HIPC initiative cannot save Ghana

Dr. Edward Mahama, leader of the People's National Convention (PNC) said on Sunday that the biggest problem facing the nation is mismanagement and low productivity and until the government addressed them, "no HIPC initiative can save us."

"If the government sees HIPC as a solution to the nation's problems, it is unfortunately a big mistake," Dr Mahama told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra and urged proponents of the initiative to deliberate on its effects.

The government has opted for the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative that qualifies it for debt relief from donors.

Dr Mahama said HIPC cannot be viewed only through the positive door but the negative door must also be made available to the public to understand the social implications.

The PNC, he said "will fight for the social and economic development of the nation and resist policies that tend to worsen the conditions of the ordinary person."

"Policies or initiatives that tend to aggravate the precarious living standard of the ordinary Ghanaian whose interest we seek to improve must be resisted," he said.

Dr Mahama, who was the presidential candidate of the PNC, in the last election, said the government must develop the productive base for efficient management of the country's resources.

Dr Mahama said international law stipulates that a poor person cannot own property. Therefore, by going HIPC, state institutions and organisations such as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Ghana Water Company Limited, Ghana Commercial Bank, and Tema Oil Refinery would be privatised as part of the conditionalities attached.

He said higher remuneration for workers would have a rippling effect on higher productivity, which the nation needs for socio-economic advancement.

Dr Mahama, therefore, called on the government and other social partners to expedite action on salary increases to reflect economic realities and reduce the hardship workers are currently undergoing.

He said the government should be able to pay a realistic minimum wage in spite of the economic difficulties, adding "a government of the PNC would have been able to fulfil its campaign promise of five dollars a day within its first 18 months in office."

He said Dr Hilla Limann's government between 1979 and 1981 was able to pay a realistic minimum wage within the short time it was in office, adding that, by the time it was overthrown, it had managed the country's internal debt at zero and external debt of 568 million dollars.

On the proposed increase in water and electricity tariffs, Dr Mahama said he does not support it unless there is a concerted effort to increase income.

He said Dr Kwame Nkrumah established some of these agencies as public service institutions and not profit making entities, and cautioned against the swift shift of focus as it would have a serious economic implication.

Dr Mahama said PNC, as an opposition party, would offer constructive criticism to government and where possible offer alternative suggestions.

He said the PNC never entered into any agreement with the NPP for the presidential run-off but only asked its supporters to vote for Mr John Agyekum Kufuor for a change in government.

He said this gesture should not be misconstrued as an alliance "as the NPP, as a government, believes in its manifesto and traditions while we also do have our tradition as Nkrumaists and have a manifesto."