Mahama Vows Economic Reset and Fair Access to Scholarships in NDC Manifesto

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Flagbearer of National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, has pledged to convene a National Economic Dialogue within the first 120 days of his administration if elected as President.

He emphasized that this dialogue would focus on creating a 4-year fiscal consolidation program, a critical element of his economic strategy.

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During the launch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto in Winneba, Mr. Mahama criticized the current government, accusing it of mismanaging scholarship programs meant for the underprivileged.

He promised that under his leadership, all government appointees and politically exposed individuals would be excluded from national scholarship programs, ensuring that only those truly in need benefit.

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“No political appointee must apply for the scholarships; you must pay. Children underprivileged, those who cannot afford it, are the ones who must get the scholarship,” Mr. Mahama asserted.

In his speech, Mr. Mahama outlined the NDC’s broader plans for resetting Ghana’s economy and governance, pledging to abolish unpopular levies such as the E-levy and COVID levy, stabilize the Ghanaian Cedi, and restore confidence in the financial sector by reinstating licenses of wrongfully collapsed banks.

He also introduced an ambitious vision for a “24-hour economy” to boost productivity and job creation, alongside significant healthcare reforms, including free primary healthcare and the establishment of new specialist hospitals.

Mr. Mahama urged Ghanaians to vote for change in the upcoming election, arguing that it is crucial for the country’s future, warning that a vote for the NPP would continue the impunity of the last eight years, allowing corrupt officials to evade accountability.

“This election could be our last chance to correct our course,” Mahama declared, urging voters to seize the opportunity to “take back their future.” he stated

Additionally, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, Mr. Mahama’s running mate, reaffirmed the party’s commitment to establishing a Women’s Development Bank if elected.

She explained that this bank would address the challenges female entrepreneurs face in accessing loans, providing them with low-interest loans, financial education, and sustainable support.

“The Women’s Development Bank will empower female entrepreneurs and small business owners,” Opoku-Agyemang stated, highlighting the initiative’s potential to create job opportunities and reduce financial barriers for women in business.

Read Full Text Below:

Resetting Ghana_ Jobs | Accountability | Prosperity

Remarks by HE John Dramani Mahama

NDC Manifesto in Winneba

3ye Zu

3y3 Za

My dear comrades, members, supporters, sympathisers, and followers of the National Democratic Congress.
The good people of Ghana, watching and listening from across the country and the world, and those who have joined us here in Winneba.
My beloved wife, Lordina.
Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, my running mate for 2024.
National Chairman Johnson Asiedu Nketiah
General Secretary Fifi Kwetey
Ladies and gentlemen.

Today, we gather with hope as one people, united in victory, and as one nation – Ghana – with a common, interwoven, indivisible destiny.

Today, we also gather to re-ignite and re-affirm the dreams of our forebears, led by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the founder of our great nation—a nation with one destiny.

A destiny that cannot afford to endure one additional day beyond January 7, 2025, of the maladministration, mismanagement, and state capture this nation has been subjected to over the last almost 8 years.

For the sake of God’s children and in the name of God, the people of Ghana will wake up from this nightmare and envision a bright new dawn of opportunities for all its people.

My brothers and sisters, Ghana is bleeding. Ghana’s soul is crying for change! Mother Ghana is crying for its true and genuine patriotic citizens to rise to reset our beloved nation.

Ghanaians can take no more of the hardship, impunity, state capture, hypocrisy, lies, and bad governance inflicted over the two terms of this outgoing administration.

We cannot fail Mother Ghana. Therefore, I urge you to vote for CHANGE on December 7.

We, the members of the National Democratic Congress, gather to express our utmost belief in democratic governance and to proclaim right here in Simpa (Winneba) that the time is up for this administration.

They have decimated our democracy beyond recognition, destroyed livelihoods and families, and pushed millions of Ghanaians below the poverty line.

Your vote on December 7 will end tyranny, cronyism, corruption, and hardship. It will also pave the way for the vision, experience, and trustworthiness I, John Dramani Mahama, will restore to the Flagstaff House.

As I have said before, this government must begin writing their handing-over notes if they have not done so already. This NPP administration has been the biggest political scam pulled on Ghanaians since our independence in 1957.

