IMANI’s Pre-Election Report : Whoever wants to win Election 2016 must pay attention (III)
Restricting Solar providers
It is expected that the existing restrictions that insist on solar providers having to register before practising their trade does not bode well for ease of entry into business, which means that favoured companies could easily corrupt what is a crucial space.
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An open approach will ensure that cheaper and newer technologies in alternative energy would be explored and the marketability and suitability of these will become the right competitive advantages to build up such a nascent but crucial sector that could potentially fill the gaps in national grid energy shortfalls.
Perhaps, a local model that has been able to discharge this via beneficial private-public approach is the Community Water and Sanitation model which involves both private and public stakeholders in the provision of rural water. Such a model could easily be adapted to run alternative and renewable energy solutions.
Countries like Germany, Norway and quite a few states in the United States have been able to promote solar and other alternative sources of energy to the extent that they have surpluses.
These require huge capital expenditure but do not require the same amount of expenditure to maintain over their lifetimes, as well as the fact that they are sustainable, clean and green. Without opening up the private sector and municipalities to engage in such, the nation might lose on such a cheaply available raw material for renewable energy.
Agriculture
Sadly, in the last few years, this sector has been viewed almost like an abandoned orphan in the focus of government-related activity. Just over 50 per cent of the nation’s labour force relies directly on agriculture for livelihood, yet over the past three years, however, it is alarming to note that the annual contribution of agriculture to GDP has reduced by over 12 per cent since 2009. This means that farmers are earning less from the practice of agriculture.
Cocoa trees are already growing very old, and more are below peak production levels, yet new cocoa seedlings are not meeting the right level of demand to replace older trees. Very little has been done to energise and assist small-scale farmers and boost food sufficiency in Ghana. Over GH¢25 million was wasted in the form of agricultural assistance to farmers via the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), and while the loss has been written off due to drought, it is interesting that California, a state in the United States, with its worst drought in 1,200 years, still is able to produce ALMOST at the same levels.
At the same time, a bulk of agriculture- based spending has been on poverty reduction strategies. These will never be productive as the focus on agriculture should be more on a drive to increased production and mechanisation, and not just mere poverty reduction. Between January and September 2015, for example, 90 per cent of the actual expenditure in agriculture was for poverty-based programmes.
A rather more businesslike approach to agro-based policy is very important to keep agriculture afloat and not gain marginal increases in growth annually, considering its very important position in the national narrative.
This will require programmes that are centred on motivation for increased mechanisation, more scientific methods and a growth and export-driven philosophy. It is surprising, for instance, that out of 180,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer required for the subsidy programme in 2015, only 90,000 was distributed. This shows a poor attitude towards yield improvement measures that would rather be more cost-effective and business focused.
A better way will be cross-sector facilitation between the ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Agriculture to see agriculture more as a fuel for local small-scale industrialisation and not just poverty alleviation. Private sector players could then be incentivised for investments in the sector in areas with good growth prospects. This can fuel the micro-level industrialisation as well as energise that part of the raw material feed as part of that ecosystem for food sufficiency, export activity and agro-based industrial growth.
Social Policy
Income levels of most economically active Ghanaians are low. A major characteristic of past Ghanaian governments has been one of promising, and in some cases, delivering myriad social interventions aimed at poverty alleviation, among other pressing issues that ail the common Ghanaian.
Of the major promises that Ghanaians have listened to over the years, issues related to stipends for the poor, like the LEAP, school-feeding project, stability and sustainability of health insurance and other related mother and child issues still remain paramount. Most Ghanaians have gained directly or indirectly from most of these schemes, and will expect subsequent governments to improve on these offerings, especially in the areas of education and health, which constitute expenditures that most disposable incomes at the family level are spent on.
In the light of the huge budget expenditure on education, and the subsequent haemorrhaging of the national kitty just to keep social interventions alive, it will be very interesting to see how support of activities like school feeding and other higher stake interventions are handled.
Clear examples of such failures and the flagrant wastage of funds are the GYEEDA, SADA and more recently the scandals at National Service Secretariat and the implementation of several National Youth programmes like Youth Enterprise Agency and others. There has been no metric to clearly identify their significance and value for investment. Social programs have to have measurable outcomes and have to be treated like all other investments, with valuations on resource inputs to clearly determine whether the outcomes provide value for money.
