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| “AGENDA FOR CHANGE: ONE YEAR UNDER PREZ-MILLS†|
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| Mon, Feb 8th 2010 |
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“AGENDA FOR CHANGE: ONE YEAR UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRESIDENT JOHN EVANS ATTA-MILLS”
Statement presented by Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom to the Media on January 14, 2010
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Media:
Introduction
As we are meeting for the first time this year, I wish all of you a happy and rewarding New Year. It is my hope that 2010 will offer many more positives, the type that improves the well-being of the pocket than what 2009, the year I consider “average” in many respects provided. Last year, 2009 was a year of reversals, stagnation and missed opportunities. No matter your political coloration, religious affiliation or ethnic origin, let us all have faith, hope and work together to pull our country back on track to higher growth, a higher standard of living and a deeper sense of social justice.
Thank you for accepting the invitation to attend another in the series of press conferences on change organized by my office. I wish to remind you that this press conference is part of an ongoing programme to promote change in our Ghanaian society.
Today, I will review the performance of the Mills Administration during its first year of office, 2009. This will be a review with a difference. This review is not set in the context of NPP versus NDC. I am not here to engage in a debate of the self-assessment done by President Mills on January 7th. I recall that Vice President John Mahama during the 2008 campaign called a comparison of the NPP and NDC records, “… an exercise in mediocrity”. I do not want to be part of any mediocre activity. I will talk about the positives and the negatives experienced in 2009 using specific topics and offer recommendations that will assist in getting to a Better Ghana. More important, this is to give you my assessment of how far the change promised in 2008 has reached. Let me say it upfront that I know that President Mills has four years to administer the affairs of this country.
That is why it is important that we continuously assess his performance and point him to the right direction when needed. This is the time for nation building and so it is the right time for me to make my contribution in this manner.
CPP’s Programme
I led the CPP as its flagbearer to the 2008 elections with the intention of competing to win power. So first, it is important that I use this opportunity to tell the nation what they would have experienced had the CPP won the elections to lead the Administration of our dear country. The following ten-point fast track agenda was promised by our party. You can tell that the CPP Agenda differs from that of the NDC. Besides, we promised to work with a sense of urgency to set the following in practical motion. We would like the people to compare what we offered to do within 150 days with what the Mills Administration has presented as its accomplishments in 365 days in office:
1. Improve Water Delivery: Meet with all stakeholders to find a short term and long- term solution to the problem and make public the solutions.
2. Rescue Tenants and Small Businesses from Greedy Landlords: Enforce existing laws and ensure that rent advance and other demands made by landlords are within the law. Start the process to amend the existing laws to make things easier for tenants across the country.
3. Improve Sanitation: Resolve disputes with all sanitation services providers and initiate long-term solution with the President leading by holding District/Municipal/Metropolitan Chief Executives accountable for keeping communities under their management clean.
4. Alleviate Youth Unemployment: Launch the Ghana Emergency Employment Program (GEEP) after an Employment Summit with stakeholders.
5. Improve Personal and Community Safety: Initiate action with leadership from the President and work with law enforcement agencies to prepare an action plan to be publicized and put into implementation.
6. Improve Energy Situation: Concentrate on short-term customer service improvements working with VRA, PURC, Energy Foundation and ECG; with the Ministry of Energy being directed to work on long-term solutions.
7. Improve our Ability to Finance Infrastructure and Development: Create a National Infrastructure Financing Authority and put in place a technical team to prepare the policies, procedures and financial arrangements necessary to get work started.
8. Accelerate Legislative Agenda: Start the process to ensure the passage of relevant laws dealing with Freedom of Information; Abolish Tax Exemption for President; Amend the constitution to separate parliamentarians from ministers; and amend the constitution to elect all local officials.
9. Bridging the North South Divide: Launch a plan to increase investments in the northern part of the country. Begin with a Northern Development Summit in Tamale.
