Strategies For Ghana’s NPP In 2012 General Elections

Is NDC Destined For Failure; or Synonymous To Failure?The NDC can be subjected

to a total loss of the 2012 elections, provided the NPP campaigns on

“Sustainable Economic Policies For Sustainable Governance”. Failing which the

opposite can also be absolutely true.

Konongo Fordjour 15 January 2011

It is extremely difficult, in the Ghanaian context, to provide any legitimate;

up-to-the-minute scientifically proven report to measure the direction of the

voting decisions of Ghanaian voters. More often than not, expert reports from

decision makers in Ghana itself are usually found baffling later on.

Consequently, commonly emotional utterances always took the center stage in our

analyses; and in most cases towards the direction of the political leaning of

that particular analyst him/herself.

Currently, as I write, the two opposing forces - the NPP and the NDC - are on

balance. Anything can happen! One of the forces should sell differentiated

products to throw the other one off balance. Political products are presentation

of economic policies superior to that of the opponent’s. At the beginning of

last decade, the NPP sounded superior to the NDC in the implementation of

policies. Nevertheless, over the years the NDC has caught up. [Remember that the

two fought over the ownership of certain areas of their campaign policies]. It

was quite interesting to see the once a ruthless, gun-totting, and crime-prone

NDC metamorphose its killing smock to put on Western-designer suits to talk

civilized political language. Can I am confidently claim that democracy is

working in Ghana?

Please remember that politics is all about implementation of policies. However,

modern Ghana demands smartness in the practical implementation of policies

necessary and more identifiable with Ghana. Therefore, which one of the two can

present the best practicable policies that can sustain Ghana’s economic

recovery? Some of the NDC policy presentations that won it the elections have

gone past their own proposed period without giving it a second glance. So many

questions stare at it as to whether or not the NDC genuinely has any credible

alternative agenda for Ghanaians. The president has argued vehemently that he

has been mandated for four years; I agree with him! But technically speaking he

has only one-and-the-half more years to prove otherwise. Frustrations in seeking

for a second term and the opposition’s desperation to wrestle power can be

nastier. Honestly, I am not impressed with the recent utterances coming from the

two quarters that sounded violent!

Folks, let us stick to the basics; and that is the implementation of policies.

We are going to look at some works done by authorities in their own areas; such

as Professor Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University New York, expert in

sustainable development in the Third World communities (Developing Nations);

Professor Bill Fisher of Clark University Worcester, expert in International and

Community Development; Professor Richard Vietor of Harvard Business School,

expert in global economic development strategy and author of “How Countries

Compete”; and Professor Nicholas Sanchez of College of the Holy Cross Worcester,

author of “Destined For Failure”. And finally, some excerpts from “Decision

Points” by His Excellency former USA President George W Bush to advise our

contesting leaders to tread carefully along the directions where others have

failed terribly. Let us stick to Political Campaigns without wild and empty

promises, please!

The next two pages will discuss the theory and practice of sustainable economic

policies; and the last page will sum it up with a strong advice to the NPP to

enable it snatch power from the NDC easily. Now let us begin; no hard feelings,

please! Pardon me if my article is not favorable to you; but I will have say it

as it is anyway! No favoritism whatsoever; credit will be given where it is due!

Sustainable Governing Strategies in a Sustainable Economy

In his book, Destined For Failure, The Havana, Cuba-born economics professor,

Nicholas Sanchez argues that macro-economics (that the NDC Minister of the

Economy Dr. Kwabena Duffour is leaning on) does not teach productivity levels.

Although Sanchez fell short of declaring that micro-economics does, his

assertion resonates my previous articles on Ghana’s Economy that discussed

micro- and macro-economics stipulations. Remember my statement that

macro-economics is relatively a very young developing area of economics; and

that it is in a flux. I challenged the honorable minister as to what was in a

flux at the time he took office that needed to be stabilized; but he has decided

to remain quiet. Perhaps not to embarrass himself in the midst of ignorance in

modern day economics! Professor Sanchez believes that Maynard Keynes’

macro-economics era has long ago shifted from what (the NDC knows) to a modern

day developmental economics proposed by Harvard Professor Robert Barro, who

believes in factors of production that bring about growth in the economy; and

winning many disciples around the globe such as Konongo Fordjour.

