Statement: 2008 NDC Manifesto: A Tale of Broken and Unfulfilled Promises

Today, the ruling National Democratic Congress presented to Ghanaians the platform upon which they wish to be re-elected at the December polls.

But before Ghanaians study what the NDC wishes to offer Ghanaians in their 2012 Manifesto, let us remind ourselves what they promised to offer in 2008 and compare to what they have been able to deliver.

Among the litany of broken promises by the NDC in its 2008 Manifesto include:

• Employment opportunities for all those who are willing and able to work. (Page 46). The NDC believes that it is the business of the state, both directly and indirectly, to create jobs for the people, particularly the youth. The NDC`s strategic objective is to provide every Ghanaian with a job from which they can earn their livelihoods. (Page 60)

• A onetime premium payment for registration with the [National Health Insurance] scheme. (Page 68)

• Ended the perennial water crisis and the troubling filth of our communities and cities by significantly expanding and upgrading water and sanitation infrastructure.

 

• Establish a lean but effective and efficient government by cutting out ostentation and profligate expenditure; rationalizing ministries and ministerial appointments; and promoting service, humility and integrity as canons of government. (100 day promise)

• By the end of our first term, there should be a sufficient number of vocational and technical institutes to absorb JHS graduates who opt for them. (Page 77)

 

• Created a society in which corruption is punished, and probity, integrity and dedicated service are applauded and appreciated. (End of 1st term promise)

• Established a social order were crime, especially the drug trade, with particular emphasis on cocaine and heroine, and the violent crime generated by this drug trade is drastically reduced. (End of 1st term promise)

 

• Prepare and present to Parliament, legislation on various tax and tariff measures designed to provide relief for Ghanaians. (100 day promise)

• Set up a new and truly non-partisan professionally competent and independent Presidential Commission to reopen investigations into the murder of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II and his elders in March 2002. (Page 34)

 

• The NDC Government will also provide micronutrient supplements to pregnant women and children under five years of age. (Page 75)

 

We cannot, however, forget the other numerous promises the NDC has failed to achieve which include:

• Construct and furnish a standard “Member of Parliament Office” in the constituencies for each of the 230 constituencies and pay one Administrator identified by the Member of Parliament a monthly stipend to be in charge of the Office. (Page 24)

• The new NDC government shall enact into law the Freedom of Information Bill to facilitate access to official information, buttressing our commitment to disclosures. (Page 24)

 

• The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will be reorganized into an independent Anti-Fraud Commission with prosecutorial powers and its name changed to reflect the re-organization. (Page 24)

• The NDC Government will revise the law and format for Assets Declaration. (Page 24)

 

• Aiming for a minimum of 40% representation of women at Conferences and Congresses of the Party and in government and public service. (Page 25)

• The National Media Commission will be strengthened through legislation to provide it with the power of enforcement of the rulings of its Complaints Settlement Committee. (Page 26)

 

• An NDC Government will commence work on the permanent new campus for the Ghana Institute of Journalism at its new site. (Page 26)

• Place an upper limit on the number of Justices that may be appointed to the Supreme Court. (Page 33)

 

• Empanelling of all Supreme Court Justices on all cases so that there is consistency of precedent and an end to litigation. (Page 33)

• Separate the Attorney General’s Department from the Ministry of Justice to promote greater efficiency and better transparency in the administration of justice. (Page 33)

 

• Ensure the prosecution of the persons found to be responsible for the murder in military custody of Alhaji Issah Mobila, Northern Regional Chairman of the CPP in December 2004. (Page 34)

• The new NDC government will not introduce any new taxes. (Page 45)

 

• The NDC's tax policy will be to increase the disposable income of individuals by reducing individual tax rate through the broadening of the tax bands. (Page 45)

• A deficit target not exceeding 3% in any given year. (Page 45)

 

• Duty free importation of production inputs on the same basis as for the Free Zones. (Page 47)

• The exploitation of the limestone deposits at Buipe, Nauli and Nadowli for the production of cement. (Page 47)

 

