"[The Party's] policy is to liberate the energies of the people for the growth of a property owning democracy in this land, with right to life, freedom and justice, as the principles to which the Government and laws of the land should be dedicated in order specifically to enrich life, property and liberty of each and every citizen".

CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction - The NPP

1. The Vision of the NPP
2. The Mission of the NPP
3. Our Motto: Development in Freedom

CHAPTER ONE - THE ECONOMY : BUILDING PROSPERITY FOR ALL

1.1.0 Poor Economic Record : The Cost of (P) NDC Continuity 

1.2.0 Our Commitment to Change 

1.3.0 Objectives of the NPP's Economic Program for Jobs, Economic Security and Empowerment

1.4.0 Specific Policies

1. Economic Management
2. Stabilizing the Exchange Rate
3. Bringing Down Inflation and the High Cost of Living
4. Finance and Financial Services
5. Wages and Remunerations
6. Unemployment and Job Creation
7. Housing and Home Ownership
8. Divestiture and Privation
9. Promoting Investment
10. Promoting Industrial Development

 1.5.0 Small-Scale Business and Self-Employment

1. Boosting Our Exports
2. Tourism
3. Developing Our Infrastructure
4. Integrated Rural Development
5. Developing Agriculture
6. Fisheries
7. The Environment
8. Urban Renewal
9. Management and Development of Natural Resources
10. Exploiting Our Mineral Resources
11. Developing Our Energy Resources
12. Exploiting Our Timber Resources
13. Protecting Our Coastline
14. Science, Technology and Innovation

 CHAPTER TWO - DEVELOPING AND MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

1. Destruction of Education and Health
2. The NPP's Educational Policy
3. The NPP's Health Policy
4. Population Policy
5. Opportunities for Women
6. Caring for Our Children
7. Sports
8. Culture

CHAPTER THREE - CREATING A VIABLE DEMOCRACY

1. The State of the Nation Today
2. Creating a Viable Democracy
3. National Reconciliation and Unity
4. Justice and the Rule of Law
5. Good Governance
6. Decentralization and Local Government
7. Chieftaincy
8. The Security Services
9. A Motivated Police Force
10. The Prisons and Prisons Services
11. Freedom of Association
12. Access to Information
13. The Media
14. Workers and Unions

CHAPTER FOUR - GHANA'S ROLE IN THE WORLD

1. A New World Order
2. Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
3. Africa
4. People of African Descent
5. The Commonwealth
6. United Nations and Other International Organizations
7. Special Relations
8. Post-Apartheid South Africa
9. South-South Co-operation
10. The Non-Aligned Movement

The historical evolution of our country over the last half century has given rise to a political culture in which two strands of political traditions have developed, one in opposition to the other. One strand is the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) socialist political tradition in which the state is considered supreme and all individuals, groups, professional and cultural associations are subsumed and submerged under it. Indeed, the powers of the state are used to ensure that everybody - persons and associations alike - fall into line. In economic management, a major tenet of this tradition is for the state to own and control the resources and the means of production of the economy.

The other strand is the United Party (UP) and its successor parties whose main creed has been the avowal of individual freedom in a liberal democratic state where the development of the individual and of society in a free political atmosphere, under the rule of law, are the principles of the State. Free enterprise, fundamental human rights, and a vigorous pursuit of private initiative are the abiding principles of this tradition.

Over the past four years, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has attempted to project what may seem to be a third strand, making dubious claims to Nkrumaist, socialist roots upon which are superimposed elements of the free market economy of the Structural Adjustment Program as well as the despotism and arbitrariness of the military-led rule of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). The principle of "continuity" which characterizes the NDC has continued the culture of violence and of exclusion, limitations on the independence of the judiciary, and limitation of open discussion and of free interaction between persons and groups which hold different views. As a result of these developments, and glaring inequitable distribution of incomes, our country today is a heavily polarised society.

Our party, the New Patriotic Party, is the successor to the UP tradition and we are proud to offer this Manifesto to our people and to the world as clear statement of our programme and the embodiment of all that our tradition stands for and successive generations of Ghanaians have believed in.

It is a distillation of our Party's philosophy - a philosophy many saw briefly in action in the 27 months of the Progress Party Government in 1969 - 72. The citation from

Dr. J. B. Danquah, the illustrious founding father of our political tradition, clearly summarizes our philosophy and serves to underline the principles and actions of statecraft which our Party will pursue when voted into power.

We commend this Manifesto to you and solicit your vote to enable us carry out a fundamental change in our society and the Ghanaian economy, a change that will be reflected in a lowering of the intolerably high cost of living and a reduction in the depressingly high rate of unemployment, a change that will bring jobs and a living wage for the majority of our people and which will instill in the government and people of this nation respect for the rule of law, for fundamental human rights and freedoms, for the independence of the judiciary, and a belief in the ingenuity, hard work and enterprise of the individual Ghanaian.

Our vision of the future is one of accelerated and sustained economic growth, equal opportunity for all, commitment to law and order and above all a healthy, disciplined, enlightened and caring society.

In the climate of opinion the world over, totalitarianism and the centrally planned economy are in retreat. Liberal democracy and free enterprise are on the ascendancy. These are the values for which our leaders fought and died. These are the values the New Patriotic Party will defend at all times.

The hour for our ideas has struck, and we invite all who share in the beliefs outlined here to join us and vote for the NPP in the coming elections on December 7, 1996. Victory for the NPP will provide the opportunity, once and for all, to resolve the deep, social and economic crises that have engulfed our country.

Your future, your children's future and the destiny of Ghana are in your hands. Act now, join the NPP and be an instrument of change for a better and prosperous Ghana.

  ....................................

PETER ALA ADJETEY

  .................................

J. A. KUFUOR

The New Patriotic Party is the home of all those who believe in the living philosophy of Joseph Boakye Danquah, George Paa Grant, Obetsebi Lamptey, Edward Akufo-Addo, William Ofori-Atta, Solomon Odamtten, Kofi Abrefa Busia, S. G. Antor, J. A. Braimah, Yakubu Tali (Tolon Na), R. E. G. Armattoe and others, all of blessed memory.

These they held and we hold to be true:

• The rights and needs of the individual are paramount as enshrined in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of Ghana.
• Individuals and societies make a state - states do not make individuals, therefore we believe in freedom of association and expression, freedom from oppression, from fear and from arbitrary arrest.
• Justice is either for all or it is for none. Every Ghanaian is entitled to the protection of the law. The sovereignty of people and state should be anchored in the Rule of Law and the independence of the Judiciary.
• A free enterprise economy is the surest guarantee of economic growth and prosperity. Government must create the environment for business to thrive and for effort and initiative to be rewarded. What a person makes legitimately must never by taken away arbitrarily.
• The individual must be enabled to develop in freedom to attain the highest level which his or her talents permit.
• The provision of quality education, further training and an expanding economy that creates jobs, as well as the provision of good health facilities and medical care for all Ghanaians form the basis for the development of the individual and the nation.

These are the fundamental beliefs of the NPP. They are the beliefs which inspired the Progress Party Government of 1969 - 72 and informed all the policies and programmes of that government. Time has vindicated these economic and social policies, the rural development programme and the foundations we laid for agricultural development. Our beliefs are even more rooted in the wise counsel and critiques which our parent parties - the United Gold Coast Convention and later the United Party - provided in the National Assembly and in Parliament during the 1950's and 1960's in debates on economic and social policies.

Our vision of our country Ghana is that of:

• A stable, peaceful, united and democratic nation dedicated to the promotion of the welfare, freedom and prosperity of its citizens;

• A country whose governance is imbued with the principles of liberal democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and social justice;

• A nation whose economy is propelled by competitive market principles, committed to full employment and the eradication of poverty, hunger, disease and ignorance and where the private and public sectors exist in a mutually supportive partnership;

• A modern, industrialised and advanced society;

• A property-owning, prosperous, contented and educated people living in security and happiness;

• A nation right in the mainstream of world development and proud of its achievements in science and technology, in arts and sports;

• Cities bustling with activities in trade and commerce - the landscape dominated by high rise buildings, happy homes, strong family ties;

• Clean and well-planned rural communities with modern sanitation and gadgetry with rich agriculture and prosperous farmers;

• A people at peace with each other living in security and united in love and dedication to nation.

The NPP will use this power within the framework of the following principles:

• that the key to creating prosperity for all is to unleash the energies of the private sector through the development of an entrepreneurial free enterprise economy;

• that the true business of government is the promotion of good governance namely; to create the institutional structures that facilitate individual freedoms, liberty, justice and social equity, and ensure public order and the security of our nation; and

• that the economic role of the government is to provide the social and economic infrastructure and the legal framework for an enterprise economy that will promote vigorous and sustainable economic growth, equitable income distribution, rising incomes, stable prices, full employment and maximum economic security and social welfare.

1. THE MOTTO : DEVELOPMENT IN FREEDOM

The Manifesto of the New Patriotic Party is a declaration for "Development in Freedom". It outlines the steps that our government will take to create an environment that will encourage the individual to develop his or her talent in a liberal democracy and protect and defend the rights of minorities and the socially and economically disadvantaged in the society.

It sets out how our NPP government will actively promote the interest and welfare of the individual and create a free and prosperous society for all.

THE ECONOMY: BUILDING PROSPERITY FOR ALL

1. POOR ECONOMIC RECORD : THE COST OF (P) NDC CONTINUITY

 

1.1.1 Over the past thirteen years, the (P) NDC government has pursued an economic program (euphemistically called an Economic Recovery Program, ERP) whose implementation has impoverished and shamelessly exploited the good people of Ghana. the success of an economic programme is judged by the extent to which it reduces poverty and makes the people economically secure as well as the extent to which benefits from economic growth are equitably shared among the teeming masses. Today the average Ghanaian is worse off that he or she was before the (P) NDC assumed power 15 years ago to commence its long reign of terror. Today the real wage is worth no more than a quarter of its level in 1970 and as much as thirty percent of all Ghanaians live below the poverty line.

 

1.1.2 Under the guise of the ERP, the (P) NDC, through a deliberate policy to fuel inflation, has succeeded in confiscating the savings of pensioners, exploiting workers, the unemployed, the poor and the peasants. The cost of living is beyond the bearable. Households have been decimated; husbands have lost their dignity as they find themselves unable to meet to meet their financial responsibilities - to provide money for housekeeping, pay school fees and meet hospital bills. Wives have had to struggle to fill the void. Children have been alienated and families are dominated by tension rather than peace and love. And such social vices as drug abuse prostitution, child abuse, teenage pregnancy etc. are the order of the day.

 

1.1.3 The (P) NDC had dismissed (and taken away their livelihood and family security) more people than any jobs they have created. With some 150,000 people joining the labour force each year, an estimated 35% of the Ghanaian workforce are without jobs and incomes. Cynically, the (P) NDC is exploiting this national calamity and massive waste of human resources by recruiting the unemployed youth as political thugs to beat, intimidate and murder political opponents.

 

1.1.4 Under the ERP, the implementation of the cash and carry (or cost-recovery) system has put health and education beyond the reach of the people. Educational standards have dropped below acceptable levels. The system is breaking down under the weight of its own ineptitude and lack of motivation. The rural areas are the worse for it. In these areas, thousands are dying from simple curable and preventable diseases simply because they cannot afford clinic/hospital charges. In this country victims of accidents are denied treatment if they have not money in their pocket. In this country today, it is grave diggers who are doing booming business.

 

1.1.5 Under the ERP food shortages have become common place; we have often been on the verge of famine. A sizeable proportion of Ghanaians are harassed by food insecurity. Food prices dominate the cost of living. Along with shelter and clothing, food is a primary need for human survival. The NPP holds the view that the availability of food for domestic consumption must be among the first concerns of any responsible government. Ample supplies at affordable prices is a prerequisite for economic security and a healthy and sound economy. An export-oriented economic strategy which neglects the domestic production of basic food supplies is decidedly political suicide. To neglect the food production sector and create an import dependent economy which is supposed to rely on revenues from "soft" commodity exports is surely the road to stagnation and national disaster.

 

1.1.6 Under the ERP our manufacturing sector has been settled. The dis-establishment of our manufacturing sector through indiscriminate trade liberalization is a retrograde step. It ignores the obvious fact that the cost of doing business in developing countries is high because of poor communications, inadequate and unreliable energy supplies, limited infrastructure, poorly educated work force and small markets. The answer is not to unravel the industrial base but to improve the national infrastructure to raise overall national productivity and efficiency. That is precisely what development means and that is also precisely the route the developed countries travelled. The invocation of the theory of comparative advantage which insists that we should specialize in the production of commodities and raw materials is an invocation of a conspiracy to ensure that we remain drawers of water and hewers of wood. The Asian tigers made it because they determinedly and aggressively pursued industrialization under the leadership of far-sighted governments.

 

1.1.7 Under the ERP Ghana has practically reverted to a neo-colony. All the indices of economic dependence have shot up. Domestic savings have practically vanished, domestic investment is by courtesy of foreigners. Grants have become an important line item in government revenues. The budget itself has increasingly become dependent on donors. Indeed the development budget is donor driven. The good donors and their NGO partners are in control. They determine the priorities, and they finance and execute development projects - from KVIPs, bore-holes, educational infrastructure, and health facilities to mega-projects such as highways, bridges and electrification. Our NDC politicians do well to turn up with fanfare to commission them for political advantage.

 

1.1.8 Ghana's external indebtedness stands now at US$ 5.1 billion, approximately 85% of the GDP. It was only US$ 1.1 billion when the (P) NDC shot their way to power. The World Bank now classifies Ghana as a severely indebted low-income country. Debt servicing amounts to nearly 35% of our total merchandise exports. Ghana has been able to service her debts and maintain high import volumes by recycling loans, namely by borrowing and using new borrowing to service and pay off maturing old debts. This is what is called the Ponzi game - exactly like the Pyram episode where new deposits were used to pay interest due on old deposits. The game collapses when new deposits are not enough to match payments due. Ghana is now in the firm grip of the debt trap. But the (P) NDC government prides itself as being notably "debt-worthy"! It totally accepts the premise that Ghana can only make it by borrowing. It does not recognize the harm that such loose-living does to the national ethic. It does not recognize that by indiscriminate borrowing it has placed a mortgage on Ghana's future.

