A review of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s vision for Ghana - A gender perspective

In his 73-page presentation, His Excellency Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President of the Republic of Ghana, who is also the flagbearer of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), outlined his vision, touching on some policies that he hopes to implement if elected President of Ghana in the December 2024 polls.

The much-anticipated speech was eloquently delivered on February 7, 2024, at the Accra campus of the University of Professional Studies (UPSA) Kofi Ohene Konadu Auditorium on the theme “Ghana’s Next Chapter: Selfless Leadership and Bold Solutions for the Future.”

The speech addressed a wide range of issues, cutting across the nation’s socio-political, economic, and cultural fibre. The Vice President’s speech shed light on assignments he had spearheaded in the NPP government (including some 32 new policies), the significant collective achievements of the ruling NPP government, and the need for continuity and building on the Akufo-Addo legacy. He also touched on some policy departures and repositioning, as well as the new ideas and policies he intended to bring on board, christened “Bold Solutions."

In paragraph 110 of the speech, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia encapsulated the entirety of his vision vividly as follows: My vision is to create a tent big enough to accommodate all our people, to tap into the resourcefulness and talents of our people irrespective of our different ethnic, political, and religious backgrounds, to channel our energies into building the kind of country that assures a food self-sufficient, safe, prosperous, and dignified future for all Ghanaians, to create sustainable jobs with meaningful pay for all, and for Ghana to participate fully in the fourth industrial revolution using systems and data.

As a core advocate for the advancement of women, children, and the vulnerable in society and a United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) Goodwill Ambassador to Ghana, I have passionately taken time to review the vision and policy direction of Dr. Bawumia in line with driving the economic and social growth of Ghana.

In this article, however, my objective is to highlight and appraise Dr. Bawumia’s policies that are geared towards women and children while paying general attention to the overall well-being of the ordinary Ghanaian and the vulnerable in our society. In this short piece, I seek to highlight some of the policy prescriptions outlined by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia from a gender perspective. I will employ the skills of using compelling comparative analyses and citing examples of best practices around the world in reviewing how Bawumia’s “Bold Solutions” will impact the next chapter of Ghana’s quest for sustained development going into the second quarter of the 21st century.

Education:

Dr. Bawumia indicated that he would enhance and reposition the education sector to cope with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This repositioning, according to him, will prioritize science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), and vocational skills for innovation and job creation.

The much-anticipated speech on page 50, paragraph 129, summed up the vision for education: "I will enhance the repositioning of the education system towards STEM, robotics, artificial intelligence, and vocational skills to cope with the demands of the fourth Industrial Revolution."Current data shows that women occupy only 25% of all jobs in STEM in Ghana, while the remaining 75% are held by men. In the US, women hold 27% of jobs in the STEM industry. Globally, women make up 29% of the STEM workforce (Global Gender Gap Report, 2023).

Looking at the statistics across the world, Ghana is not so different from the reality of the global gender disparity; however, much more needs to be done. Currently, there are seven STEM schools that are fully operational under the Free-SHS policy across the country. This initiative, which was launched by the current government, has significantly increased the enrollment of girls in beneficiary Senior High Schools (SHS).

It has also led to the establishment of iconic all-girls STEM Schools across the country. In addition to this, there are other gender-based education programs already in progress that are focused on IT, such as Girls in ICT, Youth in IT, She Can Code, and Free Wi-Fi Connection for senior high schools, among others. By implementing these policies, which are deliberately targeted at closing the gender gap and bridging the digital divide, Ghana is set to achieve gender parity in education (especially in STEM, including Vocational and Technical Education) and in IT in just under a decade.

The future looks bright for Ghana, with a positive outlook on achieving its goals. In Dr. Bawumia's own words, "As part of this process, it is my goal to eliminate the digital divide by achieving close to 100% internet penetration. We have already made very significant progress in this direction by increasing internet penetration from 34% in 2016 to 72% in 2023 (by more than double!!!). The task in the next four years is to move from 72% to close to 100%! It is possible!"

In respect of vocational and technical skills training and acquisition, the address envisioned "A growth mindset curriculum to help students build critical skills such as problem-solving, risk-taking, opportunity spotting, and design thinking." Out of the 18,432 technical training institute trainees in the country, only 16% are women, while at the National Vocational Training Institutes (NVTI), 26% of the 6,710 trainees are women. Even though there have been conscious efforts by individuals and organizations to bring more women into the field of STEM and in technical and vocational training, the statistics show a clear underrepresentation of females.