And I will explain why! Repackaged with ribbons and sweetly scented with enticing promises, most Ghanaians will agree that Nana Akufo-Addo is indeed the President Ghana never got.

Indeed, I daresay, his much-touted economic whizz kid Dr. Mahamoud Bawumia is also the economic messiah Ghana never got.

This NPP government took over from my administration on January 7, 2017. They inherited an energy sector we had stabilised with the fastest mobilisation of emergency power of almost 800 megawatts.

Along with this came a new Energy Sector Levy Act (ESLA) with potential revenues of GH¢3 billion per annum to pay off legacy energy sector debts.

They inherited an ongoing Millennium Challenge Compact of $547 million aimed at making Ghana’s energy sector the most efficient in Africa.

The family’s quarrel over shares in the PDS company led to the US pulling back $190 million, which was meant for the most critical component of the compact, private sector participation and improvement in collections at the distribution end of the electricity value chain.

They inherited more than $450 million of the IMF Extended Credit Facility initiated by my administration. Most of our state-owned enterprises were breaking even or making a profit.

They inherited a cocoa production of 964,000 metric tons, with a COCOBOD that was making profit and owed only GH¢1.5 billion to the central bank in cocoa bills.

We handed over two new oil-producing fields, TEN and ENI, which increased Ghana’s oil production by more than 100,000 barrels per day with additional gas of more than 200 million scf per day. This increased Ghana’s revenue from petroleum by more than half a billion dollars.

They took over from my administration a stabilisation fund in which we had accrued $277 million; a Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund with seed money of $270 million, and a sinking fund account at the BOG with a balance of over $200 million.

They inherited a budget that ran a deficit of 6.1% with zero borrowing from the Central Bank. A stable currency that traded at about GH¢4 to USD1.

Inflation was at 15.4%. Unemployment was at 8.4%. When we handed over to the Akufo Addo/Bawumia government, Ghana’s debt as a percentage of GDP was 57%.

As a result of rapid fiscal consolidation, we handed over an economy that was set to grow at above 8% as predicted by the World Bank, IMF, and all the credit rating agencies.

Private businesses had an enabling environment to thrive, and foreign investors were queuing to make investments in our economy.

This NPP government also took off with a stabilised economy and significant buffers and with enormous domestic and international goodwill. Indeed, this has been the most favoured government in our history. But, alas, the Ghanaian people’s favour has been repaid with pain and anguish.

This government has received more revenue than all governments combined in the history of Ghana. And as the saying goes, to whom much is given, much is expected. Unfortunately, the people of Ghana have been severely short-changed by this administration.

The scorecard of this administration has been abysmal. An inflation rate that went as high as 54% and is currently hovering above 20%. Ghana has one of the highest food inflation rates in Africa.

We have a currency that has depreciated to almost GH¢ 16 to USD 1; and borrowed more the GH¢70 billion from the BOG causing a serious upsurge in inflation; a debt to GDP rate that went as high as 104% and an unemployment rate at almost 15%.

Ghana has defaulted on her debts and engaged in a debt exchange that has resulted in painful haircuts and deferred tenure on bonds at lower interest rates.

Cocoa production has plummeted and for the first time in history, COCOBOD’s annual syndication, which was sought after by international banks, has no takers.

Production volumes are down and COCOBOD is seeking to delay delivery of almost 350,000 tons to next year. COCOBOD has defaulted on almost GH¢13 billion in cocoa bonds.

Oil and gas production has declined by 32% and debt to independent power producers has increased astronomically. The majority of SOEs are posting massive losses.

The COVID pandemic rather than being an adversity turned out to be a blessing, with a windfall for this government of almost GH¢ 25 billion of inflows most of which was doled out to companies owned by family and relatives.

The majority of our citizens are convinced our country Ghana is going in the wrong direction. Faith in our democracy is at its lowest, and many of our youth do not believe that constitutional governance is working for them.

Faith in our democratic institution, and the political leadership is at the lowest ebb. Corruption is at its highest and Ghanaians are numb to the scandals that are exposed almost every week.

And when you have a President who says he does not understand the hullaballoo about the sale of SSNIT hotels to a minister in his government, then clearly, he is on a completely different wavelength than the rest of the country.

This is a President who doesn’t get it!