 

1.1.9 The large inflows of grants and loans to support implementation of the ERP has provided rich opportunities for members of the (P) NDC regime to cheat, wantonly dissipate, abuse and misuse state property and public funds and engage in a life of careless ostentatious living on a scale unprecedented in the history of this land. Its high principles of accountability, probity and integrity are nowhere evident in the actions of government or members of the (P) NDC.

 

1.1.10 There is, of course, a clear relationship between governance and economic performance. The overblown public expenditure programme is explained by corrupt overloading with what the Americans call "pork barrels". This includes using public funds to finance the NDC party, its affiliate organs and subsidiaries such as the 31^st December Women Movement (DWM), to support private armies, and para-military NDC Organizations; and exploiting District Assembly resources through District Chief Executives (DCEs) for part advantage. Corruption in the award of contracts and in the disposal of state enterprises under the divestiture program and tax administration directly lead to reduction in tax revenues and hence necessitating the need to raise taxes. The repeated shameful and incredible revelations contained in the Auditor-General's Reports provide ample evidence of the corruption of the (P) NDC and the hollowness of their principles of accountability, probity an integrity! There is clearly room to reduce taxes and improve economic performance by markedly improving governance in Ghana.

 

 1.1.11 The (P) NDC have over the 15 years operated an inward-looking system of government - that is government by exclusion. This, they have done to cover up their corrupt misdeeds and to facilitate more thorough and comprehensive looting of the economy. But there is an even greater and more pernicious cost to the nation. Exclusion is a version of Apartheid. Firstly it restricts selection and participation. We are not exploiting the full range of our endowment of plentiful supplies of expertise and talents in the urgent task of nation building. Rather we have put premium on mediocrity and surrendered our destiny into the hands of so-called foreign experts. Hence a large section of alienated influential opinion leaders cannot claim involvement in, or "ownership" of the major policies shaping their destiny which are, therefore, seen as impositions. This weakens the legitimacy base of economic policies. Secondly, exclusion replaces consensus building with confrontation. Both undermine the integrity of the democratic process.

 

1.1.12 In the face of the embarrassing, glaring and conspicuous failure of the (P) NDC to manage the economy, they have turned on a vicious, sustained propaganda machine using state resources and "foreign dignitaries" to chorus orchestrated lies about their non-achievements, rewriting current history to hide their backgrounds and failed accomplishments. They glorify their lies by quoting fraudulent statistics, manipulating baselines and concocting inferences. But our economy is people, not statistics. Statistics do not capture emotional deprivation, nor the pains and sufferings of the people - their failed hopes and frustrations. In this election year, the NDC have shifted their notorious propaganda into visionary realms. Now they are saying we should ignore today's deprivations for a rosy visionary dream of year 2020. They know, of course, that they will not be around by that time and indeed not many of us will survive present harsh conditions to reach dream year 2020 anyway. If in fifteen years of absolute power supported with massive inflows of foreign aid, this is the best that the (P) NDC regime could do for Ghana, the time for change is long overdue.

 

 

 

 

1.2.0 OUR COMMITMENT TO CHANGE

 

1.2.1 The NPP is committed to a complete change from this shameful record and pledges to restore our dignity as a sovereign nation. We will seek to create in Ghana a just and humane society where each is his brother's keeper. We aim to shape the nation's history through faith in one another and solidarity with each other. The NPP will emphasise job creation, poverty eradication, capacity building, rural development, saving and investment. We will encourage innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit and conserve and develop our natural resources.

 

1.2.2 We believe in free enterprise. Profit must not be regarded as something immoral but as reward for productive activity and for assumption of risk. We accept the centrality of markets, but where necessary we must guide the markets to promote competitive flexibility in our economy and security and stability in our society.

 

1.2.3 In a developing country, such as ours, there is no denying the fact that the government is a motive force. Nevertheless, the greater engine for social change and economic progress is the entrepreneurial economy. Hence a need to establish a pragmatic balance between the public and private sectors - not one of rivalry but of complementarily, each supplementing the other in the creation of jobs and incomes. Hence the need to create new economic management structures to ensure closer partnership between the key players - industry, agriculture, trade and commerce and the financial sectors on one hand and the pubic sector on the other.

 

1.2.4 The NPP will seek to bind the government, employers and employees in a negotiated social contract which will balance productivity gains with rewards and incentives in the system. The partners in the contract will operate as a vehicle for regular consultation - not one called into being merely to smother rises. This will ensure improved industrial relations and avoid damaging industrial strifes in our country. It will ensure greater participation by the people, more freedom for the private sector and greater respect for pluralism. We believe that a consensual approach is more productive than the exclusion and confrontational approach which the (P) NDC regime has employed over the years. South Africa showed the way - an impressive example of reconciliation, consensus building and political inclusion.

 

1.2.5 We shall promote good governance, namely and effective relationship between the people and government and the necessary environment for sustainable economic development. We shall ensure that law and order prevails in the society by curbing the rising crime and making the streets safe for our mothers, sisters and children.

 

1.3.0 OBJECTIVES OF THE NPP's ECONOMIC PROGRAMME FOR JOBS, ECONOMIC SECURITY AND EMPOWERMENT

 

1.3.1 Pursuant to our determination to establish here in Ghana a sound and healthy economy that shall guarantee to every citizen, without any discrimination whatsoever, adequate means of livelihood, suitable employment, meaningful access to health car facilities and public assistance to the needy, and in affirmation of our support for private enterprise and individual initiatives for self-improvement and economic security, the NPP will pursue a Twelve-Point Economic Program dedicated to CREATE WEALTH for the people, to provide jobs and economic security and empower the Ghanaian people to take their destiny into their own hands. Our CREATE WEALTH PROGRAM aims to:

 

1. Create jobs for all persons able and willing to work and to

reward each of them appropriately;

 

 2. Reduce the tax burden especially on workers and

pensioners, and on the poor; reduce inflation and

stabilize the exchange rate.

 

3. Empower our women and youth by supporting their

entrepreneurial initiatives;

 

 

4. Accelerate economic growth and development of Ghana in

order to enhance opportunities and raise the

standard of living for all Ghanaians.

 

 

5. Take all the appropriate measures to promote industry

and agriculture by strengthening and promoting

Ghanaian entrepreneurship in order to ensure that

Ghanaians take hold of their own destiny and that

economic growth benefits the Ghanaians people.

 

 

6. Ensure access to health care and quality education for all

and in particular promote science and technology

advancement in Ghana;

 

 

7. Work to promote home ownership among Ghanaians as a

means to strengthen the family, provide economic

security and control street crime and violence as

well as encourage personal savings;

 

8. Ensure an even balanced development of all the regions in

Ghana;

 

 

9. Alleviate poverty and ensure a respectable safety net that

enhances human dignity for the poor and

disadvantaged;

 

 

10. Light the eternal flame of nationalism and build up in

every Ghanaian a strong sense of patriotism and the

capacity to defend and consolidate the

independence of Ghana, the survival of its

democratic system of government and generate a

sense of participation and ownership in its

development, prosperity and progress;

 

 

11. Totally develop the rural areas through the pursuit of an

aggressive integrated rural development

programme;

 

 

12. Husband and protect the national heritage especially the

environment, our land and forests, minerals and timber and all our natural resource endowments;

 

 

 

1.4.0 SPECIFIC POLICIES

 

1.4.1 The specific policies that the NPP government will pursue in specific areas to achieve these objectives are addressed below. These are: economic management, the exchange rate, divestiture and privatization, investment from both local and foreign sources, inflation and the cost of living, unemployment and job creation, wages and remunerations, finance and financial services, and exports. Other areas addressed later in this chapter include the management and development of natural resources; integrated rural development; agriculture; industrial development; tourism; the environment; infrastructure including information, transportation and telecommunications; energy; housing and home ownership; and science, technology and innovation.

 

1. ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT

 

0. For sustainable economic progress to take place we require an enabling economic environment. Despite the existence of all the paper requisites like the legal framework, tax incentives and expressions of goodwill, a wild raging inflation and a constantly depreciating national currency and excessively high interest rates will discourage the investor and harm saving and investment and cause business failures.

 

 

1. The NPP will stop inflating the economy by eliminating the deficit. As a result the NPP will bring down both interest rates and the cost of living, and stop the free fall of the cedi. The NPP will do this by a thorough restructuring of the expenditure programme - pare off the NDC gravy, corruption and waste - and assign higher priority to:

 

1. Social Services - education, including retraining schemes for the youth (especially those out of work), health, social & welfare services, housing & community amenities (especially water), recreation & culture; and

 

0. Economic Development - fuel & energy, agriculture, forestry & fishing, mining, manufacturing & construction, roads & waterways, transport & communications.

 

  

 

1. We will use the budget to attain the following three purposes:

 

1. to stabilize the economy and relieve the ordinary Ghanaian of intolerable hardships;

 

0. to promote a stable economic environment to ensure continual expansion of the economy at a brisk pace and generate jobs for the unemployed;

 

0. to support economic development by channelling resources into investments in growth sectors, and towards capacity building and poverty alleviation.

 

1. Further, the NPP will:

 

1. Restructure the Bank of Ghana to raise the efficiency of monetary policy and empower the Bank to operate an independent monetary policy as called for by the Constitution;

 

0. Comb the entire government sector and remove subsisting regulations which shackle performance and impede efficiency of government by promoting bureaucracy;

 

0. Restrain the burden of tax increases. Since the VAT everywhere results in higher prices, more unemployment and higher levels of government spending, the NPP firmly opposes the idea of putting VAT on the backs of the Ghanaian people at this time;

 

0. Make the budget truly accountable by ensuring that spending ceilings are not exceeded without Parliamentary mandate;

 

0. Ensure that the government sector contributes positively to domestic savings.

  

 

1. STABILIZING THE EXCHANGE RATE

 

0. From ¢2.75 to US$ 1.00 in January 1982, the cedis has been devalued in dollar terms by nearly 100%. That is to say, the cedis is worth no more than 0.002% of its 1982 value in dollar terms. We accept that in order to remain competitive and promote exports it is necessary to permit market forces determine the exchange rate of the currency. But we know that the market solution would be affected also by capital flight and excessive liquidity in the system. A free falling currency, however, is destabilizing in its effect on the cost of living and on businesses. It promotes such negative behaviour as capital flight and foreign exchange hoarding.

 

1. The NPP is of the view that a continually depreciating currency is as harmful to economic growth as an overvalued currency. The NPP is of the view that a more stable exchange rate would be more supportive of the domestic economy and our determination to expand exports, generate employment, encourage domestic and foreign investment and promote rural development.

 

2. The NPP will pursue policies specifically to stabilize the cedis. This will require fiscal and monetary discipline. The NPP is committed to this.

 

3. As part of the measures to stabilize the cedis, the NPP will develop early warning systems. This will ensure making the timely policy adjustments necessary to maintain exchange rate stability consistent with our long terms goals.

 

2. BRINGING DOWN INFLATION AND THE HIGH COST OF LIVING

 

0. The top priority of the NPP is to stop the wild raging inflation which is tearing the society apart, robbing people of their savings and making the cost of living unbearable. The only people profiting from the inflation are the top hierarchy of the NDC and their insensitive business partners. Who could have imagined a ball of kenkey selling for ¢200 or one roasted groundnut for one cedi!. But that is the relaity of Ghana today. Even the ordinary yoo-ke gari, kenkey & fish, roasted plantain & groundnuts are now hardly affordable.

 

1. At the annual rate of inflation of 70%, the real value (that is the purchasing power) of your money income, salary, or wage or savings is reduced by 41% in one year. If this is maintained the real value of your savings would be reduced by 93% in five years. At this rate, ¢1000 saved today will be worth 7 cedis in purchasing power five years hence. That is how inflation robs the people and decimates the society.

 

2. But the root causes of inflation in Ghana are well-known: (i) excessive money supply caused by printing money to finance the NDC budget deficits; (ii) the continual depreciation of the cedi - the result of the excessive money supply; (iii) high nominal interest rates - currently over 45%; and (iv) high cost of foodstuffs in the markets.

 

3. The NPP is determined to bring the inflation rate down to within 5% per annum. This will be attained by eliminating the budget deficit and hence the need for printing money; by stabilizing the exchange rate; by lowering interest rates which will necessarily follow the decline in inflation and by improving efficiency and competition in the financial sector; and by raising agricultural productivity specially in food and livestock production as addressed below (1.10.0).

 

3. FINANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES

 

0. Job creation and economic growth depend very much on healthy and competitive financial services that can respond to the needs of the market. The Progress Party government envisioned the growth of our financial sector beyond retail banking by licensing the first merchant bank and by initiating steps towards the establishment of rural banks and the stock exchange in Ghana. At the same time the PP government set up the Small Loans Scheme to provide financial support for small scale operators in both the formal and informal sectors.

 

1. The NPP government will continue this tradition and initiate comprehensive financial sector reforms with the objectives of:-

 

1. promoting competition and flexibility to bring interest rates down; and

 

0. ensuring that the range of products and services in the sector is extended to meet the needs of the expanding domestic markets including greater lending to small-scale businesses, new entrepreneurs (in particular, women and youth), rural development and for leasing.