Perhaps, Jeffrey Sachs is the most favoured expert in the area of sustainable

economic policies. Jeff is the Director of The Earth Institute and Quetelet

Professor of Sustainable Development at Columbia University. He is a special

advisor to the UN chief, Moon, and the former, Ghana’s Kofi Annan; advising on

developing countries including Ghana. His brilliant work has earned him several

United Nations’ assignments into his selected countries including Ghana.

Ghana has always been in his heart and he has conducted several workshops to

benefit Ghana, such as his recent one on Kumasi conference at Columbia

University hall; and his recent visit to our President Mills in Ghana. Professor

Sachs preaches on sustainable development to his selected nation clients, such

as Ghana. His "Sowing the seeds for a long-term growth" considers energy

conservation, water conservation and purification, locally-generated production

to deliver economic growth (in agreement with Robert Barro of Harvard) such as

Konongo Fordjour’s corn production strategy to explode youth investment and to

add value to the nation’s economic growth. [For your information, please: The

Wall Street Journal reported today, 15 January 2011, that corn is the fastest

selling commodity in the market in history; gaining over 94% value since June

2010 price analysis period].

In his recent article in the Financial Times (7 June 2010), Professor Sachs gave

five strategies to advise nations in our contemporary economic position. One, he

proposed medium-term planning (for five years) targeting deficit-cutting; and to

bring about manageable debt-to-GDP ratios. Two, Governments should intensify

public education that good jobs result good education, cutting-edge technology,

reliable infrastructure, and adequate outlays of private capital. Three, he

strongly recommends that Governments should design secured ways of social safety

nets such as: income support for the poor, universal access to basic healthcare

and education, job training programs, and promotion of higher education. Four,

create long-term structural transformation through exports, clean energy, and

new transport infrastructure.

Five and finally, he suggests that the rich must pay more taxes. I disagree with

him on this issue in the case of Ghana, because the tax concept does not exist

at all in Ghana. We need to develop it first, make the citizenry accept it and

then make a further move. Also, taxing the rich heavily will destroy

entrepreneurship and further jeopardize our investment trend. Ghana’s officially

known richest person will rank less than 2-millionth position in the world (more

or less a thousandneer). Therefore adopting Jeff’s fifth absolute will kill our

humanism and democratic trend.

I like his closing note for his fellow American Policy-makers that: we need, in

sum, to reset our macro-economic timetables. There are no short-term miracles,

only the threat of more bubbles if we pursue economic illusions. To rebuild our

economies, the watchword must be INVESTMENTS rather than STIMULUS. [In the case

of Ghana, it should be SUSTAINABLE INVESTMENTS rather than pre-electoral voting

NDC spending spree.]

Professor William Fisher, a Columbia University graduate, is also the Director

of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) at Clark

University Worcester; and teaches international development and social change.

His best authored book, to me, “Toward Sustainable Development?” goes closer to

strategies that can alleviate desperate situations in poverty-ridden societies

such as ours in Ghana. Bill is rather more of country specific and identifies

factors that meet individual national development comfort levels, such as clean

water projects, commercializing agrarian communities, etc.

Professor Richard Vietor of Harvard Business School presents historical

development strategies of some selected national development success stories.

Richard has traveled extensively, critically studied almost every nation in all

the six continents, and has selected model nations for case study. (Ghana is not

included in his list, but it can be beneficial to Ghana).

Institutionalization has been his prime factor of national development,

sophistication and global advancement. Science and technology parks are common

in his study on Asian countries; business incubators have featured in India,

Mexico and Brazil; and continuity in the national agenda. Institutionalizing a

national agenda means that the government hands off the national investments to

allow the citizenry to pursue the national agenda. The government becomes

supervisor with smart expert advise to the players to compete and develop their

local communities. Professor Vietor’s major concerns were the countries’

strategies in education and the economy - how interconnected they may be. The

only African country that got onto Vietor’s radar is South Africa because of her

developed infrastructure and institutions.

Developed institutions, such as law and order, transport regulatory body,

independent national security, independent credible economic body, etc. over a

long period of time will explain to every potential investor the characteristics

of civility that nation may be. Before advancing further, let us take a look at

the credibility of economic institution in a nation; what is it? Homogeneity in

economic training in any given nation determines the seriousness of that nation

with regard to development and advancement. Fiscal discipline and strong

monetary policies are researched and planned by economic research institutes. A

development-conscious nation must have a national development plan of action to

be pursued by successive governments drawn by such an institute. [Ghana does not

have one!]