It is therefore imperative to use multidimensional strategies to bring women and girls on board, as Dr. Bawumia envisions: "Generally, there will be an enhanced focus on TVET education. My government will also support the establishment of a National Open University in Ghana in collaboration with the private sector, with a focus on technical and vocational skills and ICT." - "I want to see Ghana build the digital talent we require for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This will mean providing digital and software skills to hundreds of thousands of youths. This, along with other policies, will create jobs for the youth, including school dropouts. In collaboration with the private sector, we will train at least 1,000,000 youth in IT skills, including software developers, to provide job opportunities worldwide. My government would make coding and robotics standards in senior high schools," he added.

In the areas of higher learning, the speech categorically captured a very important issue in medicine and legal professional training, which has generated public debate in recent years. The vision intends to "expand infrastructure at medical schools as well as the Ghana Law School to support an increase in admission for students for medical and legal studies." Although not expressly stated, I strongly believe this will also be a win for females in the specialized fields of medicine and law. In this regard, I humbly submit that in the preparation towards rolling out such a laudable vision, much effort and attractive incentives should be geared towards closing the gender gap and being considerate towards the vulnerable in society, especially People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), for without these considerations, we are not building an all-inclusive society.

Affirmative Action:

Affirmative Action is one of the most definite ways of ensuring gender parity and adequate female representation in any country's decision-making space and nation-building process. There are examples of how impactful it has been in other African countries, such as Rwanda, Guinea, Kenya, and Senegal, among others. Dr. Bawumia’s vision prioritizes the full implementation of the Affirmative Action Act once the Bill is enacted into law. Paragraph 167 of the address captures this, thus "A Bawumia administration will prioritize the full implementation of the Affirmative Action Act, which should hopefully have been passed by January 2025."

The Affirmative Action Bill in Ghana aims to tackle the long-standing problem of discrimination and exclusion of women. If passed into law, it will ensure a critical number of women hold key positions in governance, public life, and decision-making spaces. The bill defines affirmative action as "a set of measures adopted by the government and public and private institutions to address a history of systemic discrimination and exclusion of women." The Bill's primary purpose is to encourage gender balance in political, social, cultural, economic, and educational sectors. By 2030, the goal is to increase the active participation of women in public life from a minimum of 40% to parity (50%), aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Affirmative Action Bill has been facing challenges for some 24 years now and still hasn't been passed into law. This makes it one of the longest-pending Bills in Ghana's legislative history. One of the main reasons for this delay is a lack of commitment and political will. It is therefore refreshing to hear that the Executive arm of the government will be championing this Bill to pass into law. Since it's a government agenda, I believe it should be given the prominence and urgency it deserves and receive the needed attention to hopefully pass it into law by 2025, as stated in the address. There is no exaggeration that the Affirmative Action Bill holds the promise to empower women and achieve greater gender parity in Ghana's governance and leadership roles. This will promote inclusivity and harness our nation-building efforts for national development. Rwanda, for instance, currently ranks as the first country in the world with a female majority in its Parliament, with women making up about 61.3% in the Chamber of Deputies (one of two Chambers of Parliament).

This feat was attained by the country through the prioritization of the inclusion of women in their structures and processes. In 2003, the Constitution of Rwanda was amended and it included a quota system for women at all levels of government. A 30% quota of all representatives was reserved for women, including those in Parliament. Rwanda’s quota is different from majority systems in the world in the sense that the quota is not exclusively reserved for women candidates but also reserves a minimum number of seats for women (often known as Equality of Result quotas).

It allows only women to vote for the women-only seats. In 2010, Senegal also adopted a gender parity law through the establishment of a 50/50 quota called the Law of Parity. It provides that all political parties are to nominate an equal number of women and men on their party lists as constituency candidates. Parties are not allowed to run elections if they fail to achieve gender parity in their candidate lists. The initiative brought about a rise in women's representation in the National Assembly from 22.7% to 42.7% in 2012. In the local legislatures, there was also an increase in female representatives from 16% to 47% in the 2014 local elections. The experiences of Rwanda and Senegal provides concrete evidence that affirmative action is one sure way to get more women involved in political leadership and the decision-making process.

By prioritizing the full implementation of the policy objectives of the Affirmative Action Bill once it is passed into law, the governance structure and system under Dr. Bawumia as President will attract more qualified and competent Ghanaian women in politics and leadership positions in all facets of our society by statutory prescription. This will be a great leap towards gender parity in no uncertain terms.

Individualized Credit Scoring System:

An individualized credit scoring system is a statistical analysis used by financial institutions and lenders to assess a borrower's creditworthiness. Dr. Bawumia's vision for Ghana makes mention of introducing a credit scoring system. In his own words, he stressed that "it is my goal to make it easier and cheaper to access credit by leveraging on our data and systems such as Ghana Card, Ghana Post GPS, Mobile Money Interoperability, DVLA, GRA, Bank Accounts, etc. to build an efficient credit system and mortgage market in Ghana underpinned by individualized credit scoring and the digitalization of land titling and transfer. We look forward to starting individualized credit scoring in Ghana this year, and this will make it easier for Ghanaians to access credit at lower interest rates."

