NPP manifesto was rushed, has a lot of gaps – Send-Ghana boss

Country Director Send-Ghana George Osei-Bimpeh has said the 2020 manifesto of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) has a lot of question marks.

In his view, the document was not properly prepared because it lacks clarity and does not also provide timelines to the proposed projects.

He said on the Sunrise morning show on 3FM, hosted by Alfred Ocansey, on Monday, August 24 that the drafters of the documents could have done a better job than what they have produced and launched at Cape Coast on Saturday, August 22.

Among some of the proposed projects in the manifesto are the construction of an airport and a new harbour in Cape Coast, the cancellation of the guarantor system in the acquisition of student’s loan by tertiary students, as well as other proposals.

But Mr Osei-Bimpah said: “If you are making your decision based on your desire to develop tourism, the question is how many people in the Central Region will benefit from that?

“At the end of the day, you will end up constructing a facility that will be utilized by less than 1% of the people.

“What is the multiplying effect that will have? How is that connected to inter-sectoral development that you will need so that it is not just about developing just one sector at the expense of the other. We will need to ask all of these questions before you can then say that indeed I have done it.”

He added: “This particular manifesto was hurriedly done. They could have taken their time to build on whatever they may have achieved.

“…if you say you consolidated your achievement in building a strong and resilient economy, what is the benchmark for determining your level of success?

“If tomorrow you come and say you build a resilient economy by achieving 4% how do I hold you accountable because you haven’t made it clear on where you are taking us to.

“So indicators are lacking, timelines are not there. Whoever drafted this could have done better.”