 

 

  

1. For further institutional development the Bank of Ghana will be required to initiate a Finance For Industry scheme with the other commercial banks (as share holders) to fill the gap in long-term finance for small and medium-sized companies. In time we envisage that the finane-for-industry scheme will develop specialized services in:-

 

1. long-term finance for medium-sized firms;
0. long-term finance for small firms;
0. corporate finance and management buyouts;
0. venture capital

 

1. in view of the importance the NPP government attaches to home ownership, we will encourage the growth of mortgage banks and building societies. The commercial banks will be urged to establish finance houses as their own subsidiaries which will take money from the money markets and lend to individuals and companies for up to five years to enable them acquire durable household goods, as well as plant and machinery.

 

2. The NPP government will contribute to the recapitalization of the rural banks and support building societies, credit unions, small loans and interest rate subsidy schemes etc., through Business Assistance and Industrial Promotion Trust Funds which we will establish. These Funds will be fed with the proceeds from divestiture sales and the Non-Performing Assets Recovery Trust (NPART) transfers.

 

3. Non-bank financial institutions are powerful transmission belts in a deepening financial system. This sector has experienced considerable growth in line with expansion in capital markets in Ghana. Recent events, however, exposed serious weakness in the regulatory powers available and consider the establishment of an independent regulatory body to oversee this important sector to ensure growth with discipline.

 

4. WAGES AND REMERATIONS

 

0. The time has come to unify the labour market in Ghana and for remunerations across the country to reflect productivity of the worker whether in the private sector or in the public sector. This is intended not only to ensure that the public service is competitive with the private sector and hence able to compete on equal terms for the best brains available but also to ensure high morale and productivity in the public service. The NPP regards this as a matter of urgency.

 

1. On assuming office, the NPP government will set up a high-powered Presidential Commission to work out the modalities to bring this about and also to carry out a thorough re-appraisal of wage relativities within the public service itself. Pursuant to that the NPP will establish within the Public Services Commission a special research division which will continually monitor trends in the labour market and advise on the necessary adjustments required to ensure a fully competitive public service.

 

2. As stated in the section on Our Commitment to Change (para. 1.2.4), in our approach to governance by consensus the NPP will "bind the government, employees and employers in a negotiated social contract which will balance productivity gains with rewards and incentives in the economic system". This will be the vehicle for wage determination under the NPP administration.

 

3. The NPP holds the view that the worker should benefit from productivity gains in business operations; further, that the worker should, at least be paid a living wage. Hence the minimum wage should adjust to reflect improvement in real terms.

 

5. UNEMPLOYMENT AND JOB CREATION

 

0. There is hardly any reliable data source on the unemployment situation in the country. What is indisputable is that employment in the formal sector has shrunk, following retrenchments in the public sector and with the manufacturing sector shedding labour under the ERP. It is believed that the informal sector has widened. But the clear perception is one of massive unemployment in both the urban and rural areas. In the cities the increase in prostitution, street crimes and armed robberies; curb trading and street hawking - with teenagers running in between vehicles on busy street corners peddling dog chains etc. - are indications of the desperation of the people for income-earning opportunities. The unemployment is heavily concentrated in the age-group 18-30. Graduate unemployment has increased alarmingly whilst the JSS and SSS are literally producing "drop-outs", creating a potentially explosive subsector of the society.

 

 

1. The cure for unemployment is a rapidly expanding economy and a fluid labour market with opportunities for skill up-grading. Our economic program is specifically intended to produce such a result. Apart from job openings which an economy expanding under stabilized conditions will generate in agriculture, industry and in the services sectors, our major programmes for road construction and rehabilitation, for urban renewal, sanitation and environmental protection and reclamation, for low cost housing and rural development will generate jobs to absorb large numbers of the unemployed. This will be coupled with training and retraining incentive packages as well as vocational and technical schooling. Further we will provide incentives for self employment and particularly support the informal sector as well as women and youthful entrepreneurs with financing. We will actively seek out and encourage non-governmental and charitable organizations which have expertise and experience in training, re-training and the financing of self-employment schemes.

 

6. HOUSING AND HOME OWNERSHIP

 

0. One of the principal aims of the NPP is to promote home ownership among Ghanaians. Our reasons are many. A home is not just a personal investment; it is a commitment to the community. It is also a visible component of upward mobility. But more than that, a home strengthens family ties through the promotion of a sense of security and stability. This helps community solidarity by minimizing street crimes and violence.

 

1. the congestion taking place as a result of rapid urbanization and high rents points to an acute shortage of housing in Ghana. This situation calls for a large expansion in the provision and supply of rental units and employee housing. It is our aim to help both organizations and individuals in the private sector engaged in housing development as well as organizations in the state sector to vigorously expand construction of low cost houses for rural and urban workers. The deplorable deterioration of the rural housing stock is a reflection of the drying up of rural saving resulting from the implementation of the ERP.

 

2. Apart from difficulties with finance, the major impediment at the heart of our housing problem is Ghana's inability to produce building materials to support the housing industry. We do not produce enough cement, iron rods, glass, nails, faucets, door knobs, roofing sheets, tiles, nor paint. At the same time, we have not learned to utilize locally available materials for home construction. The effect of these two crucial factors is that we import most of our building materials at cost that only a few can afford.

  

3. The NPP proposes to launch a special Housing the People scheme which shall focus on low-cost housing, urban renewal and rural housing. Under the package employers shall receive tax credits for implementation of housing schemes for their workers. Construction of owner-occupier houses will be treated as new investment for tax purposes. Interest charges on mortgages will be tax deductible. A home ownership mortgage insurance scheme will be established, whilst mortgage banks will be encouraged. The Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT) will assist in the development of local building materials, participate in mortgage insurance for workers and collaborate with Bank for Housing and Construction (BHC), State Housing Corporation (SHC) and Tema Development corporation (TDC) in programmes to provide housing for urban and rural workers.

 

4. The scheme will review existing laws pertaining to land acquisition and rules regulating construction activities and remove constraints on housing development such as land disputes and litigation, and corruption in land administration and other abuses inflating construction costs. In addition, the scheme will actively promote industries that exploit local raw materials to produce low cost houses and step up research efforts to find ways to use local materials in residential construction.

 

7. DIVESTITURE AND PRIVATIZATION

 

0. The NDC government has listed over 300 State-Owned enterprises (SOEs) for privatization. There are various ways to effect divestiture. These include mass privatization through the coupon or voucher system, public flotation, private placing, trade sales or tender, management buyouts and various combinations of these. The cardinal principle, however, is that the divestiture mode applied should, in each case, achieve the best result for the nation in terms of enterprise survival and contribution to national development.

 

1. So far 159 of the SOE's have been divested - 42 of them by liquidation, 72 by outright sales, 26 by sale of shares whilst 14 and 5 have gone per the joint-venture and lease modes respectively.

 

2. Whilst the NPP is not opposed to the principle of privatization, it is appalled by the corruption, lack of foresight and commitment to the national interest shown by the NDC government in the pursuit of privatization in Ghana. This includes the reckless use of divestiture receipts as ordinary revenues for recurrent spending instead of as capital receipts.

  

3. The NPP is of the view that priority must be given to Ghanaians in the disposal of state enterprises, since it is their savings which created them in the first place, hence special funds must be created to make this possible. Sales of assets to foreigners should not be regarded as foreign investment. It merely means transfers of ownership or claims on existing assets to foreigners.

 

4. Secondly, SOEs which are natural monopolies (electricity, water, post & telecommunications etc.) and education and health which were established to render service should be distinguished from the commercially-oriented and treated as such. In all such cases the public interest should be taken to ensure that we do not substitute private monopoly for public monopoly. There will be need, therefore, to establish a regulatory authority to protect public interest in the setting of prices and tariffs on the products and services of these concerns.

 

5. Thirdly, natural resource-based SOEs in the mining, timber and agricultural sectors have to be given special consideration in view of the impact of their operations on the environment.

 

6. In view of these considerations, the NPP government will undertake a close and thorough review of the divestiture program, to ensure transparency and protection of public interest and empowerment of the Ghanaian people.

 

8. PROMOTING INVESTMENT

 

0. We advocated the promulgation of an investment code that equalised investment opportunities and incentives for both domestic and foreign investors. We advocated the creation of a one-stop investment promotion centre. Nearly all these have been attained but more cleaning is required to remove obsolete legal and bureaucratic impediments in the way. The NPP government will take this up as a matter of urgency.

 

1. The Constitution enjoins the Government of Ghana to encourage foreign investment within the Ghana subject to any law for the time being in force regulating investment in Ghana. As the Party most supportive of private enterprise in Ghana and the most foreign investor-friendly, the NPP genuinely extends a hand of welcome to the foreign investor.

 

2. The NPP extends a hand of welcome to and support for the numerous Ghanaians in the diaspora to channel their remittances into concrete productive investment projects to help generate jobs. The NPP government will consider special incentives to facilitate this type of investment flow.

 

3. We will tap the resources of all local investors who up to now have been treated as the "enemy of the people" by the (P) NDC, only to be replaced by new ones friendly to the NDC as part of the policy of exclusion. With attractive incentives they will be encouraged to identify with our mission to bring prosperity to the people of Ghana. We shall look to the Ghanaian business community to realise our dream of prosperity for Ghana.

 

4. The NPP proposes to complement the Export Processing or Free Port Zones with Enterprise zones and Industrial Parks within Ghana. These should provide further incentives for foreign investors. The NPP target priorities are the capital goods and export sectors.

 

5. Further, we will continue to provide investment incentives by offering tax holidays and guaranteeing the repatriation of profits and dividends. We will encourage foreign partnerships and joining ventures on projects requiring very large capital outlays.

 

9. PROMOTING INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

 

0. A striking impact of the ERP on the economy is the shrinkage of the manufacturing sector's contribution to national income and employment in Ghana. This fell from 9.3% of GDP in 1988 to 8.0% of GDP in 1996, according to provisional figures released by the Statistical Services. This is clearly the result as much of the anti-business and hostile stance of President Rawlings as of over-liberalization, inflation, high interest rates and the ever-falling cedi. The collapse of Ever-Ready Ghana Ltd. Producers of ever-ready dry cell batteries and the difficulties of the manufacturers of textiles, garments and plastic containers illustrate the chaos prevailing in the manufacturing sector.

 

1.4.10.2 The NPP is determined to reverse the declining state of manufacturing in Ghana. This is not only to generate jobs but to ensure that Ghana is able to take advantage of the technological explosion to compete successfully in the world market and provide a sound and stable base for the Ghanaian economy. Presently, a large part of the manufacturing capacity is obsolete, requiring retooling and technological renewal.

 

1.4.10.3 The stabilization of the cedi, the decline of inflation and lower interest rates should provide a stable environment of favourable for industrial growth. But the NPP policies for industry revival and growth should provide incentives for rapid response. Under our Industry Revival Scheme the NPP government will provide incentives to take risk, to expand businesses, to create new jobs. This will include increased access to capital for business start-up for expansion and for exports. There will also be opportunity capital for women and the youth as well as capital to bring new products and new technologies to the market.

 

4. Under our industry revival scheme Enterprise zones and Industrial Estates will be established as domestic complements of free ports. Regular supplies of electricity, water and telecommunication services will be guaranteed to these zones. As part of the package tax breaks or credits will be provided for research and development, for successful technological transfers and for adoption of new technologies, for new investment and rehabilitation transfers and for option of new technologies, for new investment and rehabilitation of machinery as well as for job training and additional employment. Firms providing housing schemes for employees will also be granted tax credit.

 

5. The NPP will ensure that Ghana does not become a dumping ground for shoddy goods and toxic materials. Under the concept of efficiency equalization, import competing firms and exports of manufactures will be supported.

 

6. The Finance-for-industry scheme (para. 1.1.4.3) and the Business Assistance and Industrial Promotion Trust funds (para. 1.4.4.5) have been specifically designed to ease access to credit to all levels of the industry sector.

 

1.5.0 SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT

 

1.5.1 In the free enterprise economy the real engine of growth is small businesses and self-employment. They fill a critical role. But they are, usually, vulnerable with high mortality rates, being the sector most severely affected by inflation, exchange rate depreciation and high interest rates. In our country small businesses and the informal markets generate most jobs but their growth and development are constrained by lack of access to credit and insufficient support from government.

 

2. Our Industry Revival Program will pay special attention to this sector and seek integration of the formal and informal sectors to ensure expanded internal markets and more jobs. In addition to vigorous entrepreneurial and tailor-made managerial training programs, access to credit to this sector will be eased by the measures proposed in pars. 1.4.4.3 and 1.4.4.5 above, in particular start-up credit, interest rate subsidies etc. and other pro-small business and self-employment fiscal measures that the NPP government will put in place.

 

 

0. BOOSTING OUR EXPORTS

 

1. In recent times countries with the best development record happen to be those with high export performance. Rapid advances in information technology have turned the world into a global market. We must recognise this trend and design strategies to take full advantage of them. The economy of Ghana cannot be isolated from the rest of the world economy. Our exporters must be able to go out into the world and compete in order to increase our market share in products and services which we are better placed to produce. Herein lies the key to our prosperity as a nation.

 

2. The NPP government will do everything possible to assist Ghanaians exporters to compete successfully in export markets. We shall exploits the advantage of Ghana's membership in international maritime organisations to negotiate favourable shipping rates for both exporters and importers.

  

3. In recent years, as a result of private sector initiative some enterprising Ghanaians have succeeded in making breakthroughs in the export of non-traditional products such as fresh fruits and artisanal products. It is a matter of regret that by a combination of misguided politics, inflation, credit squeeze and undeveloped infrastructure this spurt of initiative is waning.

  

4. The NPP will launch a major development program to accelerate the growth of exports in general and non-traditional exports in particular. This will include strengthening the Export Promotion Council as well as supplies of basic export promotion infrastructure. The NPP will initiate the establishment of an Export Development Fund to assist private entrepreneurs further invest in the export sector. We shall remedy the situation where exporters are unable to access short term credit funds as well as review the operations of the Export Credit Guarantee Fund to finance export production and marketing.