According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs in 2021, Ghana has the third highest proportion of women business owners in Africa (after Botswana and Uganda). However, most of these businesses are small-scale businesses with minimum capital to start up. From the foregoing, women entrepreneurs stand to benefit more than any group of people from Dr. Bawumia's vision of individualized credit scoring once it is introduced in Ghana. According to statistics from the Ghana Enterprise Agency (a government-owned organization that administers small business credit schemes), 60% of the over 700,000 applicants to a loan scheme at one point in time were women. Despite several efforts by the government and its development partners to support small to medium-scale enterprises to acquire credit, there is no scientific data on individualized credit scorecards to ascertain person-to-person creditworthiness.

Consequently, time and again, the one-size-fits-all approach has proven not to be very effective and reliable. In the absence of any such data, small to medium-sized business owners tend to lose more. They are often undervalued and lose 40% of the total value they could have acquired as loans due to their perceived high level of risk. An example of a similar challenge was witnessed when the Development Bank of Ghana (DBG) launched a scheme to lend $600 million to small businesses to help in their business expansion. It turned out that women still had limited access to securing these loans due to the overly complicated procedures and interest rates on these loans. With the introduction of the individualized credit scoring system, an individual’s credit score can determine the maximum loan amount they can borrow with lower interest rates. This will greatly help women business owners seek the appropriate amount of loans they need to enhance their businesses. After all, the majority of Ghana’s small- to medium-sized business owners are women.

Flat Tax Regime:

Dr. Bawumia's vision for Ghana also includes a proposal for a flat tax regime where all taxpayers will pay a percentage of their income regardless of how much money they earn. This taxation regime is not only fair in creating a level playing field but also comes with "appropriate exemption thresholds to protect the poor" and vulnerable. Such a tax rate does not change as one’s income increases or decreases, yet the absolute amount of tax will increase as one’s income increases. "My administration will introduce a very simple, citizen- and business-friendly flat tax regime. A flat tax of a percentage of income for individuals and SMEs (which constitute 98% of all businesses in Ghana) with appropriate exemption thresholds set to protect the poor," the address stated.

Mauritius has a flat tax rate on individual income of 15%, with a reduced rate of 10% for individuals who earn less than MUR 650,000 annually.

The same rate applies to corporate and interest income, making the tax regime extremely simple. This increases compliance and reduces tax evasion, as one cannot structure one’s taxes to reduce it. The country also has zero capital gains tax, no dividend withholding tax, and no inheritance or estate tax. Mauritius has therefore become a very attractive destination for foreign investors and businesses, ranking first in Africa for ease of doing business and 20th in the world.

According to the audit firm Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC), Mauritius’ tax system has attracted considerable foreign investment and has one of Africa’s highest per capita incomes. The country has developed from a low-income, agricultural economy into a middle-income, diversified economy with burgeoning tourism, textile, and financial services sectors. Mauritius has managed to grow its economy at over 5% per annum, reducing income inequality, improving life expectancy, and reducing infant mortality. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Mauritius was over $400 million in 2022, with a share of GDP growing to 18.7%. The introduction of such a tax system in Ghana will help stabilize the daily businesses of SMEs, ease the burden of doing business, increase tax compliance, rake in more revenue for the government, and help expand the much-talked-about narrow tax net.

From a gender point of view, since the majority of small-scale businesses are owned by women in Ghana, this single initiative will be a financial backbone for a lot of women entrepreneurs to thrive in business and, more so, enhance their creditworthiness, thereby expanding their businesses. Obviously, this vision has the informal sector, small/medium-scale enterprises, low- to middle-income families, and most importantly, women and children at heart.

Housing:

Under the "Housing for All" policy, a future President Bawumia intends to focus on the provision of public housing in the same manner that Singapore did. The vision plans to partner with the private sector (public-private partnership) to build large housing estates to provide decent accommodation for Ghanaians. Also, the National Rental Assistance Scheme will be enhanced to deal with the problem of demands for rent advances. The National Rental Assistance Scheme, launched in January 2023 by Vice President Bawumia, pays rent advances to qualified applicants who are in the process of renewing or renting a room, an apartment, or a complete house. Their services allow renters to make monthly, affordable rent payments.

At present, more than 1,100 Ghanaians are benefiting from a scheme that helps to reduce their rental burden on a daily basis. If this policy is further enhanced, it will provide significant relief to ordinary Ghanaians, particularly mothers with low incomes who struggle to support their families. Ghana's housing deficit has witnessed a 33% reduction since the year 2000 (Ghana Statistical Survey, 2021). This achievement is attributed to factors such as real estate interventions and the over 70% increase in residential structures within the period. Despite this progress, current statistics estimate Ghana's housing deficit at around 1.8 million. Public-private partnerships (PPP), as a mechanism for constructing and maintaining low-income housing, is a tried and tested initiative with great success in countries including the United States, Australia, Ireland, and the UK, to name a few.