10. Improve Public Sector Financial Management System: Launch guidelines for greater transparency and efficiency in the public sector.
These we intended to do within 150 days. We also had what was called the “Ten Point Agenda for Change You Can Feel in Your Pocket.” I have reproduced them as an attachment so that you can consider what Ghana would have been like under a CPP Administration led by me and also to serve as a reminder of our campaign of ideas. After reading our agenda, there will be no doubt in your mind that Ghana would have been a better country to live and work in under President Papa Kwesi Nduom.
Agenda for Change Context
I want to continue to encourage Ghanaians from all walks of life to be interested in promoting the implementation of fundamental change in our society so that our people can live a better life than they experienced in 2009.
In 2008, all the presidential candidates in the final weeks leading to the elections came around to talking about change of one type or the other. For the CPP, “Yeresesamu” was not just a slogan. It was an expression of the people’s disappointment in blame-game politics, winner-takes-all governance, mediocrity in government that breeds poverty in all its forms and a concentration of disproportionate power in the hands of one person, the President of the Republic among other important matters. The people’s desire for change is still there.
It was the embodiment of the need of our people to feel real change in all facets of our society. One thing I know for sure is that many Ghanaians farmers, fishermen, lawyers, business men and women, workers of all types, students all want change they can feel. A remarkable thing is happening all over the country. Everywhere I go, people from all walks of life come to me – drivers, teachers, labourers, carpenters, fishermen, traders – come to me shouting, “Yeresesamu, we want the change, next time!” Professionals and business people also come to me to confess that they now understand and appreciate the “…no blame game, we are where we are, use government’s purchasing power to help the Ghanaian and put power in the hands of the people message”. I often ask them, why they did not vote for the one who could deliver the change needed instead of voting for the one they felt could defeat the one they did not like. Is it a wonder why the people would ask for change one year after voting to take power from one political party to give it to a different one. The only answer can be that the implementation of the change they want has not taken off with a sense of urgency.
Assessment of Performance
I wish to do something different. There are some things about the Mills Administration that I liked in 2009. I liked the continued cool resolve of President Mills in the face of persistent and continued criticism from within his own party. In the financial arena, inflation has come down along with some small reduction in treasury bill rates. The President’s promise of low growth with stability and a reduced fiscal deficit was largely achieved. Though the cedi lost considerable value during the first half of the year, its value stabilized getting to the end of the year. I must commend the President for making good the promise to make September 21st a public holiday to honour the memory of the founder of the nation, the Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. The nation also felt some relief from the difficulties of life with the achievements of the Black Satellites in winning the world under 20 soccer competition. Along with the qualification of the Black Stars to play in the World Cup in South Africa and the Africa Cup, the nation had something to be cheerful about.
I like the decision to restore taxes on the importation of rice and cooking oil. I like the declaration by President Mills that he would be “…father for all”. Just a couple of days ago, President Mills inaugurated the Committee to review the 1992 Constitution and I was glad to note that the membership of the Committee is broad enough to promote credibility for its work. It is my hope that at long last, the implementation of the change agenda will start in earnest in 2010.
I have chosen ten areas to use in grading the performance of the President John Evans Atta-Mills led NDC Administration as follows:
1. Stability in Administration: President Mills has in the main been able to tolerate dissent, disagreement and expressions of disappointment from within the ranks of the NDC political party itself. The extent of internally-generated bad press, unprecedented in the fourth Republic particularly coming so early in the tenure of the President was quite disturbing. The President gets a grade of B for his tolerance of the disagreement. Recommendation: Many Ghanaians have sympathized with the President as they were alarmed at the direction some of the criticisms were coming from. However, he must in 2010 deal with the growing perception that he may be forced to waver on how to deal with national issues. If a perception of being “hen pecked” by his own people persists, he will not have peace of mind to govern the nation. Therefore, President Mills must make it publicly clear by his deeds, not words, that he is in charge, knows what he is doing and continues to have confidence in his people and the way forward. Otherwise, he may suffer an administrative coup which may render him ineffective and prematurely a figurehead.