Many domestic and foreign investors have adopted a wait-and-see attitude. Many I have met told me they are waiting for a signal from the Ghanaian people that the political and business environment is going to change. That we are going to effect a change of course.

Matthew 25:14-30 – tells one of the parables of Jesus Christ – “The Parable of the Talents”.

This parable teaches us to invest whatever is put in our care wisely for the benefit of our master. The master in this case is the people of Ghana. This administration is akin to the last servant, who buried the talent that was given to him and returned the same talent to his master upon his return.

In the case of Akufo Addo/Bawumia and their cabal, they did not bury the talents given to them by the people of Ghana and return them to us. They gambled with the talents we gave them and landed the people of Ghana in a huge debt.

We cannot continue this path! Lessons must be learned from the experience of these last almost eight years.

A vote for the NPP will be an expression of satisfaction with the impunity of the last 8 years. A vote for the NPP is a vote for a third term for Nana Akufo-Addo.

A vote for NPP in this election is a vote to escape accountability. It is a vote to allow officials who have raped this country’s resources to escape accountability and to go laughing all the way to the bank.

Their flagbearer and running mate who have been prominent actors in the horror movies Ghanaians have watched these last almost 8 years cannot be the ones to exact accountability from the government of which they have been an integral part.

We are at a critical juncture in our democratic history. Choices we make in elections come with consequences. We cannot afford to fail this time. A restive youth does not have the luxury of trial and error.

They do not have the luxury of trying a driver’s mate who has learned his driving from the same driver who crashed the vehicle of the Ghanaian people.

Our nation needs a reset!

Our democracy needs a reset!

Our economy needs a reset!

Our governance needs a reset

Our attitudes need a reset!

We need a government that will galvanize the effort of all Ghanaians irrespective of ethnicity, religion or partisan affiliation!

We need a government that will allow all businesses to thrive, whether domestic or foreign no matter the ethnic, religious, or partisan colours of its owners.

This may be our last chance to get it right. It cannot be business as usual. Ghana is a nation in a hurry.

We need to make a change – A change that will usher in a government that is responsive and accountable.

A leadership that will crack the whip when its appointees go down the wrong track.

A responsive government that will respect the rights and freedoms of citizens including journalists and address the ongoing decay of state institutions and fight corruption by deploying the “Operation Recover All Loot” (ORAL) Strategy.

Today, we are presenting to you a manifesto that will help TAKE BACK YOUR FUTURE. THE FUTURE OF GHANA IS IN YOUR HANDS.

I will at this point give you some highlights of the manifesto after which my running mate and the next Vice President of Ghana Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang – a prominent daughter of the Central Region – and other presenters will delve into other areas of the manifesto.

HIGHLIGHTS.

RESETTING THE ECONOMY FOR PROSPERITY

First 120 days in office: Hold a National Economic Dialogue to draw up a 4-year fiscal consolidation programme.
Rationalise taxes.
Abolishing among others E-levy, COVID levy, and 10% levy on bet winnings.
Review import duties and levies on vehicles and equipment meant for industry and agricultural purposes.
Rationalise ports fees and charges.
Implement emergency measures to stabilize the Ghana Cedi and the macro-economy.
Use Price Stabilization and Recovery Levy to cushion consumers.
Investigate NPP’s opaque Gold-for-Oil deal.
Review the Gold Purchase Programme of the Bank of Ghana.
Restore the licenses of wrongfully collapsed banks and financial institutions.
Increasing indigenous participation in the banking and financial sector.
Free statutory funds (GETFUND, NHIL, Road Fund…) for their mandated objects.

ALLEVIATING THE CURRENT ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS.

No-academic-fee policy for first years in public tertiary institutions.
Free Tertiary Education for PWDs
Free Sanitary Pads for girls in school.

