Accra, Jan 08, - Ghana returned
to constitutional rule and multi-party democracy after a topsy-turvy eight-year
military regime from 1966 to 1982 without any clear sense of direction for
socio-economic development.
Therefore, the 1992 Constitution
came into effect on January 7, 1993, and provided the country a sovereign
document and clear direction for organising a democratic State.
The country adopted a unitary
republic with sovereignty residing in the people and designed to ensure
probity, accountability and the rule of law as well as ensuring the concept of
power-sharing.
The constitution reflects the
lessons learnt from the previous constitutions of Ghana including the 1957,
1960, 1969 and 1979, and also incorporated some provisions and institutions
drawn from British and United States constitutional style.
Flight Lieutenant Jerry John
Rawlings, a retired Airforce pilot, who for 10 years, presided over the
Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) won the 1992 presidential election
and was subsequently sworn into office on January 7, 1993.
Most Ghanaians remember Former
President Rawlings for his charisma, championing the principles of discipline,
probity and accountability and leading economic recovery programme during his
10 years as the Head of State under the PNDC administration and eight years as
President.
However, his critics believe that
he (Rawlings) presided over a society where there was too many human rights
abuses while freedom of expression by the media, the judiciary and other
members of the public was not fully entrenched despite paving the way for media
pluralism in the country.
After serving two terms in
office, President Rawlings handed over political power to John Agyekum Kufuor
on January 7, 2001.
Former President Kufuor,
popularly known as the “gentle giant” became the second President under the
Fourth Republic after emerging victorious in the 2000 presidential polls.
He was sworn into office on
January 7, 2001, marking the first peaceful democratic transition of political
power in Ghana since independence in 1957.
Former President Kufuor was
fondly remembered by most Ghanaians for his courageous decision to take Ghana
to the Highly Indebted Poor Country Initiative, which was intended to cancel
the country’s foreign debts, restore the national economy and put it on the
path of growth.
He introduced some programmes
under the five priority areas, including the pursuit of good governance,
modernisation of agriculture for rural development, private sector development,
enhanced social services and vigorous infrastructure development,
It was during the administration
of President Kufuor that the private sector was touted as the engine of growth
and created the Private Sector Initiatives for cassava and palm nut
plantations, which was to harness the creativity and the entrepreneurial spirit
of the Ghanaian for wealth creation and prosperity for all.
President Kufuor extended credit
to small-scale businesses and made the realisation of all-inclusive government
possible by appointing Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the then member of the Convention
People’s Party (CPP) and Alhaji Inusa of the People’s National Convention (PNC)
into his government.
He also introduced the Metro Mass
Transport system, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the development of
model senior high schools, the School Feeding Programme and the Livelihood
Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP).
After serving two terms in
office, President J. A. Kufuor bowed out of the political scene as the
Constitution of Ghana demanded.
The Ghanaian electorate, through
the ballot box, voted in Professor John Evans Atta-Mills, popularly known as
“Asomdwee Hene” into power as the third President of the Fourth Republic.
Ghanaians liked him for his Godly
character and humility, which resonated through his speeches and relationship
with his fellow Ghanaians.
President Atta-Mills showed his
Godly character by defiantly declaring to the Western countries that Ghana
would not legalise homosexuality.
With his vast knowledge in
taxation, President Atta-Mills introduced economic programmes and policies,
which reduced inflation to a single digit, ensured a stable currency and
increased the country’s economic growth rate to 14 per cent in 2011, and Ghana
started producing crude oil in commercial quantities.
After President Prof. Atta-Mills’
sudden demise in 2012, his vice John Dramani Mahama was sworn-in as President
and led the country into peaceful election on December 7, 2012, which he
eventually won.
President Mahama, who continued
the policies and programmes of his predecessor, steered the country to achieve
some successes, including infrastructural development such as construction of
roads, flyovers, community senior high schools, health facilities,
electrification projects, and respect for the rule of law.
However, his administration
witnessed prolonged electricity crisis, otherwise known as “dumsor”” leading to
the collapse of some businesses and allegations of corruption by members of his
government.
Ghanaians eventually voted
against him in the 2016 general election, and, therefore, ushered-in Nana Addo
Dankwa Akufo-Addo led government into office on January 7, 2017.
