The electorate should assess their presidential candidates as to how they intend implementing the following policy tasks (Note: They should provide detailed roadmaps explaining their political philosophies based on the following topical rubrics):
1) Impeach President Mahama to obtain more information on the Gitmo deal (Note: It is President Mahama’s responsibility to defend himself why he should not be impeached. This is why Ghana needs to institute an independent prosecutor endowed with constitutive powers. An independent prosecutor should be able to subpoena the President, for instance, to testify under oath in his own behalf. The people of Ghana need to know more about the Gitmo deal for all practical purposes. It is for national security reasons and for purposes of strengthening the country’s budding democratic institutions).
2) Build a sustainable industrial economy.
3) Create a special office for an independent prosecutor (Note: Abolish the office of the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice.
4) Retrieve all illegal judgment debts.
5) Return the Gitmo 2 (Note: Our leaders should be bold enough to tell America and Europe that we no longer need foreign aid. They should write letters to effect this rejectionist declaration and have them published in the international media).
6) Implement drug (marijuana) and penal reforms.
7) Punish corrupt politicians (including sending those found guilty to prison as well as seizing for the state their properties or assets which they acquired through corrupt practices).
8) Strengthen decentralization (e.g., MMDAS/Assemblies).
9) Depoliticize the country and reduce the country’s social polarization (on account of partisan politics).
10) Build a strong, viable private sector and a responsible Keynesian government.
11) Strengthen the operational independence of the Electoral Commission (EC).
12) Initiate radical constitutional reforms (Note: The national Constitution should be thrown out and a new one put in its place).
13) Invest in energy diversification or alternative energy (solar, wind, nuclear, coal, etc.).
14) End dumsor.
15) Stabilize the Cedi.
16) Reduce the national debt.
17) Implement educational reforms. This includes solving the problem of examination malpractice, degree/certificate buying, and the underground market which buys and sells examination questions and answers. The West African Examination Council (WAEC) is on our mind.
18) Promote grassroots democracy (minimize emphasis on representative democracy, regional ethnocentrism, and partisan duopoly)
19) Abolish ethnocracy in the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
20) Promote partnerships among private concerns such as the Kantanka Group of Companies, government, universities and polytechnics.
21) Strengthen and make the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), school feeding program, and capitation grant programs more transparent.
22) Reinforce separation of powers.
23) Make details on asset and liability declaration (of public office holders including the President, parliamentarians, MMDEs, etc.) part of the public record. Citizens should be able to access this information freely without bureaucratic hassles and partisan political intrusions.
24) Guarantee separation of church and state.
25) Improve and expand Ghana’s public (infrastructural) capital.
26) Deal with the problem of currency counterfeiting and armed robbery.
27) Deal with the problem of galamsey and its associated externalities such as pollution and land degradation.
28) Deal with the problem of illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs and money laundering.
29) Make the cocoa industry NUMBER ONE in the world.
30) Decrease the number of parliamentarians (compare the number of Ghanaian legislators to India’s, America’s, and Nigeria’s. We should find a way to increase the number of women representatives in parliament through affirmative action quotas. Rwanda gives us an enviable exemplar).
31) Consolidate ministries with overlapping responsibilities.
32) Pass the Freedom of Information Bill (FOIB).
33) Make Ghana less dependent on foreign aid. Or make Ghana completely independent of foreign aid.
34) Abolish witch camps and trokosi and all other forms of discrimination against women/girls.
35) Make sure microfinance corruption scandals such as that which rocked DKM Diamond Microfinance Ltd does not happen again.
36) Eliminate cronyism, nepotism, and other political favoritisms in the political establishment.
37) Guarantee that general elections will not lead to civil war.
38) Strengthen the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI) and the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), make them more independent, and retrofit their laboratories to meet international standards.
39) Comply with the 40-year plan being spearheaded by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and whether they will also comply with the notion that the Commission says it will rely on foreign aid and grants to implement the plan.
40) Make the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection stronger and more responsive to the needs of women and children (as well as those with physical and mental handicaps).
41) Promote separation of powers (The so-called Trias Politica Principle). (Note: Separation of church and state is another one).
42) Improve democratic governance in line with the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG).
43) Meet the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
44) Improve the living standards and quality of life of all Ghanaians without recourse to regional, ethnic, religious, and political biases.
45) Make sure no Ghanaian child of school-going age studies under a tree.
46) Solve the protracted ethnic conflicts in the Northern Region and other parts of the country.
47) Solve the problem of arson in the country.
48) Use decent language in electioneering campaigns and the 2016 general elections.
49) Implement progressive indigenization policies to protect Ghanaian industries, investors, and workers.
50) Make sure corrupt politicians found guilty by a competent court of law are not set free.
51) Renounce inflammatory rhetoric such as “Yen Akanfuo,” “All-die-be-die,” “Akans should kill Gas and Ewes,” and so forth.
52) Reject or accept Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
53) Make sure that political corruption is not crescendoed as it did and has done in the administrations of Kufuor and Mahama.
54) Collaborate with ECOWAS, African Union, and the international community in the fight against international terrorism, child trafficking, money laundering, drug trafficking, etc.
55) Close all the loopholes encouraging corporate tax evasion.
56) Make the processes of tendering and procurement more transparent (Note: We also want accountability in tendering and procurement deals).
57) Ghanaians should be allowed to vote their MMDEs (and DCEs) as they do in parliamentary and presidential elections.
58) District court judges should be subjected to judicial retention referendum during general elections.
59) Make details on controversial transactions such as the AMERI Deal part of the public record (Note: Citizens should have direct access to such information without bureaucratic hassles).
60) SUBAH, WOYOMEGATE, GYEEDA, SADA, HOTEL KUFUOR, ILLICIT TRAFFICKING IN NARCOTIC DRUGS (under John Kufuor), etc., will not happen again.
61) Formation of a coalition government inclusive of ideological, regional, and ethnic diversity.
62) Decide the fate of the Gitmo 2 against the authoritative injunctionary opinion of the Supreme Court.
63) HOW THEY INTEND TO FUND ALL THESE POLICY SUGGESTIONS WITHOUT RELYING ON FOREIGN AID.
NOTE 1: ALL THE CANDIDATES SHOULD TELL US THEIR PERSONAL CONVICTIONS ABOUT THE PHILOSPHICAL CONTENT OF DAMBISA MOYO’S BOOK, “DEAD AID: WHY AID IS NOT WORKING AND HOW THERE IS A BETTER WAY FOR AFRICA.”
NOTE 2: THOSE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK SHOULD BEGIN READING IT NOW!
We shall return…
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