A Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Dr Kwame Asah-Asante has said that the flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, touched on almost every critical aspect of the political and economy of Ghanaians in his address to share his vision with Ghanaians.
He says the focus now for analysts is on whether or not his proposed vision and plans are what the country needs at the moment to tackle the challenges.
Speaking in an interview with Beatrice Adu on the mid-day news on 3FM on Thursday, February 8, Dr Asah-Asante said “Dr Bawumia touched on virtually every aspect of our political and economic life, he touched on a lot of critical areas in which we are now seized with information, we are looking at it in much detail as to whether they reflect the type of message that we need as a society to deal with our problems politically or economically.
“If you look at the things he talked about, take for instance, he talked about his vision towards helping to build a very strong economy with low inflation, a reduced budget deficit, and fiscal discipline.
“Let us take fiscal discipline, you will realize that this has been the bane of this country, governments, particularly, this government has failed miserably and this is one of the reasons that has pushed us to IMF for an economic bailout. He talked about the issue of allowing the state to lease vehicles instead of purchasing them, a good idea he went ahead to say that he would improve on the public transport system with the introduction of the electrical system, brilliant idea, but my question is what happens to the sky train that they promised us years ago. so he has said them but previous experience gives course to think that that maybe they cannot be provided.”
Dr Bawumia stated in his address on Wednesday at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) that “I will continue our policy of industrialization (in areas such as agro-processing (cocoa, cashew sheanuts, etc.) salt, gold and lithium refining and manufacture of batteries, and automobile assembly and manufacture) and also empower the local business sector, especially startups and SMEs to drive investment and growth in Ghana, thus significantly boosting job creation. We must also protect local industry from smuggled imports that evade import duties.”
Special Economic Zones ( Free Zones) will also be created in collaboration with the private sector at Ghana’s major border towns such as Aflao, Paga, Elubo, Sankasi and Tatale
to enhance economic activity, increase exports, reduce smuggling and create jobs, he added.
Tema port will be fully automated and benchmarked to be as efficient as some of the best ports in the world like Hong Kong, Singapore and Dubai. Also there will be a new policy of
aligning the duties and charges at Tema port to the duties and charges at Lome Port. Basically duties and charges at Tema Port should not be higher than Lome, our main competitor. This will also reduce smuggling and tax avoidance. Also for spare parts importers duties will be at a flat rate per container (20 or 40 foot), he further stated.
“I entered politics to serve the nation. My passion is solving problems. My passion is helping the poor, vulnerable and disadvantaged in society. Accumulation of wealth is not and has never been my passion or ambition. This why throughout my public life I have pursued policies, especially through digitalization, to check corruption in places like the ports, DVLA, NHIS, Passport Office, CAGD, etc. So I have a solid track record in fighting corruption. And I have earned a reputation for doing so. One of the most potent weapons against corruption is transparency. Many corrupt activities are cash-based. Apart from the obvious economic benefits of moving in the direction of a cashless society, the literature does indicate that the more electronic payments are used in transactions as opposed to cash, the more there is traceability and therefore the less the corruption. I would like to bring Ghana close to a cashless economy in the shortest possible time.
“So far the Bank of Ghana, has made a lot of progress in this direction by putting in place a lot of the systems and infrastructure required. These include mobile money interoperability,
merchant interoperability, Universal QRCode payment system, Gh-Link, debit cards, Ezwich, and GhanaPay. We have put in place the necessary infrastructure for Ghana to
go cashless. Recently the Bank of Ghana has completed a pilot of a digital version of the Ghana cedi note in Sefwi Wiawso. This is known as central bank digital currency (CBDC) or e-cedi. The e-cedi is designed to work online and offline and will be launched by the Bank of Ghana in due couse. In my humble opinion, the e-cedi, with appropriate privacy protections, will be the ultimate weapon in our fight against corruption because it will provide transparency, reduce the risk of fraud, robbery, tax avoidance, and money laundering since it will be easy to track the movement of money and identify suspicious
activity. The e-cedi will quicken the pace of Ghana’s move towards a cashless or near cashless society.
“To move towards a cashless economy however, we have to encourage the population to use electronic channels of payment. To accomplish this, there will be no taxes on digital
payments under my administration. The e-levy will therefore be abolished. Furthermore, I will cause to be published online details of all public contracts for public scrutiny.”