  

5. We are mindful of the "dumping practices" of many trading nations and we will take effective measures to ensure that local enterprise are not exposed to unfair competition in our domestic market. We will actively participate in world trade for a such as GATT to seek improved access for our products in the markets of the developed countries.

  

0. TOURISM

 

1. The NPP shall encourage international tourism through schemes that ensure that the sector is a net foreign exchange earner. Such schemes shall include tour packages sponsored by both local tour operators and international organisations and the production of souvenirs by the local communities. We shall also encourage tourist from the sub-region. These forms of tourism are less susceptible to recession.

 

2. We will assist the private in developing the tourists industry by actively promoting Ghana through our foreign missions. We shall remove constraints and simplify entry procedures and requirements for visas. The current frustrating procedure and reporting requirement for visitors shall be removed. We will encourage local production of films as a method of promoting Ghana.

 

3. The NPP government, on its part, shall undertake to improve the tourism infrastructure in the country including access roads to tourist sites, lodgings and communications.

 

1.8.0 DEVELOPING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

 

1. Our physical infrastructure, comprising the transportation network, telecommunications facilities and information networks, is the base for efficient commerce and industry, the health and safety of our people, and our international trade. We will work with all levels of government and the private sector to improve this infrastructure.

 

2. Transportation

 

0. The proper functioning of the transportation infrastructure comprising, land, air water and sea is crucial for economic growth and poverty alleviation. This is particularly true for jobs, trade, commerce and public administration. In Ghana, inland waterways and sea transport are largely for bulk movement of freight and international trade. Because of the smallness of the country and limited markets, air transport is relatively less cost effective. Transport by land (road and to a lesser extend railways) is the main mode of transporting goods and people in Ghana.

 

1. Under the ERP ports, harbours and the rolling stock of Ghana railways have been rehabilitated with external loans. This still leaves an urgent agenda for further development and rehabilitation in order to advance and consolidate economic growth in Ghana.

 

2. Since the Progress Party (PP) government of Dr. Busia, the road network has not been extended in any significant sense and even though loans have been contracted for rehabilitation works most of the trunk and urban roads are in a state of disrepair whilst much of the feeder roads constructed under the PP rural development program has deteriorated beyond motorable. The NPP government will proceed with road development and extension as well as up-grade and rehabilitate the existing network. Our objectives are to open-up the country to facilitate economic and social development (agriculture in particular), reduce travel time, more closely link-up the country, promote tourism, reduce vehicle maintenance costs, prolong useful life of vehicles and reduce transport charges for both cargo and travellers.

 

3. For the above purposes, we envisage a three-point road development and rehabilitation program as follows:

 

1. to link-up the Regional capitals with direct road connection;
0. to raise the status of existing roads connecting the Regional capitals;
0. to decentralize the management of the road and highway system.

 

Under the decentralized road and highway management system, roads shall be designated as:-

 

1. National Roads - three will include international highways and roads connecting regional capitals.
0. Regional Roads - these will comprise roads connecting districts capitals within the Region.
0. District Roads - roads within the district.

 

1. The appropriate level of authority will be responsible for the designated segments. The decentralization to the Regional and District levels is intended to bring road development policies more closely in line with local priorities and ensure effective use of resources.

 

2. As a matter of urgency the NPP will ensure faster road communication between the South and North of Ghana by upgrading all the connecting roads. This will include the Tamale - Bolgatanga - Wa - Tamale road circuit. A Western road link between Sekondi-Takoradi and Wa in the Upper West Region will be tackled as part of our program to open up Western Ghana.

 

3. We shall encourage research on appropriate road design, construction techniques and methods more suited to our climatic and special conditions.

 

4. Air links between the major centres will help tourism and business, and facilitate other social activities. The NPP government will study the feasibility of developing the Kumasi airport to receive international flights whilst the regional airports at Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale and Ho will be developed and equipped.

 

5. The NPP government shall update the studies and programs aimed at harnessing full potential of the Volta Lake and the Volta Lake Transportation system. Our aim is to increase the navigational corridor of the lake to allow for improved and safer lake transportation and provide an international link with neighbouring Burkina Faso.

 

6. The rapid growth of Accra, the nation's capital has clearly exposed the threat and social and economic cost of congestion One does not need much imagination to see that inner city transportation will be congested to a crisis point a decade from now. Hence advance arrangements require to be put in place to solve the looming crisis in public transportation in Accra. The NPP will encourage private entrepreneurs to consider a railway commuter system for Accra.

 

3. Telecommunications

 

0. This is the information age and Ghana should not allow itself to be by-passed by the new technologies. We should, as a matter of urgency update our telecommunications infrastructure to link up the entire country and with the world outside. The extension of telephone, telefax, internet, radio and television communications throughout Ghana will be essential for economic growth, for the social and economic transformation of the rural areas, for reduced commuting, for national integration and security, for international and local trade and commerce, for our export competitiveness, for exchange of information, and for capacity building through all kinds of learning. The opportunities are immense. The NPP government will lead the country into the mainstream of the information age.

 

1. Today the policies of the NDC government are impeding telecommunications progress in Ghana. Existing legislative and regulatory market allocation schemes, by limiting participation in segments of the telecommunications marketplace, are counterproductive. The NPP will liberate these powerful future-oriented technologies and make it possible for Ghanaian consumers to enjoy the benefits of truly competitive choices at lower prices.

 

9. INTEGRATED RURAL DEVELOPMENT

 

0. Our integrated rural development program will not only aim at exploiting rural resources but also at raising the capacity of the rural economy for self-sustenance, empower rural entrepreneurs and ensure improved standards of living for rural residents.

 

1. Rural development was the central piece of the development strategy of the Progress Party administration 1969-1972. Not even the worst Busia hater can deny that. In a torrid space of 27 months the Busia government carried development and modernization to the remotest corners of rural Ghana through a rapid build-up of the rural infrastructure - feeder and access roads, housing, markets, water, electricity, health centres ad clinics, electrification, rehabilitation of schools, transport and communication services, emphasis on agro-industries and provision of finance through the small loans scheme and the envisaged rural banks. The PP record in rural development stands unrivalled.

 

2. Likewise rural development is the king-pin of the NPP development strategy. Our concern for the rural areas underscores our determination to eradicate poverty and to provide a sound basis for our economic development. The NPP, like its predecessor the Progress Party, believes that we can only build a prosperous nation by bringing prosperity to our villages and hamlets where the majority Ghanaians live. The NPP government will redesignate the Ministry of Local Government as the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government to highlight our emphasis on rural development.

 

3. The NPP will bring prosperity to the rural areas by boosting agricultural production and promoting rural industry. We believe that the Ghanaian farmer and artisan in our villages who have created most of the wealth of this country since time began, will continue to do so for a long time to come. We will place them at the centre of our efforts to develop the country. Details of our agricultural strategies are spelt out in section 1.10.0.

 

4. The NPP will intensify the rural electrification programme with the aim of providing electricity supply to every village in the country. Our rural electrification programme will be a means of boosting rural industry. This will be facilitated by the rehabilitation and expansion of existing electrical installations in the districts.

 

 

 

5. The NPP recognizes that physical infrastructure is vital for the overall development of the rural areas, and agriculture in particular. This includes market as well as transport infrastructure. The rural markets for selling farm and other produce are devoid of all basic amenities. The Party's strategy will be to encourage private enterprise to link up with District Assemblies to set up Market Development Companies to ensure the systematic provision of necessary amenities at affordable prices. The Party will improve, maintain and expand the feeder road network throughout the country. The telecommunications system will also be improved. Our immediate priority will be to rehabilitate the crumbling rural infrastructure of roads, schools, health posts and housing and the provision of good drinking water.

 

6. The NPP government will adopt measures for rejuvenating the cooperative movement into a dynamic organization for rural farmers and traders. We will encourage the mobilization of rural savings to increase the availability of rural credit and funds for communities in the rehabilitation and provision of social amenities and economic infrastructure. This will create jobs to reduce unemployment and under-employment among the youth in the rural areas.

 

7. The object of the NPP integrated rural development program is not tokenism nor cosmetic vote-catching projects nor corrupting bribes in cash and kind - rice, soap, sardines etc. - in which the NDC have specialised for short-term political advantage. The NPP condemns the callous exploitation of the poverty and ignorance of the rural folks by the NDC machine as wicked and immoral. For the NPP, rural development means creating wealth and jobs in the rural areas. This reqires a concerted program to develop both the natural and manpower resources of the rural areas - to make the rural economy self-sustaining and communal and social life there both enriching and ennobling. That is the way to stop the urban drift and eradicate poverty. Hence our concern to raise the quality of rural schools and health; to supply feeder roads and markets, and the electricity to power rural industries and communications to link up the country. Our integrated rural development program includes arrangements to provide finance for rural entrepreneurs, low cost housing facilities and development of agro-processing industries and efficient and large-scale agriculture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10. DEVELOPING AGRICULTURE

 

0. Our priority is agriculture. It is the sector which props up the economy as a whole. It has a strategic role. It is also the key to rural prosperity. Our agricultural policies will be driven by:

 

1. the urgent need for food security;
2. the urgent need to achieve balance between food production and the production of raw materials and export commodities.

 

1. The poor state of agriculture is, undoubtedly, a major reason for the poverty of this nation. As a rural enterprise, agriculture has not been fully supported and nurtured. The Structural Adjustment Program that has been implemented for over a decade has pursued policies that have generally impoverished the rural people. The removal of subsidies on agricultural inputs, the abolition of minimum guaranteed prices for agricultural products, the discontinuation of institutional lending to agriculture and the rapid depreciation of the cedi have all interacted to escalate agricultural input prices which output prices have lagged woefully behind in real terms. The cumulative effect of the negative impact of the (P) NDC policies is the declining role of agriculture in the economy due principally to low productivity within the sector and the reliance on imported food items that could have been produced locally.

 

2. On assuming office the NPP will launch a major agriculture development initiative - the Food for the Nation and People Plan (FNPP). This will aim to double food and livestock output in Ghana in five years. The target food crops shall be rice, yams, maize, cassava and plantain. For livestock development the focus shall be on cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry. The primary objective of FNPP is to provide all Ghanaians with cheap food and food security by way of adequate and nutritionally balanced diets at affordable prices. The Party will also aim at increased production of raw materials to feed domestic industry and to substitute for imports at competitive prices. FNPP will aim also at encouraging the sector to diversify our export base and to provide employment and income to large segments of the population to enable them have access to domestic and foreign food supplies. The Afram Plains in the Eastern Region and the three regions in the North and Brong-Ahafo will be designated the food and grain baskets of Ghana and receive special program attention under the FNPP.

 

 

 

 

3. A main strategy of FNPP will be to encourage a mutually beneficial relationship between small-scale farmers on the one hand and integrated modern specialized large-scale farmers on the other. Under the FNPP the party will provide financial support to encourage the establishment of large, modern, specialized commercial farms by private entrepreneurs. Such commercial farms will be diversified to engage in primary agro-processing. They will be located in the rural areas to integrate the activities of the rural farmers into their own production plans, that is, to act as vehicles for the introduction of innovations in farm management practices and improved technologies to the farmers around them (out growers) and serve as the marketing outlet for these farmers. This strategy should provide solutions to the twin problems of markets and agro-processing.

 

4. A major objective of FNPP is to reduce the hazardous dependence of Ghanaian agriculture on climatic conditions and enure agricultural production under controlled and predictable conditions. Hence we will implement an accelerated irrigation program. This will include the development of mini dams to tap and conserve water from streams during the rainy season for irrigation purposes. Rivers with irrigable potentials will be tapped. In this connection the NPP will spare no effort to bring to fruition the project for the irrigation of the Accra plains.

 

5. We will restore subsidies on agricultural inputs, ensure an effective agricultural input supplies policy. We will seek to raise productivity through effective science education and extension. We will build up the required agricultural infrastructure to facilitate marketing and storage and reduce wasteful post-harvest losses. The NPP will institute guaranteed minimum prices for food crops, such as maize managed through strategic food reserves. The NPP will raise government investment in the agricultural sector. To this end a specific proportion of total public investment will be devoted to agriculture as a firm commitment of government policy.

 

6. To buttress our main strategy and to encourage the reorganization and modernization of peasant agriculture, the NPP will, under the FNPP initiate a policy to consolidate land into blocks of farms of mono-crops in our villages. This will not only facilitate the transfer of technology to the rural farmers by extension agents, but will also help do away with the age-old shifting cultivation that results in scattered farmsteads and rapid land degradation. Block farms will also enhance the communal spirit in the rural areas.

 

 

 

 

7. To promote environmentally sound production systems, the FNPP will encourage an intensive, integrated crop/livestock husbandry system which will allow the introduction and intensive use of new forage and green manures and the production and use of organic manures. The system will also lead to recycling of plant nutrients in the form of animal manure and night soil to maintain soil fertility.

 

8. To stabilize both farm output and incomes, the NPP will provide incentives by way of ensuring an increase in the quantity and reliability of input supply and through output pricing that will ensure that farmers do not suffer a disincentive from productivity gains. In this regard, the NPP will encourage and support on-farm storage as a way of holding stocks for the purpose of minimizing extreme variations in food prices throughout the year.

 

9. The NPP will strengthen institutions that provide and deliver services to the farmer. Agricultural research will be strengthened to enable it play the role of generating high yielding and high quality crops and livestock and making innovations that increase the production and productivity of farmers. Our agricultural strategy will rely heavily on extension workers who will teach largely illiterate farmers the use of modern methods and the correct application of inputs. Training and human resource development are crucial to the strengthening of these institutions and will be accorded all the necessary attention.

 

10. The NPP government will ensure the revitalization of our ailing commercial fishing industry. Our artisanal canoe and inshore fishermen will be assured of adequate and timely supplies of operational inputs. Priority will be given to the rehabilitation and expansion of the Elmina fishing harbour while the feasibility of constructing additional fishing harbours in areas such as Mumford and Sekondi will be given due attention. We pledge to rescue the dying fishing villages and towns along the coast. The NPP will also provide special incentives for fish farming in general and its integration into small scale irrigation schemes. Our policy for the total development of the fisheries sector is detailed in section 1.11.0.

