Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen!
Kukrudu!!!
Kukrudu!!!
Kukrudu!!!
I would like to thank the NPP-UK, particularly the Women wing led by the hardworking and energetic women organizer, Patricia A. Boakye (Daakyehemaa) for organizing this conference and inviting me to be guest of honour and keynote speaker.
As you may be aware, I have been here in the UK for the past few days to attend, on one hand the 3rd Ghana Investments and Opportunities Summit (GHIOS) jointly organized by the Ghana Investments Promotion Centre and the Ghana High Commission in the UK and on the other hand, co-chair the 8th UK Ghana Business Council (UKGBC) meeting.
These are important meetings that have produced significant deliverables in the past. For instance, it is through the UKGBC meetings that we are seeing the construction of the Kumasi International Airport, Obetsebi Lamptey Interchange Phase II, the new Tamale Airport terminal, Kejetia Market Phase II and many others.
I also, had the opportunity on the sidelines of these meetings to hold a meeting between Ghana and UK auto investors to chart a course for enhanced investments in the auto industry in Ghana and launched the UK-Ghana Investor group. I am confident these engagements have significant consequential mutual benefits for Ghana and the UK.
These events have come at a time when Ghana is gradually working her way back after the economic challenges that we, like other countries have been through recently.
Fellow Patriots, as we gather like this in our colourful blue, white and red dresses and paraphernalia, one thing occupies our mind – how to position our party in a manner that engenders hope, trust, and confidence, both in ourselves and the larger Ghanaian community.
Seven years ago, we were given a mandate to oversee the governance of our country Ghana through a resounding victory. Four years later, our mandate was renewed.
As has been the mantra of most of us, we seek to do what has not happened in our country before by breaking the eight-year cycle of democratic political rule. We are very much convinced that we will be able to do this, by the grace of God, because of our performance.
In this address, I shall walk you through some of the key milestones we have been able to deliver as a government, unprecedented in many regards in the history of Ghana, while recognizing at the same time there is always room for improvement. We have not had it all rosy and delivered everything that we set out to do from our day of initiation into office.
But the setbacks notwithstanding, we have produced a solid track record of achievements.
As those of you in the UK and other European countries are keenly aware, in the last couple of years the whole world has been hit mainly by two major external forces and Ghana has been no exception.
The Covid-19 pandemic affected global supply chains and the response put a burden on public finances. The war between Russia and Ukraine hit fertilizer and grain prices, among others, and increased the prices of commodities back home. Inflation, exchange rate depreciation and debt levels globally hit a 40 year high as countries scrambled to cope with the impact on lives and livelihoods.
In Ghana, inflation increased from 12.9% in December 2021 to 54% by December 2022 with an attendant depreciation of the Ghana cedi by 30% in 2022.
These crises (COVID and Russia-Ukraine) came at a time when we were yet to fully recover from some major challenges we inherited. In particular, we inherited excess energy capacity payments resulting from power purchase agreements entered into by the previous government.
I said last year, and the World Bank has also recently pointed out the reckless nature and the catastrophic implications of these contracts. Under these PPAs we have been required to pay some $1 billion annually for power we did not consume over the last six years.
The combined effects of these phenomena blighted an economy that grew at an average rate of about 7% between 2017-2019. Our debt became unsustainable, and the government had to undertake a domestic debt restructuring and seek IMF support to stabilize our economy.
These developments have been latched on by our political opponents in an attempt to play down the achievements of our government in the last six years. There has been so much talk from politicians and commentators alike. It is said that Politicians have a habit of talking a lot, but they hardly talk about what they have done.
It is better to judge politicians not by what they say but by what they have done to solve our problems when given the opportunity to serve.
So, in this regard, what problems have the NPP government solved or, tackled since coming into office? Today I intend to shed some light on this.
Before this however, let us remind ourselves about the state of the economy we inherited in 2017.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when you look at this tall list of achievements, one cannot but admit that they are monumental! Let nobody tell you that we don’t have a message for 2024! I must hasten to add that this does not mean we have done everything we intended to do or ought to have done. There is clearly a lot more to do and we will work hard to do more.