2. Economy: In the handling of the economy, the performance of the Mills Administration gets an average grade of C. This is largely because the Administration set a low bar for performance by choosing to go back to the dictates of the IMF and the World Bank. This decision is what slowed down growth and led to the constant refrain of no money in the pocket in 2009.
By freezing public service employment, holding down wages and salaries and practicing austerity in public spending at the time other governments were doing a lot to stimulate domestic business activity, the Administration lost quite a bit of goodwill in the markets, lorry parks, farms and beaches throughout the country. Recommendation: The President must understand that it is the economy that matters. It is what gives room for education, infrastructure, health and social matters to get attention. He must realize this and also know that little or no growth brings social inequity and causes people to harbour discontent.
3. Oil & Gas: This is an area of major disappointment in 2009. The performance in this area gets a grade of D. It is so because President Mills has at his disposal oil and gas experts who have been in government before. This is the one area that I thought the President would hit the ground running in. Instead, it has been as if more attention has been spent looking for wrongdoing. I could be wrong about this but with the work done by the previous administration on legislation to govern the new oil and gas industry, I expected a more active engagement with the public on proposed legislation, priority spending and investment plans. Recommendation: A sense of urgency must be found to push government’s intentions on oil and gas including the critical items of local content and petrochemicals industry to the public arena. Greater transparency is needed here. Also, oil and gas discovery is a national asset, I agree. However, we must not cultivate a Niger Delta state of mind in the Western Region. We must learn from the injustices visited on Akwatia, Obuasi, Prestea, Tarkwa, Nsuta, Bibiani, Awaso and other towns where hundreds of millions of US dollars of natural resources have been taken to boost the economies of other countries.
4. Power and Petroleum: I chose to do my own survey of opinions of Ghanaians in these two areas and the President must listen to the voices of the people. The people say they are disappointed so much as to give the administration a below average grade.
Many people actually say that they can understand the issue of government not having adequate funds to take care of investments needed to improve services. But the people also say that they are simply tired of poor service in these areas. As a former Energy Minister I know of the need for over a billion US dollars to improve the transmission and distribution of power. But I do not understand the NDC/NPP blame game and grandstanding over crude oil procurement, deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector, TOR debt and other matters that led to shortages of product from time to time in 2009. Power outages and brown-outs along with the irritating performance of pre-paid electricity meters made 2009 uncomfortable for many.
5. Public Sector Reform: The Kufuor Administration downgraded public sector reform in 2007 which led to a slowdown in the pace of reforms. But the Mills Administration has made the situation worse by abolishing the Ministry of Public Sector Reform and making reforms a voluntary activity for Ministries, Departments and Agencies. Without strengthened public institutions and efficient processes, the nation will not achieve much. Recommendation: President Mills must create a Ministry for Public Service to make continuous change a national obsession.
6. Single Spine Salary Scheme: This is a critical matter with major consequences for the Administration and country as a whole. The new Salary Scheme should have been implemented in January 2009 but was set aside for the reconsideration of technical issues and for want of money to take care of potential salary increases. The truth of the matter is that the delay in implementation has more to do with objections raised about the wage bill by international finance agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank than will be admitted by the Administration. It also shows how little many know about the key objectives of this important public sector reform agenda item. The original program was to ensure equity, remove distortions and ensure equal pay for work of equal value. But we were also seeking cost reduction through stopping non-cash benefits. Recommendation: President Mills must take personal charge of this important yet potentially very dangerous promise of better pay package. It is a mine field that has to be negotiated well and not mandated. Civil Servants, Police, teachers and Prisons personnel in particular need to be given caring treatment to achieve equity and better pay. This is a time bomb in waiting that requires careful attention to diffuse.