• Rejuvenation of the textile industry in an integrated manner. (Page 47)

• Introduce discounted tax rate to financial institutions that lend to priority sectors of business. (Page 48)

 

• Employ all means at its disposal including exploiting relief in all international trade arrangements such as WTO, ECOWAS to protect domestic industry. (Page 50)

• Amend the Public Procurement Act to provide a bias in favour of made in Ghana goods in all public procurement transactions. (Page 50)

 

• The NDC Government shall pay the cocoa farmer at least 70% of the world market price of cocoa and to process at least 60% of the cocoa produced locally. The 70% price will not include the cost of cocoa diseases and pest control, cocoa roads, COCOBOD scholarships, hi-tech production and bonuses. (Page 53)

• The NDC Government will set up a Task Force to encourage large scale dawadawa tree development, processing and utilization. (Page 54)

 

• A Sheanut Development Board will be established. (Page 54)

• Under the administration of a new NDC Government, cotton will play a major role in reducing poverty and developing rural populations and economies, especially in the three Northern Regions. (Page 54)

 

• The NDC government will establish a Fisheries College. (Page 56)

• In particular, we will declare our 200-mils Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as a prohibited fishing zone for foreign fleets for four years. (Page 56)

 

• We will compile a list of all Government lands and negotiate for payment of compensation for those that Government intends to keep and for which no compensation has been paid. For those that Government does not intend to keep even though compensation has been paid, the original owners shall be given the first option to purchase them back but where the requisite compensation has not been paid, it will be given back to the original land owners as required under the 1992 Constitution. (Page 56)

• “Computer revolution” in the educational system. (Page 60)

 

• ICT Trainers Programme. (Page 61)

• The NDC Government shall establish two international grade ICT Parks on the Akuapim Ridge and in Cape Coast. Construct mini ICT Parks in the remaining regional capitals. (Page 61)

 

• At least 50% of all new bicycles, motor bikes and farm machinery imported into the country will be in knock-down form. (Page 61)

• Keep the cost of health care down to a minimum. (Page 66)

 

• Next in line for modern Regional Hospitals are Wa, Bolgatanga and Koforidua while Sekondi, Tamale and the Ridge Hospital in Accra (for the Greater Accra Region) will be upgraded to the required Teaching standards. (Page 67)

• Review the disease and drug categories under the Scheme. (Page 68)

 

• Establishing a pre-school training college in each of the ten regions. (Page 70)

• The NDC will extend the “free” aspect of the FCUBE into areas such as doing away with fees for sports and cultural activities. (Page 70)

 

• There will be no cost recovery at the tertiary level of education. (Page 71)

• The NDC Government will construct a modern office complex for the NUGS. (Page 73)

 

• Reduce the high room occupancy rate. (Page 74)

• Reduce child labour (street hawking) to the minimum. (Page 74)

 

• Expand skill training facilities for urban youth. (Page 74)

• Under the next NDC Government, all children of up to 5 years of age shall be supplied with free treated mosquito nets. (Page 75)

 

• The NDC Government will also provide micronutrient supplements to pregnant women and children under five years of age. (Page 75)

• The enactment of an Entertainment Industry (Encouragement) Act. (Page 80)

 

 

FIRST HUNDRED DAYS – FROM MANIFESTO (PAGES 16-17)

• Ensure prompt and effective implementation of existing legislation such as the Persons with Disability [PWDs] Act; 2006 Act 715 and the whistleblowers act, 2006 Act 720
• Review and re-constitute the membership of Commissions and Boards, solely on the basis of expertise and competence; eschewing all partisan and familial considerations
• Protect the safety and security of Ghanaians by streamlining, harmonising and resourcing the agencies of state with responsibility for ensuring the security of life and safety of property.
• Take bold and comprehensive measures to deal with the appalling filth in our communities, and the related health problems of our people caused by inadequate, inappropriate and ineffective waste management systems and practices.

