President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
Since the New Patriotic Party won the 2016 general elections, and was inducted into office, it has shown faith in respecting research reports, as responsible organisation and government.
Reports from research and studies offer every serious individual or organisation a yardstick of performance or knowledge of how far it has come, and what hurdles confront them in their efforts to attain given goals.
Research or knowledge of one’s environment and performance is as old as civilisation, and is known to have helped in taking critical decisions to advance human interest, or giving an indication as the direction of the certain course of action.
Post-Rawlings
The role of research in leading opposition parties and incumbent administrations accessing themselves and opponents have been an important element in campaigns and planning of political activities, including choice of flagbearer and Member of Parliament aspirants.
That is imperative in every political party appointing strategists with research backgrounds to fill certain positions in strengthening a party’s effort in effectively fighting and maintaining tempo and relevance.
When exiting President JJ Rawlings directed party guns to search for a flagbearer to succeed him after Kow Nkensen Arkaah, the motive was about the future of the party. It was the same reason that informed the quest for a running mate that brought on John Mahama and, later after JEA Mills death, a cadre in the person of Kwesi Amissah-Arthur, in giving the party a healthy blend of old and new leadership.
Global partnerships
Ghana, after 2000, began attracting global interest, and it was because it had endeared itself to the international community as a serious player ready to play by the books.
From Kwesi Botchwey and Kwame Peprah, through Osafo-Maafo and down to Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu and Dr. Kwabena Duffuor and Seth Tekper to Ken Ofori-Atta, reports on Ghana’s economic performance has not only excited global rating agencies and the development community but also the leadership of the two leading political parties.
Though we have witnessed a situation where such information has sounded unpalatable for political consumption, the reality has been that such records have been considered sacrosanct, notwithstanding any modes in calculation or indices that may have been ignored in arriving at fair conclusions, as we found in the government’s response to last Bloomberg Report on Ghana.
Current growth data
That is why conversations on the economy or other such critical national issues ought to be led by experts, rather than noisy fringe elements out there just for the sake of being out there.
The report on Ghana’s GDP growth record of 5.4% for 2021, against various forecasts, and refreshing indices proving that we can sustain our debt management capacity should be a note of caution on the part of local naysayers to revise their notes.
Only a few days ago, we had the Minority filing a petition at the Supreme Court seeking to injunct government from rolling out the novel E-Levy revenue mobilisation policy. That was aside the unholy babbling from the Legislature that had characterised proceedings and subsequent four whole months’ delay in implementation.
Proving a point
Back in 2013, when the NDC foisted an IMF programme on Ghana, none thought that government, without sufficient policy backing, could move the economy from a taxation to a production-based structuring to grow a double of what the predecessor government made from an eight per cent.
And when the whole world grew negative during the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic, nobody dreamt that Ghana could scoop a positive. Yet, a segment of our literate political class had been making a heck of the economic situation as if Hell itself had been imported into Ghana by the government.
While we at the Daily Statesman commend government for putting in great effort in ensuring a fast growth of the economy again, we would still urge managers of the relevant sectors, particularly agriculture, manufacturing and food security, to do more to sustain the gains.
At this point when we have the records to refer to, we believe the NDC would be sincere in its noise. We also want Ghanaians to take note of the hope the government offers into the future as far as the management of the economy is concerned, in spite the current challenges.
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