A public-private partnership is being used as one of the globally accepted potent options to leverage the strength, skill, and resources of the private sector to bring efficiencies and cost-effectiveness to building and creating housing for the masses. In this system, unlike the stand-alone pattern, both the private and public sectors remain active partners in creating housing. In the stand-alone case, only the private sector remains an active partner. In contrast, the role and involvement of the public sector remain passive, in the form of creating an enabling and supportive environment to facilitate the efficient operation and functioning of the private sector.

The implementation of private-public partnerships in the provision of affordable housing will lessen the pressure on the government while guaranteeing that many Ghanaians who are limited in financial resources have decent and affordable housing. Among the almost 2 million Ghanaians without decent and affordable housing, most of the victims are women and children. An example is the ‘kayeyei’ menace in major towns and cities across the country, which comprises young girls and women (many of them with children) who are homeless at market centers where they ply their head-porter trade. In other instances, there are housing facilities available, but the expensive cost of rent renders willing renters homeless or, at best, living in makeshift structures, resulting in the development of slums and shanty towns.

In this case, the National Rental Scheme comes to the aid of those who cannot raise the money upfront to pay rent in advance. Private developers have done a lot over the years to reduce the deficit with little or no government support. Therefore, the PPP arrangement in addressing the housing challenge as envisioned by Dr. Bawumia is not only very laudable but also timely in taking a bold step to confront the issue of homelessness and the provision of decent homes for Ghanaian families.

Care for the Vulnerable and Persons with Special Needs:

The importance of Speech therapy expansion and occupational and behavioural therapy features is greatly reflected in the vision of Dr. Bawumia. As he put it: "I want to build a nation that cares for and invests in the vulnerable, like persons with disabilities, the elderly, street kids, lepers, cerebral palsy patients, etc. in cooperation with faith-based institutions and the private sector. "My government will also focus on special needs. To start with, we will recruit 1,000 special education teachers and retrain teachers on how to work with special needs students. We will also train more speech and language therapists and occupational and behavioural therapists."

Speech therapy tends to offer numerous benefits, including improved articulation, enhanced language abilities, better fluency, and more effective social communication skills. It empowers children to express themselves more clearly, understand others, and participate more fully in social and academic settings. Demographic information on Speech-language pathologists in the United States indicates that the workforce of Speech-language pathologists in 2021 was 169,894 people, with 95.2% women and 4.76% men. Ghana’s population stands at about 32 million, with approximately 50 speech and language pathologists, and most of them are located in the capital city, Accra.

The implementation of such a policy to train more speech and language therapists as well as occupational and behavioural therapists will help invest in the quality of lives of citizens across all 16 regions who need such services and also help create jobs for individuals who specialize in those fields. The Special Education Division of the Ghana Education Service is responsible for promoting inclusive education policies that align with Goal #4 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This goal aims to bring together all categories of learners, including those with disabilities, and provide them with a safe and conducive environment for teaching and learning. Comparing statistics in Ghana over eleven years (2010–2021) shows a very worrying trend. During the 2010 Population and Housing Census, data captured indicated that about 623,500 children of primary school age were still not registered in schools and one out of every four children in the kindergarten age group (four to five years) was not enrolled in a pre-school. Furthermore, 20% of children with physical disabilities did not attend school. In addition, four out of ten persons with disabilities (PWDs) aged three and above have received no formal education, while only 17.4% have completed basic school.

According to the 2021 population and housing census data, 1,215,546 Ghanaian children between the ages of four and 17 are not currently attending school. Shockingly, almost one million of these children have never had the opportunity to attend school. Denying access to education for children with disabilities leads to social isolation and marginalization, as they are denied suitable career opportunities later in life due to their lower level of skills. The implementation of a programme to recruit 1,000 special education teachers for starters under Dr. Bawumia’s Presidency will help safeguard the future of our children with special needs and at the same time sharpen their talents and skills for the greater good of the country as a whole.

Conclusion:

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's vision for Ghana as President clearly empowers women, supports children, and aids the vulnerable in society. By aggressively pursuing a gender-based action bill, recalibrating education to embrace the fourth industrial era, and using a collective approach to build an all-inclusive society, these "Bold Solutions" come to raise the bar in setting new standards in Ghana's politics of issues. The passage of the Affirmative Action Bill into law, however, becomes the linchpin of the gender agenda of the next NPP government. Collectively, these beautiful ideas and sound principles need the support of all well-meaning Ghanaians with that optimistic spirit: It Is Possible!