PROMOTING CHANGE THROUGH CONTINUITY

The charge by President John Evans Atta Mills last Thursday to his economic management team to “evaluate” the manifestos of other political parties to include the aspirations of all sections of the population in the budget statement and fiscal policy of the country is in tune with his pledge to tap into the competence of all Ghanaians irrespective of their political affiliations.
The Daily Graphic is delighted that the NDC administration recognises the realities of our times especially judging from the close nature of the last elections and has demonstrated its preparedness to work with competent people regardless of their beliefs.
What we gather from this initiative by the government is its readiness to pursue change that recognises the need to factor in the good things of the past. This continuity in the changing environment must give hope to all that the Mills administration will engage all sectors in building a better society.
For ideological reasons governments in the past discontinued certain development projects despite the fact that the Directive Principles of State Policy enjoin successive governments to continue with development initiatives that benefit the people.
It is heartwarming that the new administration has sent the right signals to Ghanaians that some of the policies of the previous regime, such as the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme will not be abolished and that the challenges confronting these initiatives will be looked at with the view to enhancing them for the benefit of society.
Our attempt to reshape the economy will be a daunting task because of challenges ahead, but they are not insurmountable. With the right policy initiatives, Ghanaians will bond together to confront the challenges head-on so that collectively we may pursue the objectives of attaining a middle-income status within the next decade.
The expectations of Ghanaians are high as a result of the social contract that Prof. Mills signed with the people during the electioneering and the hope that change in government will also come with a change in their lifestyles.
The outcome of the outreach at Akosombo properly sets the tone for good things to come. The pedigree of the personalities in the economic management team is not in doubt and we expect them to study the national economic situation carefully vis-à-vis the global outlook and release a budget statement and fiscal policy that will break the back of our underdevelopment.
Far from proposing the adoption of autarky, the economic blueprint of the Mills’ administration should focus on raising funding from internal sources. Our precarious reliance on donors and the international community for support is not the best, although we recognise that in the globalised world we cannot delink our plans from those of the rest of the world.
Nonetheless, it will be more dignifying to task all Ghanaians to play their part by working hard in any field of endeavour to halt the decay in the system and end our dependency on donors, whose assistance comes with conditionalities that disregard our social and traditional values.
This support mechanism from the donor communities will demand that we institute measures for cost recovery in social sectors such as education, health, and agriculture, although these are sectors that are heavily subsidised in the advanced societies.
Let us tailor any economic plans to suit our circumstances so that safety nets can be provided for the vulnerable in society.