 

11. The NPP will initiate policies in the area of agricultural mechanization aimed at reducing the drudgery associated with hoe and cutlass agriculture. Priority will be given to the manufacture of the appropriate equipment and to the use of animal traction where technically feasible. Large-scale integrated private farms will be assisted to acquire the full complement of plant and machinery required for their successful operation.

 

12. In spite of recent attempts to increase the share of the cocoa farmer in the export price of cocoa, the farmer still receives less that 50% of the world market price. Such a high level of taxation has discouraged cocoa farming. The NPP government will encourage remunerative prices to the cocoa farmer through the competition resulting from the privatisation of the domestic purchasing of cocoa. The NPP will move forward to privatize the external marketing of cocoa under conditions which will ensure maintenance of quality control and development of cocoa processing and related activities.

 

13. We shall strengthen research and extension facilities and services in the cocoa industry as well as for other cash crops such as coffee and shea nuts, colanuts, coconuts etc., in order to increase yields.

 

14. In recent years private sector initiative has succeeded in making some breakthroughs in the export of non-traditional products like pineapple and other fresh fruits and vegetables. We shall launch a major development programme to accelerate the growth of such exports. As an example, we shall encourage the establishment of large-scale cassava plantations; the products will be processed into cassava chips and starch for export and also for local consumption. We shall construct specialised storage and handling facilities in Accra and the other regional capitals for use by the private exporters. We will institute an Export Promotion Credit Guarantee Scheme to finance export production and marketing.

 

15. The NPP will also promote the expansion of crops like cotton, bast fibre and rubber which are raw materials for local industry. To make these locally produced crops compete more successfully with those from other parts of the world, we will seek improved technology to attain high quality and productivity.

 

9. FISHERIES

 

0. The contribution of the fisheries sub-sector to the economy is significant. Inclusive of the about half a million fishers, fish processors, traders, boat builders etc. and family members nearly two million of the Ghanaian population depend on the sector for their livelihood. The sector contributes about 5% of Ghana's GDP. It is now the most important non-traditional export. Fish is the preferred source of animal protein in Ghana. with estimated per capital consumption of about 25kg per annum, fish accounts for 60 percent of the animal protein intake in Ghana.

 

 

 

 

1. The sector which comprises a range of fishing enterprises and technologies from the subsistence, traditional to the modern industrial exploiting fish stocks in rivers, lakes, coastal lagoons and shallow seas and offshore on the high seas is confronted with a myriad of problems, including low productivity, high input costs, low infrastructure, unstable prices and under-developed marketing and credit access. Effective intervention will require to address the specific problems of each of the operating enterprises. For instance the problems of the operators of the nearly 10,000 wooden dug-out canoes of which only half of them are motorized accounting for 65 percent of the total volume catch differ from operators of the fleet of about three hundred diesel engine inshore vessels which account for about 5 percent of total catch. The fleet of about forty large distant water freezer trawlers and shrimpers which also accounts for about 5 percent of total catch confront a different set of problems altogether. The NPP is determined to tackle these problems with a view not only to raising the fishery sector's contribution to GDP and the income shares of the fisher folk but also to raise nutritional levels of the population at cheaper cost as well as contributing significantly to the balance of payments.

 

2. The NPP has taken note of the dwindling marine resources. We will institute measures that will regulate marine and inland fishing. We will introduce a sub-sector monitoring, control and surveillance system which will involve the fishing communities themselves. The NPP government will assist the private sector in the modernisation and development of the fisheries sector. This will include the development of the infrastructure including fishing harbours, and landing sites for artisanal fishers and the provision of storage facilties to improve preservation and regulate supplies to the market.

 

3. The prospects for increased production of tuna for export are considerable; also the potentials for inland fishery as well as fishery in the Volta Lake. Equally the prospects for aquaculture development are considerable. The NPP will encourage all private sector endeavours to exploit these fishery potentials. In this connections with NPP government will support and strengthen the fishing communities and existing co-operatives and improve their access to credit. In line with restoration of subsidies for vital agricultural inputs, suitable arrangements will be made to ensure regulated supplies of pre-mix fuel for the sector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Inclusive of par. 1.10.11 above NPP objectives in the fisheries sector are to increase production for local consumption and export on a sustainable basis, develop resource management plans for the entire sector, and integrate fishing activities in the farming system through the promotion of aquaculture. To attain these objectives the NPP will implement the following reforms:-

 

1. Pursue a strong private sector oriented strategy through divestiture of public sector commercial assets and concerns either in direct production or in supplies of fishing

gear etc.;

 

2. Remove bottlenecks to increased exploitation of tuna resources, so as to increase exports;

 

3. Promote through extension and other support services private investment in aquaculture especially in the hinterland;

 

4. Empower the co-operatives in the fishing communities with the resources necessary to sustain expansion and modernisation of their operations;

 

5. Promote joint-ventures between Ghanaian and foreign investors in trawl fishing so as to obtain foreign fishing rights for the Ghanaian trawler fleet;

 

6. Up-date the fisheries law so as to ensure a strong regulatory framework for management of fisheries in Ghana.

 

9. THE ENVIRONMENT

 

0. Our natural environment of biological resources (plants, animals and micro-organisms), mineral resources, soil water and ocean resources, the atmosphere, and the man-made environment of settlements, public buildings, civil works and means of transportation are all under threat. Our very existence, the quality of life and our standard of living depend, both in the short and long-term, on a delicate balance between ourselves and the natural environment. It is to be noted in this connection that at least 40% of the world's economy and 80% of the needs of the poor are derived from biological resources. Therefore the protection of our biological resources is of special importance. Hence the need for conscious and careful environmental management.

 

 

 

1. As a result of environmental recklessness under the (P) NDC deforestation, land degradation and erosion, water and air pollution, poor sanitation and bad waste management constitute very serious environmental issues in Ghana today. There are also cases of land degradation through natural causes and the longer-term effects of human activities, such serious soil erosion along our sea shores. There is indeed an alarming rate of environmental degradation. Underlying these worsening trends is the country's rapid rate of population growth which increasingly puts heavy demand pressure on natural resources. The management of the impact of human activities on the environment therefore requires greater effort. The NPP will introduce measures to create a healthy balance between environment and development. Special attention will be paid to the exploitation of our agricultural, forest, energy and mineral resources, inland water and offshore resources and their effects on the environment.

 

2. The NPP will take specific actions on efficient use of energy both at home and in industry, on waste management and all kinds of pollution. The 'polluter pays" principle will be applied, whenever the polluter can be identified, especially in industry. The NPP will provide strong support to the Environmental protection Agency and its network of support institutions to competently monitor the environment, implement preventive and control measures and propose special actions to government.

 

3. All local communities and the private sector will be involved in the management of land and water resources and will be provided with more infrastructural and operational resources, as opposed to the concentration of such resources at the central policy level.

 

4. The NPP will offer incentives and rewards for maintaining clean industrial establishments, for "greening:" degraded lands and other activities which set good examples in the protection and restoration of the environment. The NPP will also encourage and co-operate with NGOs which promote environmentally friendly activities. Industry and commerce will be encouraged, through tax incentives and other means, to contribute to a new Environmental Restoration fund to be established to help repair damage already done to the environment in order to restore ecological balance. In the wood sector the NPP will put emphasis on a programme for regeneration of forests that have been depleted and on the protection of the closed forests.

 

 

 

 

 

5. The NPP will pursue a comprehensive population policy that will ensure an appropriate balance between the population growth rate and the growth rate of the economy. This will not only help to relieve undue pressure on our natural resources but achieve the savings to plough into economic development and raise the living standards of the people.

 

 

10. URBAN RENEWAL

 

0. As a result of the combination of rapid urbanisation and sheer administrative ineptitude and neglect all our cities are in a deplorable state. Not only have the carrying capacities of the basic facilities been grossly overstretched but most of urban infrastructure are crumbling and a substantial part are either in disrepair or broken down. Drainage and sanitation have reached crisis proportions especially in Accra, whilst congestion has slowed traffic to a halt. Apart from the main arteries, inner city roads are a sorrowful sight whilst inadequate housing and growing unemployment and increasing poverty have resulted in acute homelessness aggravated b problems of poor physical planning. In their wake health hazards and personal insecurity resulting from both crime and acts of nature have led to a serious deterioration in family life.

 

1. The NPP regards it as a major priority to rehabilitate and update the infrastructure in our cities and towns. This is especially so for Accra which is the nation's capital. The slum areas in the inner city require urgent attention - both in planning layouts and residential reconstruction. This will be a focus for our low-cost housing schemes. The drainage and sanitation project which with Progress Party commenced and was stupidly stopped by the Akyeampong regime including the dredging and beautification of the Korle Lagoon will be brought to fruition. We have already indicated plans to develop a railway commuter system for Accra (1.18.1.10).

 

2. To prevent the emergence of 'new slums' in the outer cities and the new sites the regulations on development will be reviewed and implemented vigorously. We shall complement this program with the provision of site services. This will aim at preventing the recurrence of the insanitary conditions that have characterised urban development in Ghana and resulted in frequent outbreaks of epidemics.

 

3. One of the major policies of the Progress Party government was to construct a well equipped modern market in each Regional capital. This gave birth to the Kaneshie market in Accra. It has amply rewarded the vision of the PP. The New Patriotic Party government will resume this program. This will start with the activation of the abandoned Tamale market project.

 

11. MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES

 

0. Ghana is richly endowed with a wide variety of high quality natural resources: biological resources of plants, animals an micro-organisms; mineral resources; water resources; and ocean resources. The wealth of the nation is directly related to our ability to manage and develop these resources for the benefit our people. And the ability of the nation to manage and develop these resources depend critically on the quality of our educated and trained human resources and our scientific and technological capability.

 

1. The NPP government will ensure that the technologies we use to exploit and add value to these resources will be effective, appropriate and environmentally friendly. These considerations will guide all our policies in the areas of integrated rural development, agriculture, fisheries, industrial development, tourism, energy development housing, transportation, the provision of water for domestic and industrial use, and the conservation of our total natural heritage. Specific policies and actions in each of these areas are proposed in the following sections.

 

12. EXPLOITING OUR MINERAL RESOURCES

 

0. Mining has attracted significant investment and growth in recent years. God is now the top foreign exchange earner for Ghana. The NPP will not only take steps to increase gold production from the current level of 1.8 million troy ounces but bring to fruition the exploitation of the Kibi and Nyinahin bauxite deposits. This will be a major undertaking involving millions of dollars. Market trends, however, indicate that the Kibi project is feasible. The NPP government will search for the funds and seek partners for joint development of the project with the view to achieving backward integration of the aluminium industry in Ghana.

 

1. As part of our liberal investment policy, we will provide the incentive required for mining houses to intensify their current activities as well as gear up to exploit gold and other mineral deposits located outside the established areas. The Birim and Prah gold and diamond dredging projects will be revisited. Appropriate technology will be found to explore the Nauli and Buipe limestone deposits. The feasibility of processing minerals, such as bauxite and limestone to produce chemicals and clinker for export and local use will be studied seriously. We will look to the resulting substantial growth in the mining sector to contribute to the funding of our rural and agricultural development programmes. This linkage represents a major source for non-inflationary growth of the economy.

 

2. The interest of small-scale miners will always be in mind and wherever small-scale mining will be more efficient than mechanised mining, small-scale operations will be preferred.

 

13. DEVELOPING OUR ENERGY RESOURCES

 

0. Ghana's excessive dependence on imported oil imperils our national security and undermines our development efforts. We will as al matter of priority evolve an energy policy for Ghana. We will appoint a commission to study and report within a 90 day period on the status of all oil and gas exploration projects in Ghana, and to make recommendations on the feasibility of substantial domestic production.

 

1. we will provide financial and tax incentives for local firms to increase oil/gas exploration efforts and will encourage joint exploration with multinational firms. We shall consider the exploitation of solar and wind power as additional energy sources for our development.

 

2. We will, as soon as our financial condition permits, establish a National petroleum Security Reserve, to enable us store oil for us e during national emergencies, international price shocks, or supply disruptions.

 

3. We will support improvements at the Akosombo and Kpong hydro dams and upgrade their efficiency. The NPP will expedite the plans for thermal generation of power from local natural gas deposits to supplement existing power sources. We shall also review the prospects for mini-dams with the view to establishing and operating small hydroelectric plants that can serve as a source of energy for our regional and local areas. Such multi-purpose mini-dams can also provide water for irrigation and drinking for the rural communities.

 

14. EXPLOITING OUR TIMBER RESOURCES

 

0. The NPP government will implement a forest resource management policy that will ensure long-term sustainable exploitation of timber in the country. Emphasis will be given to a program to regenerate the existing forest areas that are capable of rehabilitation. We will also manage with prudence the existing closed forest areas and explore further the establishment of plantations of teak and related species along the coastal plains. These schemes should generate employment for the youth in the rural areas. The traditional authorities and farming communities will be enlisted in these schemes.

 

1. The NPP will support the private sector to diversify the production of wood products with the aim of gaining access to international markets that were hitherto uncharted by our local producers of wood products.

 

2. The NPP government will encourage the timber industry to be innovative in retooling existing plant and equipment to reduce wastage and to convert such wastage into useful products for the local and the export market. The emphasis will be placed on value-added.

 

15. PROTECTING OUR COASTLINE

 

0. Our country is blessed with an extensive coastline. The sea is both a cheap means of transport and communication and Ghana's 200-mile Economic Exclusion Zone is a reservoir of economic resources. These resources can be fully exploited only when the coastline on which people and investors can establish homes and economic ventures with confidence are secure and stable.