WITHIN TWO YEARS OF OFFICE

• Present to Parliament a co-ordinated programme of economic and social development, including agricultural and industrial programmes at all levels, in all sectors, and in all regions of Ghana as required under Article 36 (5) of the Constitution.
• Significantly reduce current troubling and unacceptable trends in infant/child and maternal mortality
• Review the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide coverage for basic healthcare for all and review the unwieldy bureaucracy and palpable corruption of the Scheme.
• Vigorously promote and support quality healthcare for the people.
• Mobilise additional external resources to be able to expand and improve the quality of the School Feeding Programme to cover all primary schools countrywide.
• Review the Capitation Grant to ensure that it is in accord with the true and proper requirements of the provisions of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE).
• Review the GETFUND Act by decentralizing the utilization of the FUND to the educational institutions themselves and with the participation of students.
• Sponsor legislation to establish an “Election Fund” from which polling agents of political parties and of candidates shall benefit for training and on Election Day, among other things.
• Review all land transactions in which public lands have been sold to private individuals and companies in contravention of the constitutional requirement for the first option of purchase of such lands to have been made to their previous owners.

BY THE END OF OUR FIRST TERM IN OFFICE-- THE NDC WOULD HAVE:

• Fielded a Government based on competence, efficiency and merit, whose members worked as a coherent team and abided by the principles of service with Integrity and Humility
• Achieved significantly measurable improvements in the delivery of quality health and quality education—affordable by the people and accessible to the people.
• Ended the perennial water crisis and the troubling filth of our communities and cities by significantly expanding and upgrading water and sanitation infrastructure.
• Significantly improved the supply of housing delivery and the provision of utilities and infrastructural facilities in all Regions with particular emphasis on disadvantaged areas, both rural and urban.
• Achieved appreciable improvements in the area of Human Safety and Security; Law and Justice, and reformed Public Services that are efficient, dynamic, client-friendly and performance driven.
• Sufficiently modernized agriculture to assure food security for the people and dependable raw materials source for industry.

The NDC cannot be trusted in anyway, and the good people of Ghana are discerning enough to know that if the NDC could not fulfill a majority of its 2008 promises, then, they certainly cannot the promises in their 2012 Manifesto.

Today, the ruling National Democratic Congress presented to Ghanaians the platform upon which they wish to be re-elected at the December polls.

But before Ghanaians study what the NDC wishes to offer Ghanaians in their 2012 Manifesto, let us remind ourselves what they promised to offer in 2008 and compare to what they have been able to deliver.

Among the litany of broken promises by the NDC in its 2008 Manifesto include:

• Employment opportunities for all those who are willing and able to work. (Page 46). The NDC believes that it is the business of the state, both directly and indirectly, to create jobs for the people, particularly the youth. The NDC`s strategic objective is to provide every Ghanaian with a job from which they can earn their livelihoods. (Page 60)

• A onetime premium payment for registration with the [National Health Insurance] scheme. (Page 68)

• Ended the perennial water crisis and the troubling filth of our communities and cities by significantly expanding and upgrading water and sanitation infrastructure.

 

• Establish a lean but effective and efficient government by cutting out ostentation and profligate expenditure; rationalizing ministries and ministerial appointments; and promoting service, humility and integrity as canons of government. (100 day promise)

• By the end of our first term, there should be a sufficient number of vocational and technical institutes to absorb JHS graduates who opt for them. (Page 77)

 

• Created a society in which corruption is punished, and probity, integrity and dedicated service are applauded and appreciated. (End of 1st term promise)

• Established a social order were crime, especially the drug trade, with particular emphasis on cocaine and heroine, and the violent crime generated by this drug trade is drastically reduced. (End of 1st term promise)

 

• Prepare and present to Parliament, legislation on various tax and tariff measures designed to provide relief for Ghanaians. (100 day promise)

• Set up a new and truly non-partisan professionally competent and independent Presidential Commission to reopen investigations into the murder of Ya Na Yakubu Andani II and his elders in March 2002. (Page 34)

 

• The NDC Government will also provide micronutrient supplements to pregnant women and children under five years of age. (Page 75)

 

We cannot, however, forget the other numerous promises the NDC has failed to achieve which include:

