaminated foods and drinks by strengthening the fDB??? Cholera outbreaks have become a norm.

Train mental health care providers to address growing problems in drug addiction??? We are still waiting.

Integrate traditional medical practice into existing health care systems; increase support of research and cultivation of plant medicines??? We sre still waiting.

 EDUCATION.

 TEACHER EDUCATION.

Bring all teacher training colleges under Teacher Training universities??? Maybe in 2060

 Redesign the in in out system with the out segment a maximum of 2 aggregate terms??? hmmmm

Provide special training for preschool and Kindergarten level teaching???? Still a dream

BASIC EDUCATION.

Establish schools so no child walks more than 3 km to school??? Some children still walk 5km and more.

Abolish the shift system at JSS level?? Still prevalent

Provide employment and academic counseling at the JSS level to help JSS leavers.??? Huh? Fantastic promise but still a promise.

Introduce transparency and strengthen management and operations of the school feeding program;expand coverage to include all primary level education.????? We are still waiting.

SPECIAL EDUCATION.

Provide adequate funds to train competent personnel to support special education in the schools to

address Ghanaians with disabilities and special needs??? Still waiting

Collaborate with GES and UEW to organize teacher training to upgrade skills?????? Not even one.

Improve the supply of logistics for special education on a regular basis??? Still the same headaches.

Expand and equip existing special schools and establish new ones??? Give us the progress on this. Nothing has been done.

SSS

Assume water and electricity bills at second cycle schools.????? hmmmmm

Make information technology an examinable subject at SSS level???? Need I comment?

TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION.

Make a major policy shift to support technical education???? Where is the policy?

Students who do not qualify for technical or SSS after JSS will enter vocational institutes??? So why are some students still not having access to schools?

Build two technical schools in each district??/ we are waiting.

TERTIARY EDUCATION.

Rationalize and equip polytechnics to meet demands of the job market and economy???? Not an attempt. Rectors are complaining and so is industry.

YOUTH AND SPORTS

Provide District Vocational institutes, Apprenticeship Training and Production Centres and Job Placement Centres coordinate training, recruitment and placement???? Yooo we heard you.

Pre-pare a non-partisan National Youth Policy based on the 2004 Youth Manifesto???? Sekou says the policy is very partisan and non-inclusive.

Revamp school sports nationally.??? What has been done? More levies are rather being collected.

Support the establishment of sports academies and combat exploitation of youth in sports.??? Not even one.

Increase infrastructure for sports, with stadiums and gymnasiums in the regions and districts.??? Show us just one.

FIGHTING POVERTY.

Re-invigorate the Non-formal Education programme to reduce adult illiteracy.??? Ei ndc.

Increase inclusive development and accountability,-with an outright attack on corruption and increased accountability and participation at the district level.????? Woyome money. Waterville, cp etc. inflation of contract sums at district level etc.

Increase access to all social services for the poor: education, community-based health services,

clean water, sanitation services.????? The less said the better.

Address the problem of gender inequality:

• Improve access to water, sanitation and community-based health services for females.

• Achieve gender equality in education, participation and completion.

• Increase enrolment of girls in education and technical skills training.

• Introduce better-managed microcredit schemes.

• Proscribe and conduct public education on negative customs, including trokosi.

• Enforce domestic violence laws.

• Improve female literacy.????????? Lets look at this in bulk. Was the NDC telling us that they were going to set up special female hospitals and the likes or that the same old hospitals and clinics were going to serve both males and females? Were they going to build special female schools? Get special females only boreholes and pipes? Really?

Target urban poverty:

• Embark on a major slum renewal for improved housing and access to social services?? Where are the renewed slums?

• Provide a social security system for the informal sector?? The Social security reforms under Kuffour had already catered for this. This was opportunistic.

• Promote labor intensive industry to provide urban jobs.??? Where are the industries?

• Expand skills-training and job placement for youth to fill the job skills industry needs.????? Where are they?

• Reduce child labor.?????? Hmmmmmmm.

Target rural poverty:

• Improve agricultural productivity:

Build infrastructure such as road networks and storage facilities; Invest in quality extension services; Provide subsidies to targeted farm sectors.

• Promote simple and appropriate forms of transportation.

• Provide incentives for businesses and public and private sectors workers to locate in rural areas.

• Enforce accountability of local government and increase participation of the poor and disadvantaged.??? Again to look at it in bulk. Where from all of this? The supposed improvement is agric productivity is rather leading to increases in food prices in decreases in agricultural growth? And what does ‘simple and appropriate forms of transportation” mean? Walking? Come again.

PART 4 – INFRASTRUCTURE FOR GROWTH.

HOUSING.

Enforce land use planning and property rights, emphasizing District level accountability.??? Do they even remember they made this promise?

Set and enforce building and building materials standards.??? This promise would haave been very easy to achieve but nothing has been done.

Improve the distribution and access to imported and locally produced materials.??? Again how did the government plan to do this?  Private businesses are already in this business and they survive through achieving this goal so what business does the government have making such promises without showing how?

Facilitate access to credit for building and mortgages.?????? No comment.

THE NDC’S NATIONAL URBAN RENEWAL PROGRAMME

Upgrade existing slum areas, Zongos and historical urban townships.???? The famous Zongo promise that won them votes. What happened to mossi zongo? IT IS STILL THE SAME. Not one block was added.

Prevent existing city housing from decaying by investing in improvement and management.???? Again what happened? Nothing.