 

1. The NPP government will, therefore, give priority attention to the protection of the country's coastline from erosion by the sea. This is not a matter which should be allowed to be constrained by the economic stringency of today. The long-term consequences of sea erosion will be extremely costly for the nation and for posterity for whom we hold ourselves accountable.

 

2. The weak and vulnerable coastlines under attack include Keta, Dixcove, Ada, Shama, Nkontompo-Sekondi and Axim. Keta in particular and Dixcove have reached crisis proportions. The NPP government will do everything possible to harness the available technologies and international goodwill to salvage these areas and to contain any further encroachment by the sea.

 

16. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY and INNOVATION

 

0. There is a compelling need for a new science-based approach to development to usher Ghana into the twenty-first century. For this purpose, the NPP will advance the nation from the pursuit of survival science and technology to developmental science and technology. One of the major objectives will be to make our science and technology systems more economically productive, efficient and development-oriented.

 

 

 

 

1. Elements of the developmental science and technology policy of the NPP will include capacity building and activities in the following:

• biotechnology to help find solutions to problems of food production, food security, health and curative medicine;

• micro-electronics development to launch Ghana into new areas of industry and trade, including the manufacture of computer components.

• information technology to facilitate improvements in telecommunications both within Ghana and with the outside world; software development; the efficient management of information and data, and of business enterprises; an to give Ghanaians increased access to the new and expanding revolutionary information super-highway;

• identification, dissemination and large-sclae fabrication of rural technologies to increase the productivity of rural micro and mini-industries, especially those that add value to agricultural products;

• blending of imported and locally developed technologies into Ghanaian industry and training establishments to increase productivity and enhance technological capacity for further development;

• orienting and organizing existing and new research institutions to conform to national policy.

1. While pursuing the above general developmental directions, at least one specific area will be identified in each of the above categories, in which Ghana will strive to excel.

 

2. The NPP considers investment in Science and Technology vital for the future survival of Ghana and necessary for improved economic performance and better quality of life. Therefore, adequate funding will be made available to the science and technology sector annually.

 

3. The NPP will actively encourage international co-operation in science and technology, with particular attention to South-South co-operation, in seeking solutions to Ghana's socio-economic problems. As part of these efforts, Ghana's membership in international scientific and technological organizations will be promoted.

1. OVER VIEW : THE DEEPENING EDUCATIONAL CRISIS\

 

0. Education is the cornerstone of a nation's economic prosperity and social well being. It is vitally concerned with the effective development and utilization of the nation's most abundant and precious asset - its human resources. In today's global econmy, dominated by the information technology, it is only the nation with an educated workforce - trained in the scientific, technical and vocational skills and equippd with the requisite knowledge base - that can hope to overcome its poverty and win a secure place in the world. In our view, an efficient education, freely accebille to all citizens is also an insurance for social peace national harmony.

 

1. Today, however, Ghana's education is in a tailspin. Ghana's education, once the envy of all Sub-Saharan Africa for its demonstrated high standards is in the grip of a deepening crisis - affecting all the three levels through the basic, middle and tertiary. Without any doubt, this crisis in education, this levelling down of education, is one the most serious challenges facing our country. The NPP insists that the highest priority should be given to reversing the decline of education in Ghana, to raising the quality of teaching in our schools, colleges, institutes, universities and polytechnics and ensuring that quality education and training is accessible to all citizens wherever they live in this country.

 

2. The origins of the crisis date to September 1987, when the then PNDC government decided to introduce radical education reforms which were intended to transform pre-tertiary education in the country by expanding and making it more equitable and accessible, reducing its length from 17 to 12 years. The derailment of the school system in our country is the direct result of the hasty introduction of the reforms, without due consultation and adequate planning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. The primary school enrolment rate, after initially rising, has since been falling. Schools in the public system have suffered from under-staffing and lack of adequate and sufficiently trained teachers to cope with the new system, insufficient classroom space, untimely availability of equipment, books and other learning and teaching materials. The private preparatory schools mainly situated in the urban centres have, however done relatively well to maintain standards. The resulting gap in performance between the public schools and the private preparatory schools has compelled parents who can afford it to move their children from the public to the private schools. Members of the NDC government have joined in - seeking quality education for their own wards. Further the cost-sharing measures accompanying the reforms have put an inequitable financial burden on poor parents especially in rural areas.

 

4. The quality of basic education is clearly the key to the achievement of quality at the higher levels of the educational system. And for the vast majority of Ghanaians, the JSS will be terminal. The evidence, however, is that a large majority of these JSS graduates are barely either literate or numerate. In any case only 30 percent of JSS leavers find places in the limited number of Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) which are perceived to offer good secondary education. A far smaller proportion will find places in the technical and vocational and institutes available. Literally the JSS is producing mainly permanent "drop-outs" qualified only to swell the advancing ranks of the unemployed.

 

5. The pressures placed on the tertiary education system by the increased but generally poorly prepared output of the SS coupled with government's inability to offer attractive conditions of service to staff and to provide adequate facilities for teaching, learning and research have created conditions of instability within the universities and polytechnics, and between the government and these institutions. In the situation where higher education has failed to keep pace with population growth, these conditions have led to a groundswell of crisis and shutdowns which have affected staff, students, parents and the course of national development.

 

6. The NPP accepts it as a challenge and national duty to resolve the crisis in education outlined above, to raise the quality of education and make quality education accessible to the Ghanaian citizen wherever he lives in the country, to build up our manpower resources in all the disciplines relevant for nation building and full participation in the global economy and so improve the quality of life for the average Ghanaian by increasing the opportunities for employment and social development.

 

 

 

 

2. THE NPPs EDUCATION POLICY

 

0. The thrust of the NPP education policy is Social and Economic Empowerment of Ghanaians through the promotion of steadily increasing access to quality education. The NPP perceives education as the tool for investing in people and empowering them with the knowledge and skills to determine their own lives. The NPP believes also that education can play a cardinal role in nation building by promoting the democratic culture which alone can achieve development with people as the end and means of development.

 

1. The NPP believes that education is a strategic investment government must continue to make if it is to assure the nation's present and future prosperity. The NPP government will pay the highest possible attention to all governmental and non-governmenatal activities related to education in order to enhance teaching and learning in our schools, colleges and tertiary institutions. It will mobilize state and private resources to achieve maximum enrolment and to provide adequate teaching and learning aids throughout the entire system.

 

2. The basis thrust of the NPP government's education policy will include the following:

 

1. education to JSS 3 will be guaranteed for all Ghanaians;

 

2. tuition at all levels of the state sector up to JSS 3, will be free, basic educational materials such as chalk, pencils exercise books will also be progressively provided for;

 

3. the active participation of the private sector in the provision of educational services at all levels will be strongly encouraged;

 

4. students, parents, educators, finance houses and the concerned public will be encouraged to work closely with government to agree on, and regularly review, an affordable and workable educational loan scheme for levels beyond JSS 3;

 

5. scholarships and bursaries will be decentralized to local and regional levels where they can be better administered and monitored.

 

 

 

 

1. The state's role in the provision of universal basic education will be limited to the payment of all teachers in the public system, while government assists districts assemblies and local communities to build and maintain school buildings. Schools will be equipped to promote optimal levels of teaching and learning. In addition, government will provide subsidies through appropriate tax rebates to assist writers and publishers produce affordable books and learning aids. We are convinced that Ghanaians will be prepared to contribute substantially to achieve quality education for their wards rather than depend on empty promises from government. Parents and guardians will be encouraged to put as much resources as they would wish into their local public schools to supplement government efforts and thus help to bridge the gap between the public and private schools.

 

2. In addition to improving the quality of education at the primary school level, every effort will be made to raise the standards of teaching and learning at the JSS so that the majority of students leaving JSS will be truly literate and numerate. The NPP Government will also make every effort to widen the circle of good SSS institutions in order to minimize the frustration of parents and students. Other specific actions at all levels of education are presented below.

 

3. The JSS system an original programme of the Progress Party, which was conceived as an effective method of providing an al-round education capable of meeting the adults needs of most citizens, has suffered from having been introduced nationally in a rush; as if it were some egalitarian lowering of standards. It is our overriding objective to rehabilitate the system so as to provide high quality education to JSS 3 level for all Ghanaians. Priority will be given to

• equipping the schools with adequate tools and supplies;

• providing continuous training to teachers to upgrade teaching skills;

• increasing the number of teachers by more efficient use and monitoring of the National Service Scheme;

• improving the conditions of service of the teaching profession;

• improving enrolment in the northern regions of the country, which is currently averaging well below the south's 80%;

• increasing and maintaining the enrolment of females throughout the country and reducing the drop-out rate;

1. We will encourage the involvement of the school community, that is, parents, teachers, old students and the local authority, in the management of senior secondary schools. While the government will be responsible for providing basic tuition, the school management boards will be responsible for setting boarding fees, raising funds, and providing additional services.

 

2. We shall establish special science-oriented senior secondary boarding schools for females to boost their percentage share in secondary and tertiary institutions.

 

3. Tertiary education is the key to the modernization of the economy. It provides middle and high level human resources for government, public and private sector organizations. Ghana's interaction with the outside world and her ability to negotiate her place in the international market place is critically dependent on the quality of the graduates from these institutions. They have provided Ghana with a large number of highly trained personnel many of whom have come from humble backgrounds and from the rural areas.

 

4. A major plank in the NPP's policy on human resource development will be to consult all themajor stakeholder in tertiary education, namely students, parents, teachers, the private sector, etc. on new funding policy so as to quickly achieve a national consensus on how to meet the high social demand for tertiary education and national development needs while continuing to maintain high quality in training, retraining, research and extension. The NPP is committed to open wide the doors of opportunity through education to the many young men and women who yearly seek, but are frustrated in their ambition, to obtain higher education and so improve their economic and social circumstances. Increased access to quality education at all levels of our educational system is indeed a major challenge of our time which the NPP is committed to fully address.

 

5. Our five university institutions are already over-crowded, understaffed, and under-equipped. The new JSS/SSS system has further increased the pressure of admission to these and other tertiary institutions. The NPP government will seek to alleviate this pressure by rapidly establishing decentralized polytechnics. High quality institutions offering focused courses in built-up areas will be encouraged to facilitate commuting from existing houses.

 

6. Religious and the private organizations will be encouraged to participate in the establishment and management of tertiary education within an overall national education framework.

 

7. We shall liaise with our universities and other institutions of science and technology to forge a master plan for anchoring their research and their preoccupations within the day to day activities and concerns of our farmers, artisans and industrialists. We intend strengthening and redirecting their applied research capabilities to national development efforts.

 

8. We shall make use of tertiary institutions for training and re-training to tackle unemployment and increase the productivity and management competence of our workers.

 

9. In order to encourage private sector participation in the provision of education, we will offer substantial investment incentives, over and above those for industry and other sectors of the economy, to those who invest in the provision of quality private education at all levels.

 

10. The NPP recognizes that for the short-term Ghana cannot achieve the desirable levels of enrolment of JSS and SSS graduates in post-JSS and post-SSS institutions. It will therefore formulate appropriate policies which would ensure increased employment each year for those unable to continue their education beyond these levels. Secondly, it will establish centres for artisanal and apprenticeship training throughout the country to provide employable skills especially for JSS graduates who fail to gain admission into senior secondary schools. Private individuals and master craftsmen will be encouraged to run such centres to supplement government's own efforts. The NPP believes that sustainable agricultural, technical and economic development requires literate farmers and literate craftsmen and women.

 

11. At a time in the history of the world when rapid change in technology and restructuring of the economies are constantly taking place, training and retraining has become necessary for the total work force, from the lowest floor level to the highest management level, to make them better able to face these changes. The NPP recognizes this need and will make every effort to ensure that this aspect of the management of change is constantly given due attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12. With specific reference to the critical area of Human Resource Development for Science and Technology, world trends indicate the need for scientific and technological literacy for each individual. The NPP will seriously address this need. Facilities for science education will be provided to enable training in science and technology to be extended to persons of all ages. These will cover both the formal and the non-formal education systems. Special attention will be given to girls and out-of-school children and adults. The press, radio and television will be used to promote the understanding and appreciation of science and technology by the general public.

 

13. In addition, in order to face the scientific and technological challenges of the economy in the twenty-first century, the NPP will:

• aim at doubling the number of scientists and technologists within a decade, with particular attention to the training of women. Entrepreneurial training will be incorporated into courses for all scientists and technologists.

• enhance specialized post-graduate and advanced technical training in the universities and other appropriate national institutions.

• give due recognition to scientists and technologists, through realistic remuneration and other awards.

• promote science and technology at grassroots level, through science exhibitions and fairs in villages as well as urban centres, popularize income-generating scientists/

• institute annual science and technology awards for best performance in key areas from district to national level to bring out the best in all categories learners.

• encourage innovators and investors through a scheme for funding the development of new ideas for solving practical problems and the recognition of merit by suitable awards at regular intervals.

1. A healthy nation is a productive nation. Good health starts from the home through hygienic living. The average Ghanaian, however, lives in insanitary conditions and suffers from a variety of easily controllable or preventable inefective and parasitic diseases. Today nutrition has worsened across the nation through unreliable production and distribution of food, of high food prices and poor nutritional knowledge. The burden of ill-health on our women and young children caused or aggravated in part by the very high fertility and adverse living conditions is unacceptably heavy. The national institutions are insufficient and poorly maintained and the services inefficient and badly managed. The system of cash and carry or cost recovery at the point of service has proved notoriously callous and inhuman.

 

2. The NPP government will implement programs to promote healthy behaviour, good hygiene and sanitation, access to clean water and good nutrition in the home. We will empower families to seek good health. We will intensify and expand realistic and relevant health education programmes, increase youth participation in health promotion activities, family planning, immunization and other preventive health efforts.