QUALITY HEALTHCARE FOR ALL

Uncap the National Health Insurance Levy.
Re-prioritise the health sector by ensuring timely release of payments to service providers.
Establish the Ghana Medical Care Trust (MahamaCares) Fund to support persons with chronic diseases such as kidney failure (dialysis), cancers, Sickle Cell disease, diabetes, hypertension, and other heart diseases.
Implement Free Primary Healthcare services from the CHPS compound level to the district level in the medium term.
Expand health infrastructure to restore the automatic employment and timely deployment of health workers.
Construct a state of the art 500-bed Specialist Children’s Hospital and Fertility Centre in Accra.
Expand facilities at the Ho Teaching Hospital to provide comprehensive specialist services with the view to establishing a quaternary hospital in the Volta region to attract medical tourism.
Build a Specialist and Trauma Hospital in the Oti Region for emergencies on the eastern corridor.
Establish a modern dialysis centre in hospitals in regions that don’t have them.
Build modern hospitals in Bawku, Yendi and other underserved areas.

24-HOUR ECONOMY

Formula 1:3:3

Same Job, Three Shifts, Three People

Extraordinary problems require extraordinary solutions for extraordinary results.
Businesses and public organizations to operate 24/7 in three shifts of eight hours.
Boost production, promote productivity, generate well-paying jobs.
Transform Ghana into an import substitution and export-led economy.
Increase employment opportunities and revenue.
Enhance access to public services.
Focus on selected public institutions with large customer traffic:
– Ports and Harbours
– Customs
– Passport Office
– DVLA etc.
Private sector focus:
– Agro-Processing
– Manufacturing
– Pharmaceuticals
– Construction
– Financial Services
– Extractive industries
– Sanitation and Waste Management
– Hospitality Industry
– Retail Centres
– Transportation Services
– Health Services
– Security Services

SUPPORT PACKAGE FOR 24-HOUR BUSINESSES

Stimulate demand for 24-hour economy goods & services.
Supported by strategic investments in infrastructure, security, energy etc.
Public and private security architecture.
Cheaper and reliable electricity (Time-of-Use tariff system)
Tax incentives for cost reduction.
Support from Ghana Exim Bank for agro-processing & manufacturing to boost exports.
Support SMEs operating below capacity with catalytic investments to grow & generate jobs.

ACCELERATED EXPORT DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL (AEDC)

Chaired by the President.
To promote exports under the 24-hour economy strategy.

WOMEN’S DEVELOPMENT BANK

Special-purpose bank
Low-interest loans
Tailored financial services on very flexible terms.
Empower ONE MILLION (1,000,000) Ghanaian women.
Support women-owned and women-led businesses

NATIONAL APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMME (NAP)

For self-employment

FREE TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR YOUNG PEOPLE.

Trained apprentices graduated with certification.
Provide start-up capital & equipment.

“ADWUMAWURA’’ PROGRAMME

Special business start-up policy with focus on the youth.
Create, track and mentor 10,000 businesses annually.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Exempt new small businesses from corporate and personal income tax for the first two years after their incorporation.
Review Customs (Amendment) Act, 2020 (Act 1014) to scrap the ban on importation of salvaged vehicles.
Save the local automotive industries—Suame Magazine, Kokompe, Abossey Okai.
Support the redevelopment of the Abossey Okai, Suame, Kokompe and Cape Coast Artisanal enclaves.
Implement a ‘Made in Ghana Agenda’ for production and consumption of Made-in-Ghana goods.
Launch an “Export Ghana Policy” (AfCFTA & other external trade programmes).
Enhance the role of Ghana EXIM Bank in financing non-traditional exports.
Mo-Ne-Yo Pension Scheme for informal sector workers.
Commercial drivers and motorcyclists (Okada).
Small scale miners, farmers, fishermen, traders, market women

DIGITAL JOBS INITIATIVE

Partner the private sector to invest $3 billion to leverage ICT for jobs through:
One Million Coders Programme: Coding, WebApp development, software engineering etc.
Stimulate demand for made in Ghana software.
Government using locally developed software will employ our coders and reduce foreign exchange payments for subscriptions to overseas vendors.
Establish Regional Digital Centers for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).
Invest $50million in a FinTech Growth Fund to promote digital entrepreneurs.
Set up Zonal ICT Parks to make Ghana the hub for innovation, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity in Africa.
Re-develop the Dawa ICT park into a world-class centre of excellence.