7. Premix Fuel and the Fishing Industry: When it comes to the fishing industry, I give the Mills Administration a grade of F as in failure. This is one area and industry Candidate Mills, the NDC, and the CPP campaigned for specific change in. We all campaigned for change for government to remove its hands from the distribution of pre-mix fuel and reduce the price, deal with pair trawling, provide cheaper source of fishing inputs and deal with the poverty levels in the fishing communities. Unfortunately, members of the Mills Administration have put government and politicians back in front and middle of pre-mix fuel distribution. Recommendation: President Mills must give instructions to NDC party officials and Ministry of Food & Agriculture officials and those connected with pre-mix fuel production and distribution to leave this product in the hands of the fishermen and women and those companies licensed to distribute petroleum products in the country. Government must put its energies into ensuring the timely availability of pre-mix fuel and other fishing inputs at subsidized prices.
8. Kosmos/EO Group Versus Government of Ghana: I was Minister of Energy when the agreement between the Government of Ghana and Kosmos/EO Group was signed. I traveled to Equatorial Guinea three times to learn firsthand what Kosmos and other American companies had done to develop the oil and gas industry in that country. I am not here to provide proof that nothing was done by anyone that could have contravened our laws. I know that a lot of effort was made to serve the nation’s interest by finding credible people to look for oil and gas. We must be careful as a country how we deal with the matter.
Government has a right to investigate Kosmos, EO Group etc. but how it is done matters a lot as we enter this new industry where the perception in the world is that governments in power particularly in Africa and the former Soviet Union will do any and everything to bring down its opponents and get its own hands on oil and gas wealth for personal and political purposes. Recommendation: President Mills must ensure that whatever investigation is done about the Kosmos/EO Group is done professionally and behind closed doors and only bring well-vetted conclusions out into the public domain.
9. Opportunity for the Ghanaian Private Sector: Ghanaian enterprises are waiting for the change promised in the form of state support, contracts and a market for their products and services. The high cost of money in 2009 coupled with the Cedi’s loss of value in the first half of the year put many Ghanaian enterprises in a precarious position. No stimulus package was implemented to help domestic enterprises cope with the changing global environment. Add to this the fact that many local contractors did not get paid last year, the real position then becomes clear that 2009 was a difficult year for the Ghanaian private sector. Recommendation: No country has achieved prosperity without growth and prosperity of the domestic private sector. If President Mills wants a “Better Ghana”, he must work out a package to improve the competitiveness of the domestic private sector. This should include access to lower cost credit and the use of government’s purchasing power.
10. “Father for ALL”: When President Mills proclaimed to the nation that he would be father for all, I applauded very loudly. Change, I thought was on the horizon. Then the noises started. The NDC foot soldiers had to be taken care of we were told. The boys and girls needed to be fed. Some of us urged the President to resist the temptation and lead by making change happen in the way we treat our own people by providing opportunity for all Ghanaians. Unfortunately, the need to meet the needs of party people won in 2009 over the needs of rest of the people. Recommendation: I did not come up with the father for all principle. President Mills coined that phrase by himself.
He must deal with it positively and make all of us feel the change that will make every Ghanaian feel welcome and needed in his or her own country.
I have used these ten items for my assessment. But I want you to know that the major change elements we need in Ghana are public sector reform including pay reform or single spine salary scheme; aggressive implementation of the pension act to bring long term money into the system to support local enterprises; the implementation and use of the National Identification System to bring discipline into the country and our way of life; and ensuring the oil and gas find leads to the transformation of our economy from raw material production to industrialization that brings greater value and delivers better paying jobs to Ghanaians.
Conclusion
The performance of the Atta-Mills Administration on a change barometer in 2009 fell below average in timeliness, sense of urgency and delivery of positive results. We are waiting for the NDC Administration to use another year of opportunity to implement change. When the change train moves, there are many who will be happy to encourage it to be swift and secure. If the President misses the opportunity, the people will have to wait until after 2012 to get the change we all need.
Thank you for your attention.
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