 

3. We will improve access to and utilisation of the health care services, ensuring that all hospitals, health clinics and other health institutions are adequately equipped and supplied with drugs; staff trained to be technically competent, sensitive and sympathetic to the needs of the public they serve. Modern management techniques will be introduced to increase cost effectiveness and eliminate waste. Referral services will be streamlined and made accessible to all who need them. Special attention will be paid to emergency needs during pregnancy and delivery. We will also improve health information and the vital registration systems.

 

4. Essential national health research will be better organised and funded. A mechanism for co-ordination will be developed to ensure that priorities are properly identified, that the results of research are immediately put to use and that traditional health care receives adequate research attention and integration into the modern health system. For this purpose, the NPP government will aim to establish a post graduate medical college to spearhead essential research into all aspects of health delivery. This will not only enable health professionals to do their post graduate training locally but also offer opportunity for highly trained Ghanaian specialists working abroad to join their local counterparts in training and research programmes to improve medical care delivery in the country.

 

 

 

5. The Ministry of Health will be organized to ensure that it performs effectively its ministerial functions of policy formulation, strategic planning, supervising regulating and setting standards for all health work in the whole country. Service delivery is not a ministerial function and will therefore be completely separated, decentralised and organised to ensure effective coordination of the public system with the private sector including private medical practitioners, NGOs and the traditional practitioners. For this purpose and for effective management of the Ghana Health Service, the NPP government will ensure that members of the governing council of the Service are independent of political control and are appointed on the advice f the recognised bodies in the profession. Studies will be undertaken on the costs of health care tohelp arrive at equitable remunderation for persons involved in the provision of health services. Overtime allowances should be paid to health workers, incentive allowances should be paid to health workers posted to remote areas.

 

6. The system of financing health care services will be thoroughly overhauld and the cash and carry system reviewed with a view to evolving a more equitable system including health insurance and other repayment schemes. This should provide for humane treatment of illness, particularly of accidents and other emergencies and avoid any payment at the point of service in these situations. Under the NPP government, the following categories of patients will be absolutely exempted from any operation of the cash and carry system:

 

1. All paediatric emergencies
2. All obstetric emergencies
3. Victims of road traffic accidents
4. Genuine paupers
5. Patients over 70 years who are indigent.

 

Free medical attention will also be given for the prevention and management of diseases of particular public health significance, such as cholera, tuberculosis, leprosy and AIDS above all our health policy will aim at providing comprehensive coverage of the entire population in the medium term.

 

7. The NPP attaches priority importance to health education hence we will expand and upgrade the Health Education Unit of the MOH and support it to be sufficiently autonomous as the lead centre for health information, education and communication in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

8. it is proposed that well equipped Accident and Trauma Centres be established in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale to provide leadership in meeting the increasing demand for the management of accidents and various forms of traumatic injury. Further the NPP is strongly of the view that congestion at the main hospitals should be eased to provide for efficient health management. This can be attained by upgrading the poly-clinics and improving the district health centres to provide 24 hour emergency and outpatient care. In this connection it is proposed to complete the development of the Ridge Hospital in Accra and to fully equip it. The NPP government will work towards the realization of these objectives.

 

9. Our medium term health strategy will aim at sector-wide multi-year programmes. Diseases and conditions declared of public health importance for which the technologies for prevention, control and management are readily available will be given the highest priority in the short to medium term. To this end "safe motherhood"" sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis, buruli ulcer and cholera will receive the highest immediate attention.

 

10. Health cannot be obtained for a people and it is not available in bottles. The people as a whole have to work at their own health. The NPP government will strive to provide an environment conducive to good health. It will mount programs for health promotion and disease prevention. We will seek to harness the people's strengths by making them partners in their own health care by involving them closely in the planning and implementation of all health and disease prevention and treatment activities. Health workers should be trained or retrained to listen to the people they serve and to work with them as partners.

 

2.4.0 POPULATION POLICY

 

11. Population is the engine of national development, at the same time population is a consumer of national resources. It is necessary, therefore, to take on board the dynamics of population growth and its implications for national welfare. The rapid growth of our population, with a doubling time of twenty three years, is a matter of concern, viewed in relation to the performance of our economy. Rapid population growth affects our health conditions and frustrates the attainment of our aspirations as a nation. The far-sighted Progress Party government of Dr. Busia was the first to initiate a population policy in Africa. The NPP government will pursue a comprehensive and effective population policy to ensure that the population growth rate is brought into balance with economic growth so as to ensure a better quality f life for all Ghanaians.

 

 

 

12. A major component of the NPP policy and programs will be to enhance formal educational opportunities for girls and women for reasons both of equity and as one of the most cost effective methods for socio-economic development and fertility management. Education will go together with an accelerated program to ensure that the means of practising responsible parenthood are accessible to all. Family life education will be an integral part of the school curriculum and will also be made pat of all programs for the out-of-school youth. Reproductive health programs will be expanded and strengthened to provide comprehensive care including the prevention and management of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS and the provision of family planning. We will expand the community based and social marketing approaches to ensure easy access to all sections of the population.

 

13. Parent should be given effective choices in planning for their children to ensure their optimal survival and development. Hence the NPP will give special attention to adolescent reproductive health needs to ensure effective family planning. Education on responsible citizenship, especially for the youth, will be coupled with expanded opportunities for satisfying employment.

 

14. As part of our population management program the NPP government will review the legal age at marriage and will repeal all laws which interfere with the attainment of full equitable treatment of women. The NPP will enact laws to ensure the attainment of equal rights for women and reinforcement of their empowerment as provided in section 2.5.0 below.

 

15. Our development plans will be sensitive to the likely effects on population movements, particularly on urbanization and environmental degradation. Hence affordable housing and other infrastructure to make our environment both hygienic and aesthetic will be pursued as provided in our urban renewal program in section 1.12.0

 

16. The NPP will strengthen the National Population Council (NPC) to enable it assume a more effective co-ordinating role in population advocacy - encompassing such emerging issues as, population and the environment, concerns of the aged, children, youth and persons will disabilities, HIV/AIDS, and population and the law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.5.0 OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN

 

17. Women have undoubtedly been the backbone of the family and our economy; trading and agriculture would never have been what they are without their dominant inputs. In spite of all their contributions, the voice of women is not sufficiently heard in government and in legislation.

 

18. We will strengthen women's groups, especially the National Council on Women and Development (NCWD), to ensure that the Ghanaian woman's voice is heard at the highest levels. Women will be encouraged to be part of the policy-making process; this will be done by making sure that they are sensitized to their civic responsibilities. Their participation in the economic, political and social life of the nation will be properly acknowledged and enhanced. Under our industry revival program female-owned and headed enterprises will receive expanded access to credit on favoured terms. The program will also support female entrepreneurial initiatives and assist women venturing into business or self-employment.

 

19. The NPP will work hand in hand with other women's groups and non-governmental organizations which promote the general well-being of women, especially those in the rural areas. We will create a Ministry of Women's Affairs to initiate policy and to monitor and evaluate implementation to ensure that the special needs of women are adequately catered for across all sectors.

 

2.6.0 CARING FOR CHILDREN

 

20. We will enforce compulsory schooling to JSS.3 to ensure a basic minimum quality of life for all, as well as lay a foundation for a good quality work-force.

 

21. The exploitation of child labour continues to disgrace our country. While we appreciate the immediate economic pressures that cause this situation, the practise is a major contributing factor in continuing to characterize the economically disadvantaged in our society as poorly or not educated, physically underdeveloped and mentally and emotionally less well equipped.

 

22. Irresponsible parenthood is a contributing factor in the lack of care for children. The NPP will tackle this problem through appropriate education and legislation.

 

23. We shall expand the availability of sporting facilities to the youth. Religious and charitable societies will be encouraged to play a bigger role in providing recreation facilities through youth clubs, etc.

7. SPORTS

 

0. A sporting nation is a healthy nation. As a sporting nation Ghana was pre-eminent in Africa through the 1960's. Today we shine only in football. Excepting boxing there is a general fall in standards and achievements every where. Games like cricket and hockey have practically died out whilst athletics are in doldrums. The decline of Ghanaian sports can be attributed to a lack of vision and commitment by successive governments who downgraded sports as an invigorating culture. Hence there have been no systematic forward looking plans to develop sports, to supply the facilities and infrastructure and to promote private sponsorship and initiative. Rather we have succeeded in weakening sport administration and development with political interferences.

 

1. The NPP pledges to give full momentum to revival of Ghanaian sports and to integrate sports development into the mainstream of nation building. The NPP will create a special sports development fund to ensure vigorous promotion of sports through the educational system. Further, the NPP is looking forward to Ghana staging major international sporting events and hence the need to commence the development of the necessary infrastructure. Apart from constructing a modern multipurpose stadium in Accra, the NPP believes that each Regional capital should have a fully equipped sports stadium and a gymnasium.

 

2. Our policy is to ensure that every young boy and girl in this country discovers his or her God-given sports talent early in life and to have the opportunity to build on it. The Metropolitan and District Assemblies will be aided to make this policy a reality. Additionally the NPP will grant tax credits to businesses and recognition to private bodies for provision of sports facilities. Further the NPP will ensure the development of regional and national sports agenda as a vehicle for systematic sports competition to raise national standards. In addition our party will encourage private bodies to help provide sports facilities in the metropolitan and municipal areas. We shall also ensure that the sports bodies are autonomous in order to encourage the maintenance of high professional standards.

 

3. All the tertiary institutions will be encouraged to establish courses in sports and foundations and bursaries will be made available to ensure their implementation. This will go with the development of the requisite infrastructure and integration of college and national sports in sharing of facilities and programs. Such identifiable bodies as the Police and the Army will also initiate strong sports programs.

 

 

 

8. CULTURE

 

0. We have a rich store of traditional wisdom and institutions which we ignore at our peril. The guardians of this treasure house are the traditional authorities. We intend to uphold their participation in the governance of the country.

 

1. Respect for our traditional institutions is but one aspect of our commitment to promote our national culture. Without a vigorous attachment to traditional values, there can be no respect for us as a people, nor can there be discipline within the society. We promise to integrate primary and J.S.S educational institutions into their neighbourhoods to ensure that the traditional culture and values are developed in the products of the educational system and that modern education in turn influences the evolution of traditional culture.

 

2. We will encourage and support indigenous musicians, playwrights and cultural groups in general.

 

3. We pledge to make modern science and technology and integral part of the Ghanaian culture.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

3.0 CREATING A VIABLE DEMOCRACY

 

 

1. THE STATE OF THE NATION TODAY

 

0. As stated by our Chairman and Presidential Candidate in the Foreword to this Manifesto, the NDC has continued the culture of violence, exclusion and lack of tolerance which the PNDC established as their distinctive mode of administering the affairs of this country. There are clear and serious limitations of the Rule of Law. The Judiciary is not seen by the general public as independent of the Executive. Individual human rights and freedoms cannot be said to be flourishing in this country! We are living in a highly polarized society. This is not the liberal democratic Ghana of our dreams! This is not the type of nation we want our children to inherit.

 

2. CREATING A VIABLE DEMOCRACY

 

3.2.1 The historic mission of the New Patriotic Party is to create in Ghana a viable democracy where there is instinctive respect for the enjoyment of human rights to their full and for the promotion of social justice. It is only within the confines of the democratic state, where the individual has full confidence in the existence of these rights, particularly the rights to free expression, association and movement, that individual initiative and ingenuity can be stimulated to develop a prosperous free enterprise economy capable of resolving the problems of jobs, housing, cheap food and accessible social services facing the majority of our people. The entrenchment of the rule of law, effectively enforced by an independent judiciary, to which governor and governed alike are subject, is thus an essential plank in the foundation of national prosperity and development.

 

3. NATIONAL RECONCILIATION AND UNITY

 

0. The integrity of the state and the unity of our people are vital pre-requisites for national progress. We cannot afford to perpetuate the policies of exclusion and polarisation and the politics of divide and rule, which have been the characteristic of the (P) NDC era. A conscious and systematic search for consensus and compromise will be the feature of the NPP rule - so that we can forge a greater unity in the nation and promote a more harmonious society. This will require policies of courage and foresight.

 

1. The festering sores within the body politic must be healed. This is necessary so that the nation can look confidently and boldly into the future and not be dragged back by the past. For this purpose, and as a special assignment, the NPP will as a matter of urgent priority, establish a National Reconciliation Committee to consider all surviving cases of human rights abuses and award appropriate compensation for the victims. This will include restoration of seized properties, unconditional amnesty to all Ghanaians in exile and forthwith release of persons imprisoned for politically related offence.

 

2. The NPP will honour the Transitional Provisions of the 1992 Constitution and shall, impartially, apply the rule f law to all persons. Our policy shall be devoid of vengeance, vindictiveness or any victimisation. We aim to promote genuine reconciliation of our people and reinforce the unity of the society as we strive to uphold the rule of law.

 

3. As part of national reconciliation and to motivate Ghanaians to selfless dedication to the advancement of the nation, the NPP will establish a Hall of Flame which shall house the records of deserving Ghanaians - dead or living- who have made significant contribution to national progress in any field of national life.

 

4. JUSTICE AND THE RULE OF LAW

 

0. A viable democratic state must be governed according to the rule of law. The entrenchment of the rule of law will prevent a recurrence of human rights violations of the past - violations that engendered the martyrdom of two of the founders of our tradition - J. B. Danquah and E. Obetsebi Lamptey, who paid the ultimate price in the defence of the rule of law in the dungeons of Nsawam prison.

 

1. Respect for the rule of law needs to be buttressed by the relevant institutional structures - the most significant of which is an effective system of judicial administration. The role of the Courts in the process of entrenching respect for the rule of law and human rights, as well as providing an efficient, honest, independent forum for the resolution of commercial and investment disputes, is crucial to the ability of the NPP to build a free enterprise market-oriented system in which human and private property rights are respected and protected. An efficient and an impartial system of judicial administration is essential to creating a conducive investment climate. Virtually all post-independence governments have neglected the claims of the Courts for effective resources.