GHANA FIRST FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME FOR JOBS

Work with private sector to make Ghana the Pharma Hub of Africa.
Develop an integrated aluminium industry for industrialization.
Invest in the production of plastics, fertiliser and other synthetic materials.
Expansion of the automotive and vehicle assembly sector.
Promote light industrial manufacturing, especially of apparel and electronic products

RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION FOR JOBS

Promote value addition & diversification for domestic consumption and exports.
Establish strategic industries and revive defunct ones.
Revamp the textile and cotton-allied industry.
Set up Agro-Industrial Zones in all regions.
Establish mini-processing plants for cassava, tomatoes, fruits etc.
Set up cashew processing factories in the Bono, Bono East and Ahafo regions.
Establish cocoa processing factories in Western, Western North, Eastern, Central, Ashanti, Bono, Bono East, Ahafo, Volta and Oti regions.
Facilitate the construction of twenty (20) medium-scale animal feed processing plants and revamp the collapsing poultry industry.

AGRICULTURE for JOBS.

Make agriculture attractive through modernisation to ensure food security and job creation.
Reduce food inflation to lower the high cost of living through our Agriculture for Economic Transformation Agenda.
Roll out a Feed Ghana Programme – to boost food production, guarantee food security and supply raw materials to industries.
Establish Farmer Service Centres to support farmers with modern agriculture equipment, technologies and inputs in all districts.
Create Farm Banks within agriculture zones to ease access to land, and irrigation facilities for agricultural purposes and encourage young people into farming.

PROMOTING GOOD GOVERNANCE AND COMBATTING CORRUPTION

Remarkably reduce the size of government (sixty (60) Ministers)
Address the benefit disparities between Article 71 office holders and the wider public service.
Scrap payment of ex gratia.
Establish an Independent Emoluments Commission by merging the Presidential Commission on
Emoluments and the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission.
Ruthless War Against Corruption: “Operation-Recover-All-Loot” (ORAL).
Prohibit political appointees, politically exposed persons and all serving public officials from purchasing state assets.
Reopen investigations into major unresolved cases including the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election violence, 2020 election killings, unresolved murder of Ahmed Hussein-Suale and Silas Wulochamey.

TRANSFORMING EDUCATION

Dedicate equitable attention to all levels of education.
Improve Free SHS
Provide dedicated and sustainable source of funding for Free SHS
Decentralise the procurement of food for SHS to boost local economies.
Implement a ‘No-Academic-Fees’ policy.
Use 5G and Low-Earth Orbit systems to improve the quality of education across the country by extending course tutorials to students everywhere through on-demand learning platforms sanctioned by the GES.
Provide continuing students with financial assistance by re-introducing the Student Loan Trust Fund Plus (SLTF+) and a reformed scholarship regime.
Provide Free Tertiary Education for all Persons with disabilities (PWDs).
Implement a ‘Bed-for-All’ programme by building on-campus affordable students’ hostels & expanding accommodation facilities for tertiary students through PPPs.
Legislation to streamline and regulate the award of government scholarships.
End collateralisation of the GETFund.
Abolish the teacher licensure examination and integrate the licensing process into the final year examination.
Institute the “Teacher Dabr3” Project to provide accommodation facilities for teachers within their schools.
Implement a 20 percent (basic salary) special allowance for teachers & health workers who accept postings to rural and underserved communities.
Expand infrastructure to ensure prompt employment of nurses, health workers and teachers.
Assist teachers to own vehicles of their choice by offering flexible duty payment arrangements and employer guarantees in partnership with teacher unions and the banking sector.

AGE OF MODERN RAILWAYS

Western and Eastern lines connected to land-locked countries under PPP including BOTs.
Construct Urban intracity railways and Bus Rapid Transits (BRT) for largest population centres.

PROMOTING RESPONSIBLE MINING FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Ban issuance of new mining leases and activities in forest reserves.
Amend the Mineral and Mining Law to impose stiffer punishment on mining in water bodies.
Decentralise regulatory and licensing processes for artisanal miners.
Establish Mining Cooperatives in all mining districts.
Set up a novel Ghana Gold Board (GOLDBOD) to regulate small-scale mining.
Implementing a ‘Tree for Life’ re-forestation policy with cocoa, palm and rubber.
Implement a Blue Water Initiative to heal and harness the environment by turning areas and water bodies degraded by illegal mining into hubs of economic and ecological recovery.

Thank you.

Source: Comfort Sweety Hayford/ATLFMNEWS