Support the continued social networks, traditional urban communities and heritage sites.??? hmmmm

RURAL HOUSING

Provide technical assistance and access to low-cost building methods.??? Very easy to achieve but nothing was done.

Promote erosion control and draining programmes???? Nothing was done.

Provide wall protection and roof loan schemes.??? Can you believe it? Loans for roofs and walls? Hmmmm.

Support cooperatives and trade associations to assist in housing provision.????? What happened?

Involve communities in planning, setting standards and ensuring compliance.??? What happened to this one too?

                                It is instructive to note that this government bank everything under housing  in the STX housing project. This project has now failed and so they have absolutely nothing to show under housing. Not one block. The extent of financial loss that has been caused by this government on the STX project is ‘ gargantuan’.

WATER INFRASTRUCTURE.

Establish a District Works Department to speed up water delivery.??? This also never happened.

Abolish the 5% contribution by Districts and communities that block access to water?? ??? never happened.

Provide incentives, training and logistics support to improve private sector provision.??? Never happened.

Set aside project funds for maintenance and establish spare parts distribution networks. ??? Never happened.

Examine the cost structure of water to favor the poor.??? Never happened.

SANITATION

Supply materials, including local materials, for latrine construction.??? Never happened.

Extend subsidies on latrine construction.??? Never happened

Provide hand-washing facilities at public institutions, especially at all schools.???  Hmmmm. Take a good look at all the signboards. They were funded by foreign donors. At as per this promise, all schools should have hand washing facilities.

TRANSPORTATION.

HUMAN MOVEMENT

Make MMT transparent and accountable – no more trying to trick Ghanaians about buses.??? Where is the transparency?

Introduce a route licensing system to regulate city transport routes to reduce queue times.??? Do we even know what this is?

GOODS HAULAGE

Pay road contractors in a non-party, non-crony basis.??? This is still the case.

Decentralize and make government departments more lean, accountable and effective.

focus on trunk road gaps:

• Western Corridor: Axim – Hamile

• Eastern Corridor: Tema to Bawku via Nkwanta and Bimbilla.

• Bawku Corridor in Upper East and Upper West: Lawra Tumu

• Tamale Wa network: Sawla fulfulso stretch????? These roads are still on the drawing tables.

RAILWAYS.

Invest in track repair and trains to move more passengers and goods.???? Never happened

Invest in management improvement and workers.??? Never happened.

Prevent an unhealthy competition between rail and roads that destroys the road networks.??? Very funny.

Modernize old rails with new size and technology, especially improving fuel supply.??? Never happened.

Construct a new line: Kumasi through Wa to Hamile.???? Never happened.

MARITIME TRANSPORT.

Convert to a landlord port system –separate the GPHA regulatory role from its commercial role as landlord??? Never happened

Establish 2 more landing points on the Volta River to reduce transport distances.??? Never happened.

Complete stump removal in the Volta to improve navigation and reduce accidents.???? Never happened.

Install more pontoons at Yeji.???? Never happened.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT.

Apply the anti-corruption crusade fully in the energy sector – ensure transparency and enforced compliance with regulations.???? 4.5 million barrels of oil missing.

Ensure enough and reliable energy for industrial growth and improved social services.??? National blackouts.

Make the Tano Basin gas project succeed and expand the Osagyefo Barge project.??? Still waiting.

Restore Volta Lake for more hydro-generation???? We are still waiting.

Invest in renewable Energy??? We are still waiting.

Resources - smaller hydro projects, solar, wind, tidal wave, biomass and biogas - for future sustainability and lower current costs of energy.???? Show me one.

ELECTRICITY

Increase generation to at least 5,000 megawatts in the medium term.???? They added 376 MW. out of that, 200 MW was added by the Sogun Asogli power plant.

Add capacity in transmission and distribution.???? Hmmmmmm.

Regain Ghana’s position as a regional exporter of power and gain energy security.?? We are now having blackouts on a national scale.

Establish efficiency in electricity production to bring down tarrifs.??? Tarrifs have gone up by how much? Almost 1000%

PETROLEUM

Ensure Ghana benefits greatly from its oil and gas resources????We have mortgaged our oil for USD$ 85 for the next 20 years. Benefits huh?

• Apply oil and gas revenue to priority areas of education, health, rural development, infrastructure, housing, and water and sanitation, especially in oil and gas communities.??? Can they tell us what they used our oil revenues last year?

• Enforce local participant provisions in the petroleum laws???? We are waiting.

Double Tor’s capacity toward processing Ghana’s oil.??? We are waiting.

Lower the cost of transporting fuel to Ghana’s regions.??? Is it true that the Veep has a fleet of tankers to help realize this dream?

Replace wood with LPG as the dominant cooking fuel and expand local cylinder manufacturing.??? We are still waiting.

Interestingly, at the end of the portion on governance, this was there:

HONORING PROMISES

The NDC is committed to implementing the objectives and policies set out in this NDC Manifesto. The NDC government will establish as Monitoring Unit that will watch and measure the implementation of the Manifesto’s pledge’s and promises.

 I want Dr. Tony Aidoo, head of this promised unit to come and set the records straight on this one. I really want to hear a defense for this one. Still unprecedented?

To end it all, this is what the NDC government said at the end of the manifesto:

 THIS PLEDGE IS OUR CONVENANT WITH THE PEOPLE OF GHANA.

 They jury includes all of all of us. We are the best people to judge. Looking at this long in-exhaustive list of failed promises, has this convenant been broken?