 

 

 

 

2. The NPP government will reverse this trend; by putting at the disposal of the Courts all the facilities necessary for efficient administration of justice so that the delays, which have been a chronic feature of judicial administration, are brought to an end. We shall ensure that the nation gets a judicial system whereby integrity, honesty, impartiality and efficiency become the hallmarks of its administration.

 

5. GOOD GOVERNANCE

 

0. By governance we do not merely mean the rule of law and absence of human rights abuses. We include governmental accountability and transparency, consistency, tolerance, effective participation and communication and delegation through decentralized power structures which include the District Assemblies as well as those elements of autonomous and effective civil society, such as the media, the TUC and NGOs. Democracy will not long endure nor will the people achieve economic security if the institutions which should underpin it are weak or absent.

 

1. The New Patriotic Party defines good governance as government free from corruption and patronage, where the governors act in the interest of the governed, where efficiency and humanity prevail, where contracts are awarded on merit and where the best man or woman is appointed to the job. The NPP is of the view that good governance should be pervasive, is reflecting honesty and integrity at all levels of public administration and be conflict free.

 

2. Pursuant to above, the NPP promises to ensure good governance by:

• seeing that public servants execute their assignments with honesty, transparency, discipline, equity and accountability;

• preserving at all times the independence and freedom of the Press and enlarging their access to information.

1. DECENTRALIZATION AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

 

0. Much of the political atrophy in Ghana since independence can be traced to the excessive centralization of government and governmental power in the capital. This has led to a situation where local government, which should be the cradle of political development and a nursery for the development of politicians, has been virtually non-existens. People have to travel hundreds of miles to Accra for things as commonplace as a passport and sometimes even driving licenses.

 

1. The New Patriotic Party believes in the decentralization of government and the bureaucracy. An NPP government will correct the anomalies that have undermined effective decentralization. It will give "a general power competence" to local authorities at the Regional, District and local levels to cover their activities in the delivery of services, health, education and planning. The Regions, Districts and localities will be furnished with the financial means to provide services that are within their competence to supply. For this purpose the NPP government will enlarge the base of the common fund whilst encouraging the Districts to raise and properly manage own funds.

 

2. CHIEFTAINCY

 

0. The Constitution of the Fourth Republic has a provision taking away the recognition of Chiefs from central government and therefore discontinuing the contentious gazetting and subsequent manipulation of Chiefs by central government. There is also a provision barring chiefs from active party politics, a provision which derives from the dual role of the chief in the social cohesion of the people and as a rallying point for community participation in local government. The NPP support these provisions and will work to ensure that chieftaincy affairs are kept out of party politics and handled by the National House of Chiefs.

 

 

 

 

1. Further, the NPP fully recognises the indispensable role of chiefs in local government and as the symbols of traditional solidarity. Hence our party will support chiefs and make it possible for them to provide the leadership and focus for local and district development. In this regard the NPP will ensure the regular and prompt release of funds due to chiefs to enable them carry out their functions effectively. The NPP will support the National House of Chiefs in its functions as arbiters in chieftaincy affairs and in related conflict resolution. The NPP will give due deference to Chiefs as authentic voice of the people.

 

3. THE SECURITY SERVICES

 

0. The security services under our administration will focus on the security of the state. Their main concern will be the survival of the state and the protection of its territorial integrity and its democratic system. The security services will not be part of our party apparatus. They will protect both government functionaries as well as leaders of opposition groups and other important personages in the society. Security service personnel will thus be expected to show absolute neutrality in political conflicts and will be guaranteed secure tenure, subject to normal disciplinary measures. We are proud of the skill, courage and professionalism displayed by our armed forces in their many peace keeping missions around the world, most notable in Rwanda and in Liberia. We are proud that their abilities continue to be recognised by the United Nations which give them an ever increasing role to play.

 

1. We are committed to improving the professionalism of our Armed Forces and properly equipping them to perform their role as a major institution guaranteeing of the state and of the Constitution.

 

2. Within the constraints of the economy, we will provide such funds as are needed by them to perform their given tasks. We will also give them a larger percentage of the monies generated through their peace-keeping role. And in order to ensure that the developmental skills of the Armed Forces personnel ar fully utilized, we shall encourage the smooth transition of retired men and officers to the industrial and service sectors, where their communication, engineering and artisanal skills can be tapped especially by our sawmilling and mining sectors. Their participation in self-employment ventures shall be encouraged and promoted through improved access to funding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. A MOTIVATED POLICE FORCE

 

0. Our people are entitled to a sense of security and peace of mind for their person and property. But today morale in the police service is as its lowest ebb. Across the country police barracks are in a deplorable state, many of them reduced to dilapidated buildings in uninspiring environments; conditions of service are very poor; equipment and machinery for police work and mostly unserviceable, obsolete or non-existent. In some of the charge offices even ordinary writing paper and pens are hard to find. Inadequate numbers of operationally efficient vehicles have reduced the force's mobility and ability to counter crime.

 

1. The NPP is committed to tackling the problems that confront our police force and upgrading its image and efficiency. We shall provide them with the training and the means to enable them to provide an effective deterrent to crime and lawlessness. The NPP will restructure the service to create room for upward mobility and improve flexibility in management of law and order in the regions. Adequate remuneration levels will be established through the review of remunerations in the public and private sectors, as stated under section 1.4.5.0 above.

 

2. The NPP government will embark upon a five year development programme for the alleviation of the accommodation problems of the Police as a first step in increasing the strength of the Ghana Police Force towards its fixed present establishment.

 

3. The NPP will implement a policy of decentralization which will effectively delegate authority from the National Headquarters to the regions to facilitate the achievement of the primary responsibility of prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of law and order.

 

4. To further foster law enforcement, the NPP government will undertake a radical examination of the time-honoured Special Branch as a professional intelligence gathering agency which will alert the operational command of the Force in combating crime and disturbances.

 

5. We shall ensure that the Police and its ancillary agencies, especially the Special Branch and the Criminal Investigation Department operate professionally as tools for the enhancement of democratic governance. Under the NPP government, the Police will not be used as an instrument of harassment, torture and corruption.

 

6. We will also encourage the growth of Neighbourhood/Community Watch Schemes and the formal and informal interaction of the community with the police. A vigilant community are the eyes and ears of an effective police force.

 

5. THE PRISONS AND PRISONS SERVICE

 

0. Our prisons are dehumanizing. The object of prison is to rehabilitate not to provide inhuman punishment to inmates.

 

1. We shall reduce the over-crowding in our prisons by:-

 

1. providing more open prisons; prison farms at which prisoners will be exposed to more modern agricultural methods and other skills in order to provide them with income generating expertise.

 

2. by encouraging shorter sentencing by the courts.

 

3. by encouraging non-custodial community service sentence where appropriate.

 

1. The professionalism of the prisons service will continue to be upgraded and persons unsuitable to have custody of their fellow human beings will be weeded out.

 

2. We shall encourage the participation of the Religious and other benevolent organizations in helping the service create income-generating and self-financing centres of economic activities as a means of importing socially healthy and income generating skills to inmates. These institutions will be encouraged to establish "half-way" houses to smoothen the re-integration of discharged convicts into society.

 

6. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

 

0. As a party, the NPP has a pedigree which has always been for the freedom of association for all Ghanaians. A corollary of the belief in the freedom of association is the recognition of the importance of a party or parties in opposition to the ruling political party. Multipartism is the essence of liberal democracy and the NPP believes that there must always be an alternative and credible party of government. For this reason the PPP will co-operate with all other political parties as essential organs in the governance of the country.

 

1. The NPP will also encourage the development of strong, independent and responsible associations including trade unions, professional bodies and religious organisations as essential pressure groups for healthily functioning democracy.

 

 

7. ACCESS TO INFORMATION

 

0. In the competitive market economy which the NPP seeks to create, access to information for better decision-making is a crucial element. Access to information also helps to ensure honesty, transparency, discipline, equity and accountability. The Party therefore pledges that there will be easy access to all kinds of information. Information will be classified to be out of reach of the citizen only in limited clearly defined areas.

 

8. THE MEDIA

 

0. Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Fourth Republic. The NPP will uphold it. Indeed the NPP government will ensure the free and diverse private ownership for the print and electronic media so that independent broadcasting organisations can be set up by private sector operators. We shall put no restrictions on newspaper ownership. The NPP believes that the vigour and independence of newspapers, radio and television is a reflection of the confidence of a people and the health of democracy in a country.

 

1. We shall review the management and ownership structure of the state-owned electronic and print mass media, and where appropriate, use the Stock Exchange to reorganize their shareholding structure.

 

2. The Law Reform Commission will be directed to examine very critically and propose for updating, if necessary, all laws relating to criminal libel and contempt.

 

9. WORKERS AND UNIONS

 

0. We shall encourage and support the trade union movement as a crucial partner in the building of a viable democratic state. We shall encourage the participation of the movement in the retraining and organisation of workers in an ever increasing competition in the global economic environment.

 

1. We shall help strengthen the bargaining capabilities of the movement and provide an effective machinery and environment for free and fair brgaining and negotiation on all work-related matters between workers and employees so as to create a new era of industrial peace.

 

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR

 

4.0 GHANA'S ROLE IN THE WORLD

 

10. A NEW WORLD ORDER

 

0. We shall work assiduously to promote a new world order - a world free from inequity. We shall promote and encourage the development of multi-party democracies, especially in Africa. We shall promote and strengthen economic and trade ties as a driving force in our external relations. We shall promote peace an co-operation in our dealings with all nations but the NPP government will not encourage illegal overthrows of governments anywhere in the world.

 

2. ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICAN STATES (ECOWAS)

 

12. A strong and vibrant ECOWAS will not only be a stimulus to our national development but will also serve as a springboard for the realization of an African Economic Community. Every effort will be made to improve upon the existing intra-ECOWAS trade. We shall support and adhere to ECOWAS regulations on freedom of movement within the region. We will support the actions of the West Africa Chamber of Commerce aimed at making West Africa one market and shall pass all necessary legislation to give concrete meaning to ECOWAS. We are not oblivious of the numerous problems that have constrained the progress of the sub-regional body. But we should not lose sight of the developmental advantages for the nation if ECOWAS is strengthened, especially in the field of trade.

 

2. AFRICA

 

0. We shall be positive about changing the image of Africa. Our goal is the total liberation of the African Peoples from tyrants, be they colonial or indigenous.

 

1. We will support without qualification the genuine aspirations of all African countries towards the realization of Africa's developmental objectives. We will therefore work within the framework of the OAU for the eventual attainment of the African Economic Community. We are aware of the problems this will entail, given Africa's past failures at regional economic groupings. Nevertheless, such failures should provide guiding lessons for the realization of our economic goals. It is a policy which we have to pursue doggedly and wholeheartedly if Africa is to benefit from her own natural resources.

 

 

2. PEOPLE OF AFRICAN DESCENT

 

0. We shall initiate policies to welcome people of Africa descent, especially those endowed skills and resources to participate in our economic and social development efforts. We intend to make all people of African descent feel at home in Ghana.

 

2. THE COMMONWEALTH

 

0. Ghana has been a respected member of the Commonwealth since our attainment of independence. However, the average Ghanaian, we believe, is not aware of what the Commonwealth of Nations really means in his or her life. We pledge to work in very close collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat so as to make the Commonwealth more relevant and meaningful to its peoples. In this connection, we will urge the Commonwealth to step up its development-oriented activities to make its existence meaningful to the average Ghanaian.

 

1. In line with the Commonwealth's policy on decentralization and human rights, Ghana will seek to exclude from participation in the organisation, non-democratic and non-representative governments.

 

2. UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

 

0. We will continue to play an active role in all international organizations of which Ghana is a member. More specifically, we will continue to champion with renewed vigour the cause and ideals of the United Nations and its specialized agencies.

 

1. Our collaboration with other international organizations will be dedicated primarily by the extent to which such co-operation will enhance our productive capacity and eventual self-reliance.

 

2. SPECIAL RELATIONS

 

0. With the exception of the Second and Third Republics, Ghana's relations with our immediate neighbours have left much to be desired. We will leave no stone unturned to forge very close and mutually beneficial relations with our immediate neighbours.

  

 

2. POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA

 

0. Post-apartheid South Africa is not only a country of great economic potential, it is now a beacon in the practice of liberal democracy and in the management of a mult-party-multi-national society. The NPP shares kindred spirit with post-apartheid South Africa in its stance on human rights, social justice, rule of law and national reconciliation and in its determination to raise the image of governance in Africa. The NPP government will work relentlessly with post-apartheid South Africa to promote economic development and good governance in Africa.

 

2. SOUTH-SOUTH CO-OPERATION

 

0. There has been much rhetoric about the promotion of co-operation with other Third World countries by previous governments. In spite of the existence of the South Commission, trade with Third World countries is rather on the low side. The sort of international relations that we intend to pursue will go beyond the realms of rhetoric. We will work for the effective promotion of South-South trade and other forms of co-operation.

 

1. Our missions in Third World countries will accordingly be empowered to vigorously pursue economic-oriented and other contacts that will facilitate South-South co-operation in the fields of trade, investments, scientific research and culture.

 

2. THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT

 

0. With ending of the cold-war, the NPP believes that the NAM should redirect its focus towards economic development in its member-states. This is not only a desired objective in itself, it would help close the gap in living standards between the industrialised North and the impoverished South and thus remove a potential source of North/South conflict.

 

1. Hence the NPP will endeavour to promote within the Councils of the NAM;

 

1. such refocussing of NAM's priorities;
2. the development of appropriate strategies towards the realisation of the new world economic order; and
3. the development of meaningful economic and trade relations among member-states for mutual benefit.

The NPP government will thus re-emphasize its commitment to the ideals of the NAM with the re-orientation of the Movement's agenda in close view.