• Construct and furnish a standard “Member of Parliament Office” in the constituencies for each of the 230 constituencies and pay one Administrator identified by the Member of Parliament a monthly stipend to be in charge of the Office. (Page 24)

• The new NDC government shall enact into law the Freedom of Information Bill to facilitate access to official information, buttressing our commitment to disclosures. (Page 24)

 

• The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will be reorganized into an independent Anti-Fraud Commission with prosecutorial powers and its name changed to reflect the re-organization. (Page 24)

• The NDC Government will revise the law and format for Assets Declaration. (Page 24)

 

• Aiming for a minimum of 40% representation of women at Conferences and Congresses of the Party and in government and public service. (Page 25)

• The National Media Commission will be strengthened through legislation to provide it with the power of enforcement of the rulings of its Complaints Settlement Committee. (Page 26)

 

• An NDC Government will commence work on the permanent new campus for the Ghana Institute of Journalism at its new site. (Page 26)

• Place an upper limit on the number of Justices that may be appointed to the Supreme Court. (Page 33)

 

• Empanelling of all Supreme Court Justices on all cases so that there is consistency of precedent and an end to litigation. (Page 33)

• Separate the Attorney General’s Department from the Ministry of Justice to promote greater efficiency and better transparency in the administration of justice. (Page 33)

 

• Ensure the prosecution of the persons found to be responsible for the murder in military custody of Alhaji Issah Mobila, Northern Regional Chairman of the CPP in December 2004. (Page 34)

• The new NDC government will not introduce any new taxes. (Page 45)

 

• The NDC's tax policy will be to increase the disposable income of individuals by reducing individual tax rate through the broadening of the tax bands. (Page 45)

• A deficit target not exceeding 3% in any given year. (Page 45)

 

• Duty free importation of production inputs on the same basis as for the Free Zones. (Page 47)

• The exploitation of the limestone deposits at Buipe, Nauli and Nadowli for the production of cement. (Page 47)

 

• Rejuvenation of the textile industry in an integrated manner. (Page 47)

• Introduce discounted tax rate to financial institutions that lend to priority sectors of business. (Page 48)

 

• Employ all means at its disposal including exploiting relief in all international trade arrangements such as WTO, ECOWAS to protect domestic industry. (Page 50)

• Amend the Public Procurement Act to provide a bias in favour of made in Ghana goods in all public procurement transactions. (Page 50)

 

• The NDC Government shall pay the cocoa farmer at least 70% of the world market price of cocoa and to process at least 60% of the cocoa produced locally. The 70% price will not include the cost of cocoa diseases and pest control, cocoa roads, COCOBOD scholarships, hi-tech production and bonuses. (Page 53)

• The NDC Government will set up a Task Force to encourage large scale dawadawa tree development, processing and utilization. (Page 54)

 

• A Sheanut Development Board will be established. (Page 54)

• Under the administration of a new NDC Government, cotton will play a major role in reducing poverty and developing rural populations and economies, especially in the three Northern Regions. (Page 54)

 

• The NDC government will establish a Fisheries College. (Page 56)

• In particular, we will declare our 200-mils Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as a prohibited fishing zone for foreign fleets for four years. (Page 56)

 

• We will compile a list of all Government lands and negotiate for payment of compensation for those that Government intends to keep and for which no compensation has been paid. For those that Government does not intend to keep even though compensation has been paid, the original owners shall be given the first option to purchase them back but where the requisite compensation has not been paid, it will be given back to the original land owners as required under the 1992 Constitution. (Page 56)

• “Computer revolution” in the educational system. (Page 60)

 

• ICT Trainers Programme. (Page 61)

• The NDC Government shall establish two international grade ICT Parks on the Akuapim Ridge and in Cape Coast. Construct mini ICT Parks in the remaining regional capitals. (Page 61)

 

• At least 50% of all new bicycles, motor bikes and farm machinery imported into the country will be in knock-down form. (Page 61)

• Keep the cost of health care down to a minimum. (Page 66)

 