Nana Akufo-Addo came into power
on the back of many juicy promises, which were outlined in the NPP manifesto,
including “One District, One Factory, “One Constituency, One Million Cedis”,
“One Village, One Dam”, Free Senior High School Policy, intention to create
jobs for the numerous unemployed youth, stimulus package for collapsing but
viable businesses, protecting the public purse and fight corruption.
He reiterated his intention to
fulfil those promises during his inaugural address on January 7, 2017 and gave
the assurance that, he would not disappoint Ghanaians.
At the 72nd Session of the United
Nations General Assembly in New York, USA, last year, President Akufo-Addo told
the world that Ghana was determined to realise her potentials and ensuring a
prosperous nation.
He said: “We want to build an
economy that is not dependent on charity and hand-outs but we want to build an
economy that looks past primary commodity and position our country in a global
market place.
“We’re not disclaiming aid but we
do want to discard mind-set of dependency and living on hand-outs, we want to
build a Ghana beyond aid”.
President Akufo-Addo named his
ministers and other appointees in record time but some Ghanaians lambasted the
government for appointing 110 ministers, which is the highest number in any of
the Fourth Republic government.
The government witnessed some
tough moments with some members of the ruling party, the Invincible Forces,
attacking some government appointees in an act of political vigilantism, which
created insecurity in the country and painted a bad picture of the country in
the eyes of the international community.
Government took a bold step to
clamp down on illegal small-scale mining, otherwise known as “galamsey” leading
to a six-month moratorium on all operations of small-scale mining in view of
the environmental devastation the phenomenon had caused to vegetation and water
bodies.
The Akufo-Addo led government
rolled out its Economic Policy and Budget Statement in March 2017, which
planned to stabilise the local currency, reduce inflation, undertake debts
profiling and ensure stable macroeconomic indicators that would create
conducive environment for doing business. Government announced some tax cuts
for businesses in the budget.
It also rolled-out its flagship
Free SHS policy on September 13, 2017, which saw government footing the bills
of over 360,000 BECE candidates who qualified for admission into senior high
school.
The government also re-introduced
the teacher and nursing trainee allowances, paperless ports programme,
e-registration of businesses, National Property Addressing System and
e-licensing of vehicles, and started putting structures in place to roll out
the National Identification System,
The Finance Minister Ken
Ofori-Atta announced in the 2018 budget in November last year that, Government
had chalked some successes in managing the economy in 2017 with the GDP growth
pegged around 7.8 per cent from 3.6 in 2016, reduction of the policy rate from
26 per cent to 20, reduction of inflation from 15.4 per cent to 11.7 per cent
as of September.
Mr Ofori-Atta indicated that the
country’s debt stock had reduced from 73 per cent to GDP to 68.3 as of
September 2017, the fiscal deficit which in 2016 was around 9.3 is projected
around 6.3 per cent by the end of 2017.
However, Dr Eric Osei-Assibey, an
Economist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana, told the GNA that the
programmes instituted by government was brilliant, but the approach it was
using to address graduate unemployment would be problematic in the long term.
He therefore, urged government to
expand the local economy and provide more incentives to the private sector to
expand, in order to absorb the unemployed graduates and add value to the
country’s primary commodities locally, instead of exporting them abroad.
He said government should look at
innovative ways of generating enough revenue within since budget support from
donors had dwindled considerably, therefore government should be more
aggressive in domestic revenue mobilisation.
Dr. Kwabena Opuni Frimpong, the
General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana also asked government to
come clear on how it would ensure sustainable funding of its flagship
programmes such as the Free SHS, One Constituency, One Million Ghana Cedis, One
District, One Dam, among other promises it made in the 2016 election.
Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso, an
experienced researcher and expert on governance issues, has asked government to
enforce discipline in the country in view of the various acts of political vigilantism
perpetrated by the invincible Forces, a group affiliated to the ruling party.
Ghanaians have high expectations
and would not take any excuses from the Government therefore it is high time
government begin putting its words into action or else the Ghanaian electorate
would teach the Akufo-Addo led administration a bitter lesson in the 2020
general election.
It is our fervent hope that the
government would mobilise resources from both within and outside as well as
adding value to the country’s primary commodities so that Ghana would work
again and create the needed jobs for the teeming unemployed youth and ensure
prosperity for all.
GNA
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