Sweet in the mouth - Bitter in the belly
If general elections are like football matches, it will be proper to write that the NDC trounced the NPP on December 7. Even before the Electoral Commissioner declared the winner of the presidential election, HE. Dr Bawumia conceded and congratulated his opponent, HE. John Mahama.
Undoubtedly, the concession speech was sweet in the mouth of Dr. Bawumia but bitter in the belly.
The NDC’s victory is so sweet in the mouth. HE John Dramani Mahama was sober when he addressed the NDC leadership and members. He said that “we would be initiating important government reforms, and sometimes initiate severe measures in the next four years to reset our nation and bring it back on track as the Black star of Africa.” The president was projecting optimism while acknowledging hard times ahead. I will describe this attitude as ‘schizophrenic optimism’.
Notwithstanding, the hard times ahead, president Mahama will form his government with overwhelming parliamentary majority. Whatever bill he presents to parliament will be passed easily. The NDC must guard against arrogance and use its majority in parliament to pass laws that will benefit the people. It is worth reminding President Mahama that he has 4 years to ‘reset’ Ghana. The last time, he was in power, the nation was in darkness for a very long time and the people did not forget dumsor. If there is a lesson, politicians must learn from the December 7 general and presidential election, it is that politicians can no longer take the people for a ride. The time of platitudes have passed.
So, in the next four years, Ghanaians will hold the NDC to the fire to fulfil their commitments to provide over four billion cedis to help the youth of Ghana. HE John Mahama had said that “a 24-hour economy will enable one job to be shared across three shifts and employ three persons, providing job opportunities for three workers instead of one. The nation awaits to see how the ‘24 hour economy’ policy will drive economic growth, improve service delivery, and create jobs in both the public and private sectors.
In this article, I make few suggestions to President Mahama. Firstly, our best assets are water and land. Mr. President must tackle the illegal mining and destruction of our water bodies as a matter of priority. If we are going to prosper as a nation, we must respect our water bodies and use our land to produce more food. The government must acquire vast land by executive instrument and by policy provide state farms in every region to plant food. This will reduce street hawking and migration to the large cities.
Secondly, the government must invest in road construction and maintenance. Good roads are essential for business and economic growth. Road construction will provide jobs for every class of persons from technicians, digital designers, engineers to manual labourers.
Thirdly, germane to the ‘24-hour economy’ would be effective security and public safety. We need street lights for legitimate night time business. Street lights depend on the supply of electricity.
Fourthly, any discussion on the initiation of ‘important government reforms and severe measures’ must seriously include the reformation of the judiciary. The president must lead the process of placing term limits on the Supreme Court judges. It is also essential to safeguard the judiciary from over-packaging of judges on the Supreme Court by presidents. Currently, there’s no limit. So the number of judges on the Supreme Court may go up to exaggerative fifty. Parliament can legislate to cap the number of Supreme Court judges.
Fifthly, the president knows that the people voted for him because of his simple message to deal with the rising cost of living. “Mr. President, please tackle the rising cost of building materials.”
Finally, the NDC government must give equitable attention to import duty on used cars into the country. It appears that, given, the amount of revenue generated from import duty on used cars, all governments since the PNDC regime to today have supported the legitimacy of thievery. Ghana is one country where the government by legislation overvalues the price of used cars for taxation purposes. For example, a Ghanaian living in Germany buys a 7 years old Mitsubishi Outlander 2.2 for €7000 from a reputable dealer. He has a genuine receipt. He ships the car to Ghana. When the car arrives in Ghana, Customs will not accept the genuine receipt of €7000. Customs will value that car at the delivery market value of €29000 and depreciate it by 50% if the car is over 5 years old. So, this person will be paying duty on €14500. Meanwhile, he bought the car for €7000. Everyone knows that it is illegal to undervalue the price of a product to avoid paying the right import duty. So, the question is why is it legal for the government to overvalue a car to attract more duty from citizens? The reason why used cars are very expensive in Ghana is because of over valuation of cars for duty purposes. So, if we want the price of used cars to be affordable, it is important the we have a fair system.
In the aforementioned paragraphs, I have made five suggestions to the president elect to consider. I have done so, not oblivious that currently, the NPP is handing over to the NDC low productivity, workers’ demand for more money, weak cedi, high inflation, the demise of our waterbodies, and the stiff IMF conditions imposed on Ghana. So, coming December 11, when the transition teams begin to work, president Mahama will inherit an economic situation worse than that faced by any government since 1992. The NDC government will direct its attack against the NPP for catastrophic economic failure. We will forever hear that Nana Addo and Bawumia bequeathed to John Mahama a very bad economy.
The question facing the incoming NDC government even as they celebrate their victory is whether they have identified versions of the underlying institutional failures, both in the state machine and the wider economy. Even so, president Mahama will face the same challenges of the NPP to spend more from less resources. From the free SHSS to road construction and schools, every part of the public sector is demanding more money. Whatever the NDC on the campaign trail told Ghanaians, the truth of the matter is that there is no magic wand to generate more revenue. And in conditions of profound economic failure, and with the cedi performing very badly against the dollar, spending increases will have to be met by at least some tax rises.
Ghanaians have short memories.
Any attempt by Mahama to increase taxes will be met with skepticism. The grave risk to the NDC’s programme is that its condemnation of the NPP will fade very fast in government without money to back manifesto promises. So, the joy of winning the 2024 parliamentary and presidential election could be sweet in the mouth but bitter in the belly.
Source: Pastor Ebenezer Jones-Lartey
The author is a retired minister in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. He holds a degree in law and is interested in human rights law.