• Next in line for modern Regional Hospitals are Wa, Bolgatanga and Koforidua while Sekondi, Tamale and the Ridge Hospital in Accra (for the Greater Accra Region) will be upgraded to the required Teaching standards. (Page 67)

• Review the disease and drug categories under the Scheme. (Page 68)

 

• Establishing a pre-school training college in each of the ten regions. (Page 70)

• The NDC will extend the “free” aspect of the FCUBE into areas such as doing away with fees for sports and cultural activities. (Page 70)

 

• There will be no cost recovery at the tertiary level of education. (Page 71)

• The NDC Government will construct a modern office complex for the NUGS. (Page 73)

 

• Reduce the high room occupancy rate. (Page 74)

• Reduce child labour (street hawking) to the minimum. (Page 74)

 

• Expand skill training facilities for urban youth. (Page 74)

• Under the next NDC Government, all children of up to 5 years of age shall be supplied with free treated mosquito nets. (Page 75)

 

• The NDC Government will also provide micronutrient supplements to pregnant women and children under five years of age. (Page 75)

• The enactment of an Entertainment Industry (Encouragement) Act. (Page 80)

 

 

FIRST HUNDRED DAYS – FROM MANIFESTO (PAGES 16-17)

• Ensure prompt and effective implementation of existing legislation such as the Persons with Disability [PWDs] Act; 2006 Act 715 and the whistleblowers act, 2006 Act 720
• Review and re-constitute the membership of Commissions and Boards, solely on the basis of expertise and competence; eschewing all partisan and familial considerations
• Protect the safety and security of Ghanaians by streamlining, harmonising and resourcing the agencies of state with responsibility for ensuring the security of life and safety of property.
• Take bold and comprehensive measures to deal with the appalling filth in our communities, and the related health problems of our people caused by inadequate, inappropriate and ineffective waste management systems and practices.

WITHIN TWO YEARS OF OFFICE

• Present to Parliament a co-ordinated programme of economic and social development, including agricultural and industrial programmes at all levels, in all sectors, and in all regions of Ghana as required under Article 36 (5) of the Constitution.
• Significantly reduce current troubling and unacceptable trends in infant/child and maternal mortality
• Review the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide coverage for basic healthcare for all and review the unwieldy bureaucracy and palpable corruption of the Scheme.
• Vigorously promote and support quality healthcare for the people.
• Mobilise additional external resources to be able to expand and improve the quality of the School Feeding Programme to cover all primary schools countrywide.
• Review the Capitation Grant to ensure that it is in accord with the true and proper requirements of the provisions of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE).
• Review the GETFUND Act by decentralizing the utilization of the FUND to the educational institutions themselves and with the participation of students.
• Sponsor legislation to establish an “Election Fund” from which polling agents of political parties and of candidates shall benefit for training and on Election Day, among other things.
• Review all land transactions in which public lands have been sold to private individuals and companies in contravention of the constitutional requirement for the first option of purchase of such lands to have been made to their previous owners.

BY THE END OF OUR FIRST TERM IN OFFICE-- THE NDC WOULD HAVE:

• Fielded a Government based on competence, efficiency and merit, whose members worked as a coherent team and abided by the principles of service with Integrity and Humility
• Achieved significantly measurable improvements in the delivery of quality health and quality education—affordable by the people and accessible to the people.
• Ended the perennial water crisis and the troubling filth of our communities and cities by significantly expanding and upgrading water and sanitation infrastructure.
• Significantly improved the supply of housing delivery and the provision of utilities and infrastructural facilities in all Regions with particular emphasis on disadvantaged areas, both rural and urban.
• Achieved appreciable improvements in the area of Human Safety and Security; Law and Justice, and reformed Public Services that are efficient, dynamic, client-friendly and performance driven.
• Sufficiently modernized agriculture to assure food security for the people and dependable raw materials source for industry.

The NDC cannot be trusted in anyway, and the good people of Ghana are discerning enough to know that if the NDC could not fulfill a majority of its 2008 promises, then, they certainly cannot the promises in their 2012 Manifesto.