Gender and Inequalities
One of the most encouraging points around the issue of gender is that of the near parity of enrolment of girl children in primary schools, which is in tandem with SDG benchmarks and targets. However, there is still a lot of inequality around wages in the informal sector, which engages 80 per cent of Ghana’s labour force. From 1991/92 to 2013, the share of women in wage employment in non-agricultural sectors was still no more than 30.5 per cent, which is just an improvement of 0.7 per cent from 1991/92. This is a very disappointing development which shows that despite a lot of awareness of rights of women, economically, they might not be any better off than they were in aggregate terms in the early 90s.
Perhaps this trend also reflects in disappointing metrics when maternal mortality issues are investigated. While Sustainable Development Goals established that by 2015 maternal mortality should be in the range of 54 deaths per 100,000 live births, the figure is still three times that of a 2015 rate of 164 deaths per 100,000 live births. When women are poorer, they are unable to independently take care of their maternal health issues even with the intervention of programmes like the National Health insurance scheme, as the healthcare factors are a composite of different economic and social factors. Increased income levels however empower women to solve some of these problems related to anaemia, nutrition, basic ante-natal care and adherence to medication and diet instructions as well as easy access to healthcare facilities.
It is indeed disheartening to note for example that women’s healthcare issues are still not a national focus; over 40 per cent of Ghanaian women are anaemic. Juxtaposed with child mortality rates for under 1 and under 5 children, it is evident that there is a very strong correlation between women’s well-being and major social issues related to their nutrition, welfare and vulnerable infants.
Income inequalities are on the micro scale biting very hard on Ghanaians because of the deformalised nature of the economy, and the fact that over 80 per cent of the economy is not a formal one. While poverty reduction goals have been met, poor wage and work conditions mean that there isn’t enough protection against able-bodied people who enter the job market. This can only perpetuate the status quo and make it very difficult for the poverty barrier to be crossed easily, as self-improvement and skills training will have to give way for basic survival.
District and rural authorities should be able to develop the capacity of the informal sector to improve earning capacity of their constituents through engagement of transparent stakeholders for skills development, money management and the creation of cottage industries to help with self-sufficiency and market access for products with added value.
Summary Points
Child Mortality
Maternal Mortality
Skills Development Programs
Stakeholder Engagement
Nutrition and Health
Support for Informal Business Models
Protection of informal businesses
Micro-level poverty reduction activities
INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENT
Infrastructural Development has been a major election expectation since the birth of the nation. As one of the most obvious legacies of a government or regime, they have been at the core of most manifestoes. The current ruling government in its Green Book lists multiple infrastructural developments from roads, bridges, sports facilities and other such related activity as their contribution to the infrastructure stock of this country.
Most governments in Ghana are hailed the most for their addition to the stock on infrastructure, and it is high on every voter’s list. Particularly, estimates by the Finance Minister in November 2015 posited that Ghana needs to spend at least US$1.5 Billion annually in order to address some of the infrastructure deficit. This is plenty to go in in terms of expectations.
Critical in this sector will be the creation and expansion of routes that link agriculturally productive areas of the hinterlands to urban and peri-urban markets, which would then open up such areas for more aggressive agro-based activity. Processing and low level manufacturing could also be assisted in the hinterlands by better road networks, which open up such areas for more commercial activity.
Many voted officials, especially at the parliamentary level bear the brunt of the dissatisfaction of voters by losing their seats at election time.
Disappointingly neglible railway lines have been added to the existing line since independence. The expansion of the bigger urban enclaves, Accra, Kumasi and Takoradi, show clearly that an intra-metropolitan railway system will easily assist in the movement of people and goods in and around the cities in a more predictable manner, while easing road congestion. What remains to be seen is the commitment to the expansion of railways.
In the wake of recent scandals where monies for the advancement of railways rather got diverted into the branding of buses, it would have been very important for policymakers to have fully showcased how much equivalent investments into railways would have benefitted the nation. However, the focus shown on railways has been very negligible by most of the parties, hence not presenting itself as a factor “sexy” enough to command the attention of voters. A sure winner in the discussions around infrastructure will be a very solid and actionable rai