As Vice President, I have had the honour and privilege, thanks to the
President, H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to be given the opportunity to initiate and or oversee the implementation of many of these problem-solving policy initiatives I have mentioned. These include but are not limited to:
o The Ghanacard
o The Use of the Ghanacard Number as a Tax Identification
Number (TIN), SSNIT Number, National Health Insurance
Number
o Digital Property Address System
o Mobile Money Interoperabilty
o Paperless Ports
o Ghana.Gov
o No Guarantor student loans with Ghanacard
o Universal QRCode Payment System
o Registration for and renewal of NHIS membership on the phone
o One Constituency One ambulance
o Agenda 111
o Digitalization of ECG operations
o Digitalized Passport Applications
o E-Pharmacy
o Sinohydro Barter Agreement
o Zipline Drones for medical delivery
o Digitalization at the scholarship secretariat
o Unified digital common property tax platform
o Online filing and payment of taxes at the GRA
o Digitalization at the births and births registry
o Digitalization of football ticket sales
o Provision of Hydroyurea under NHIS for Sickle Cell Patients
o Zongo Development Fund
o Development Authorities
o Bank of Ghana Gold Purchase Program
o Gold for Oil Policy
o Abolishing the filling of embarkation and disembarkation cards at the airport
o And a few more.
It is important to note that many of the transformational policy initiatives that we have introduced since 2017 are being done for the first time since independence and most have benefited women! What is interesting is that because many of them have not been done before, many people shackled by a mindset of impossibility have argued that they are not possible, but we made them possible.
Examples include:
o The introduction Zipline Drones for medical supplies
o The announcement that Ghana was the first African country to implement Mobile money Interoperability between bank accounts and mobile wallets.
o The announcement that Ghana was the first African country to implement a Universal QR Code payment system
o The announcement that the Ghanacard to be used as a travel document for passengers traveling to Ghana from abroad
o No guarantor student loan policy with the Ghanacard
o The announcement that mobile money interoperability will make it possible for all adult Ghanaians to have a bank account
o The Free SHS policy
o The Free TVET policy
o The Digital Property Address System –
o Sinohydro Bauxite barter agreement
o One constituency one ambulance
o Zongo Development Fund
o Gold for oil program
o Creation of 2.1 million jobs in the last six years
o Construction of the Elmina Fishing Harbour
All these initiatives were pooh-pooed as impossible, but we stayed focused and made them possible. We are dealing politically with people with shackled mindsets who always think in terms of things being impossible to do.
When you try to move the country forward with new ideas, they mask their ignorance by mocking you, ridiculing you and calling you a liar. But in the process, they only expose their lack of understanding of the issues.
My response to them is to stay focused, not get angry but rather make it happen! That is the best victory you can have over the naysayers! Make what they think is impossible possible!
What we have been able to accomplish so far shows that it is possible for Ghana to achieve many things that some believe to be impossible.
With what we have done and continue doing in the wake of the global challenges, the outcome, thus far, points to an auspicious future.
We have been able to stay afloat the stormy global economic developments and kept our lights on without any threat of dumsor.
We have been able to ensure all year-round availability of diesel and petrol and no single Ghanaian had to queue for these essential products. We have never rationed food in our markets as a result of the global challenges.
And not a single government flagship social intervention programme, be it free SHS or free TVET, school feeding programme, teacher and nursing trainee allowances, and so on was truncated.
But rather, we have been able to introduce innovative ideas such as the Gold-4-Oil policy to get our exchange rate fairly stabilized and reduced fuel prices from a litre at about 23 cedis to about 12 cedis and reduced transport fares. Inflation rate has consequentially dropped from 54% to 45% and is estimated to end the year at around 25%.
The growth prospects of our economy are high and we have absolute trust and confidence that out mitigating measures will lead to a rebound in the economy to higher performances recorded in the pre-Covid era soon.
It is possible if we put our minds to it. We need to break the shackles of impossibility and embrace the mindset of possibility.
Ladies and Gentlemen, by the Grace of God:
➢ It is possible for Ghana to become an advanced and advanced modern nation based on systems and data. Data and technology are the new engines of growth.
➢ It is possible for Ghana to have food security through application of technology to commercial farming
➢ It is possible for Ghana to be the hub for and lead Africa in digitalization and innovation with over 90% internet penetration
➢ It is possible to maximize the benefits from our natural resources like gold and lithium
➢ It is possible for Ghana to become an industrialized nation.
➢ It is possible to create more jobs for the youth to reduce unemployment
➢ It is possible to empower the local business sector, including startups and SMEs to drive investment and growth in Ghana
➢ It is possible to sustainably stabilize the macroeconomy, have low interest rates and reduce the cost of living
➢ It is possible to have accessible energy security with
renewables.
➢ It is possible to eliminate or minimize corruption in the public sector
➢ It is possible to have a golden age of investment in the creative arts, tourism and sports.
➢ It is possible to build an inclusive education system for with a focus on STEM, AI, Robotics and skills development
IT IS POSSIBLE!
IT IS POSSIBLE!
IT IS POSSIBLE!
Thank you for your attention!
God bless you and
God Bless our homeland Ghana!
