The Chief of Staff of Ghana, Mr Julius Debrah, has indicated that the role of the state in generating wealth is both Facilitative and Participative through business policies and programmes.
These statements were made in a keynote address read on his behalf at the maiden Social Democrats’ Convocation held by the Legal Green Association last Friday at the moot court of the GIMPA Law School.
According to the Chief of Staff, Social democracy, otherwise known as welfare capitalism or social market economy, involves government partnering with the private sector in the effort to deliver development in the interest of the vulnerable and the excluded as well as that of business or the middle class.
I can say without equivocation that the role of the state is both facilitative of and participative in the generation of wealth through business policies and programmes.
According to the Chief of Staff, the first key facilitative move made by the John Mahama-Led administration is to ensure macro-economic stability largely through fiscal discipline and appropriate regulatory policies.
These have resulted in exchange rate stability, declines in inflation, interest rate drops, a reduction in the debt burden, lower prices of goods and services, among others. These have also resulted in a lower cost of doing business and have returned the country to its position as an attractive investment destination.
He also added that a second facilitative role by the John Mahama-Led Administration is the delivery of social infrastructure.
Our elders say that if you want to rear chickens, you first need to build the chicken coop. The analogy here is that, if you want to promote the growth of business in your country, you must build the appropriate infrastructure,” He added.
The Chief of Staff also gave some key linkages between social democracy and governance. In his speech, he mentioned that as a social democratic government, we do not indulge in propaganda in terms of providing critical “hen Coop” infrastructure.
We actually build roads, hospitals, factories and schools. The John Mahama-Led Administration is therefore active in wealth generation as well. Many state enterprises, which were on the brink of collapse and on the verge of being divested under the previous government, have experienced an amazing turnaround.
State-owned enterprises, banks, manufacturing entities, oil processing and marketing companies, etc., are reporting unprecedented profit margins within the space of one year as opposed to huge losses that were incurred under the firmer government.
The Social Democrats’ Convocation was organised by the Legal Green Association in partnership with the Ghana Institute of Social Democracy. The event was also attended by the Rector of the Ghana Institute of Social Democracy, Dr William Ahadzi, who also gave a lecture on the philosophy of Social Democracy. Also in attendance were Benedica Lasi, the Chairperson of the Africa Governance Centre, Mustapha Gbande, the Director of Operations at the Presidency, Eric Adjei, CEO of NEIP and many more dignitaries.
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