After the Allende-Pinochet political upheavals that rocked Chile, the nation

appointed a group of conservative nationalist (Chilean) economists, called

Chicago Boys (because all of its members had graduate level training in

economics from University of Chicago) to design a new program for the nation.

The result was Chile’s turn of events from misery to business and economic power

house. A similar strategy of the Harvard Team has also turned events in Brazil.

When Brazilian economists were trained from Harvard classrooms strong economic

policies were designed for the nation to follow. Also, the Mexican economic

recovery success story owes its ambitious decision to train its economists from

Yale.

It was based on this premise of his Mexican classmates’ success story that the

Yale-trained economist Elder Kwame Pianim had proposed to set Ghana along a

similar track. Homogeneity in economic training works! In a heterogeneous

economic training (i.e. from multiple countries, e.g. Eastern Europe, Central

Europe, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, etc.) confusion sets in to

develop a weak team - if there is any. Marxist-Leninist theories as against free

market- free trade propositions become the unnecessary debate entangling the

national development. Where do you think Ghana falls into today? Homogeneous or

heterogeneous economic training?

Winnable NPP Campaign Strategies

The New Patriotic Party [NPP] of Ghana must differentiate its message now!

Please campaign on practical implementation of policies. Begin with the work

done under President Kufuor. The NPP has been poor or weak in public relations

strategy. The Kufuor Administration did brilliant job but we have failed

miserably to sell our best efforts to the Ghanaian electorate. More often than

not we have cowed into the NDC lies and seemed to have accepted that unfortunate

fate. The flag bearer must begin right now to engage Ghana in serious

conversations. Begin with the negative campaign message initiated by the NDC

since 2008. I must say that the NPP “Don’t-Ask-Don’t-See” pretence attitude is

self-destructive. I believe that the NDC will want to talk about cocaine, hotel

Kufuor, Jubilee-Flagstaff Palace, presidential jets, and many others that have

gone unchallenged. Take each case by case and discuss them in details with the

nation.

For example, pick up the topic on cocaine. You may want to critically look at

the origins, benefits, market value, dealers in the powder trade, and

disadvantages of cocaine. Talk about the strategies your government will use in

handling the powder trade and their possible repercussions. What is the extent

of the drug trade in Ghana? Be realistic and straightforward (support with facts

and figures) in discussions about the extent of damage of the drug trade in

Ghana. Let the nation be aware that the level of usage or consumption of the

drug in Ghana, although is not a good idea, IS NOT alarming.

However, the nation has a reputation as the transit point for the drug trade.

Cite Eric Amoateng, the disgraced NPP lawmaker (MP) serving sentence in New

York, USA jail as an example as well as President Mill’s recent utterances

quoted in WikiLeaks of been suspicious of his own NDC officials dealing in the

drug trade. This should be clear to Ghanaians that drug dealership has no

politico-ideological boundaries. Now how do we solve this problem? An NPP

government could possibly stop the menace by allowing it into the country,

confiscate it in all quantities, and use it for bio-scientific research at the

University of Science and Technology. Similar studies are on-going in top

pharmaceutical research institutions around the globe. The Theme could be:

“Cocaine and the Cell Function - Preventive and Curity Measures of the HIV

Disease”. By so doing, you are carefully breaking the jinx and the stigma of the

drug crap on our party.

The more we keep quiet over the drug issue, the more our NDC friends are

motivated to ridicule us over nothing. If we are found frustrated in the drug

issue such as a recent threat to take the general public to court, then we are

heading towards a total loss similar to the 2008 winnable campaign day that

ended with a “Yorkor-Gari-Campaign Disaster”. The drug issue must be tackled

holistically using psychoanalytic strategies to cure the canker therapeutically.

Do same to the rest of all the negative campaign statements. For example, the

decision to build the presidential palace must carefully consider the benefits

that Ghana has earned. The flag bearer must accept responsibility, as part of

the decision-making body in the Kufuor Administration that collectively allowed

the project to proceed. A similar strategy must be designed to respond to the

presidential jets purchases. Why was the decision reached? What were the pros

and cons for that purchase? If you were in President Kufuor’s position then,

would you have taken a similar bold decision? Why was buying the two jets

superior to clean water or classroom block elsewhere in Ghana? Nana Akufo-Addo

must accept the responsibility of the perceived shortfalls of Kufuor

Administration, defend them, and match on to the Administration’s best

performing functions.

