Sustainability of National Development Requires Upgrade, Reset, Restore & Restructuring: Razak Kojo Opoku
The current State of Ghana requires a combination of an Upgrade, Reset, Restore and Restructuring of all the sectors of the economy including majority of unprofitable, counterproductive and redundant policies and programmes.
Comprehensive sustainability of national development is achieved through continuous improvement of good policies coupled with Upgrade, Review, Reset and discontinue of policies.
Some policies and programmes such as Free SHS Policy, One District One Factory, One Constituency One Ambulance, Digital Economy (Digitization & Digitalization), Roads & Infrastructure etc. called for an UPGRADE of such policies and programmes.
Cronyism (appointment of large number of family & friends to serve in government), nepotism, favouritism, winner-takes-it-all, unnecessary undermining of private businesspersons, corruption, nuisance taxes (including E-levy), galamsey (illegal mining), youth unemployment, National Cathedral construction, Unprecedented National Debt, Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, activities of the Bank of Ghana, Downgrade of Ghana’s Credit Ratings etc. called for RESETTING.
Good governance, accountability, proper Rule of Law, Discipline, Non-interference of State Institutions, Integrity of the judiciary, good moral values, fundamental human rights, tolerance of divergent views, Absolute Independence of the Media etc. called for RESTORATION.
The economic architecture or structure of Ghana seriously called for RESTRUCTURING aimed at addressing the fundamentals of the economy including the macroeconomic, microeconomic, fiscal and monetary policies of the Government. The fast depreciation of the Cedi coupled with high interest rates, unstable inflation rates and higher debt-to-GDP ratio called for Restructuring of the economy of Ghana.
Where Ghana has reached, we cannot use upgrade alone or reset alone to further develop the country for the greater good of all or greater majority of the citizens.
We cannot upgrade the bad policies and programmes of Akufo-Addo’s government and that of the previous governments, especially Mahama’s administration.
We cannot also reset all the excellent policies and programmes of Akufo-Addo’s government and that of the previous governments, especially Mahama’s administration.
There is the need to upgrade & restore the good policies/programmes, and reset & restructure the bad policies/programmes of the current and previous governments.
For instance, in June 2020, the World Economic Forum(WEF) launched the GREAT RESET INITIATIVE aimed at facilitating the rebuilding from the global COVID-19 crisis in a way that prioritizes Sustainable Development. The Great Reset Initiative covered three major objectives namely:
- creating conditions for a “stakeholder economy”.
- building in a more “resilient, equitable and sustainable” way, utilizing environmental, social and governance(ESG) metrics.
- Harnessing the innovations of the 4th Industrial Revolution.
It is quite challenging pinpointing exactly the POLICY ANCHORS of NDC’s ‘Resetting Ghana’ agenda.
How do we reset Ghana without policy anchors and economic framework enshrined in your Manifesto?
24-hour economy is good for an upgrade of economy not resetting economy.
How do we upgrade Ghana without first of all paying the necessary attention to the restructuring of the economy?
How do you wholistically upgrade Ghana without making Ghanaians know your concrete & detail policy-synergies of Macro-Model of Corporate Entrepreneurship & innovations and Micro Model Enterprises?
How do you implement the Great Transformational Plan without an Upgrade, Reset, Restore and Restructuring? The 10 Pillars of Great Transformational Plan(GTP) is not detailed enough to address the multi-demensional problems of the national and local economies of Ghana.
As for the smaller parties and over 20 independent presidential candidates, almost all of them do not have any superior intellectual policy document for the socioeconomic transformation of Ghana. They are only behaving as “attacking dogs” and acting as interest-driven pressure groups in our democracy.
Not every policy or programme needs RESET.
Not every policy or programme requires UPGRADE.
Some policies and programmes in fact need OUTRIGHT DELETIONS or DISCONTINUATION with immediate effect from 8th January, 2025.