It will be ridiculous to have issues with the Administration you were party to

and claim to pursue its development projects today. Some decisions, such as

those taken by President Kufuor discussed above, may appear very controversial;

yet we still have to take them. In his book, “Decision Points”, USA former

President George W Bush argues on critical decision making periods during his

tenure in office. Clearly detailed, the author draws in several of his personal

experiences to make informed decisions as they were taken, controversial as they

appeared, though. Leaders are made to take critical decisions; may be

controversial but not hasty decisions.

The next line of communication should look at the policies you will pursue. They

must be SUSTAINABLE. As you can see above, all the USA academics, economists,

and policy-makers are shifting from the dysfunctional macro-economic policies to

the productive sustainable economic policies. A sustainable economy is the one

that connects the citizenry directly with the development of the nation. In the

Ghanaian context, purifying borehole water in the villages into commercial

quantities, building silos, warehouses, corn farming, fruit juice processing,

etc. are all small businesses that focus on the citizenry; and are all

sustainable. NPP must campaign on “Developing the Nation in Partnership with the

Citizenry”.

I strongly suggest that the German model of Apprenticeship must be factored into

the partnership deal that NPP intends to have with the citizens. This will

require brilliant and dedicated experts in their fields of study to lead and

train their subordinates. In the German context, the leaders must be PhD

holders; and in most cases, in the technical fields of study. Now where will we

find these dedicated Ghanaian experts in their fields of study to steer the

drive? It throws us back to the days when NPP-USA initiated the home-coming

conference to create data for such exercise in 2001 but was thrown away by the

very same home-resident politician it was intended to help simply because of

domestic xenophobia among equals.

My party must promise a “National Development Plan” campaign on it, and demand

future successive Governments to follow. Our campaign message should be detailed

in the development plan. An entrenched citizen-focused development plan becomes

an inseparable bond between the people and government which will be Sustainable

Governance in a Sustainable Economy.

Conclusion

I strongly believe that if NPP campaigns on sustainability of our economy, we

will win hands down. In my previous article, “Elections 2012: Using the

Institute of Strategic Studies’ Winnable Games”, I advised on some possible ways

that the NDC can use to smartly rig the elections (a sophisticated electoral

fraud). They are: the expected addition of about 360,000 young adult voters; the

bi-metric vote rigging system; the economy; and a possible coercive rule to

scare some voting areas.

With a sophisticated National Development Plan to campaign on sustainable

economy, the NPP will win the forthcoming general elections. Unfortunately for

Ghanaians, but fortunately for political campaigns, the NDC has no agenda to

develop; they have no clue! Certain things that the NDC claims to have done in

the economy may be true from the short-term point of view (common in the

macro-economics milieu - it is in a flux!). However, the question the NPP should

ask the NDC is simply: “How sustainable are their policies for Ghana?”

Consequently, the development plan erases the NDC noise making on the economy

altogether. We must design strategies to campaign on Early-Voting-Go-Home to

remove confrontation and violence during voting. We should also encourage steady

voting but no queues (or lines); that will remove the NDC coercive strategy.

Then, we are down to two - the 360,000 new voters, and the bi-metric voting

system - that we will have to work hard to recruit from and urge everyone to get

involved in the bi-metric voting system. We should also train smart and

dedicated polling agents to benefit our party.

Finally, please this is very important! Ghanaians, by nature, are not bemused

with a person’s riches, education, or greatness. They attach absolutes such as:

nobility, handsomeness, politeness, God-fearing, respectfulness, tallness, etc.

in rewarding a higher position to their people. We may not have reasons attached

to their individual decision-making sentiments; but they do!

Consequently, I will strongly suggest that NPP must pick Professor Kwabena

Frimpong-Boateng as the running mate to balance a lot of concerned reservations.

I honestly trust that the civil society, the clergy, floating voters, and even

those not intending to vote in the next general elections will all turn around

to vote for Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng’s ticket. This is a must win

voting period! Hopefully, this piece of advice would be seriously considered.

However, should all these advice be neglected and eventually thrown away as

usual, then go to elections and lose again, then I can promise one thing that

heaven and hell will fall.

With Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, National Development Plan, and Campaign

for a sustainable economy, NPP will win massively. My next article is titled

“Ghana’s One-Term President”. Good Day!

Konongo Fordjour, Boston-USA

E-Mail: koafordjour@yahoo.com