GHANA’S NEXT CHAPTER: SELFLESS LEADERSHIP AND BOLD SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE By DR. MAHAMUDU BAWUMIA VICE-PRESIDENT, AND NPP PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, REPUBLIC OF GHANAUNIVERSITY OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES (UPSA) 7TH FEBRUARY 2024
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Three months ago, I was elected as leader and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to lead the party into the 2024 Elections. I am eternally grateful to His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, for giving me the opportunity to serve as Vice-President.
Just 11 days ago, the party also completed its election- of parliamentary candidates for 2024 elections. Let me use this opportunity to also appreciate the leadership and grassroots of our beloved party, the NPP, for the seamless organization of the Parliamentary Primaries following on the equally successful Presidential contest.
I believe the time has now come for me to speak to you, the good people of Ghana, about my candidature, what we have experienced as a nation, my vision and priorities, and why I believe I am the best candidate for the presidency of this country in the 2024 Presidential election.
I recognize that submitting myself to your service, the electorate, to vote for me as President, is no different from interviewing for a job. One needs to tell a prospective employer what he has accomplished in his previous job, and how he can successfully deliver in the new position he is seeking. Which is what I seek to do in this speech. Even though tonight is about sharing my vision and policy priorities with you, I crave your indulgence to broadly set up the context. I will first talk about the record of our government and my contribution as Vice President, before laying out my vision.
So I ask for your patience.
Ladies and Gentlemen, when we assumed office in 2017, we were confronted with an economy with declining economic growth along with several problems and challenges. A graphic description of the state of the economy at the time was provided by the former President and my main opponent for the 2024 presidential election, who announced to the nation when he was President that all the meat was finished and the economy was left with bones. Notwithstanding the difficult economy we inherited, we had to get on with it and start to fix the problems.
We started with a clear, decisive and deliberate program to, among other things, stabilize the economy, fix dumsor, fix the NHIS, fix the roads, clear the arrears, make education free and accessible, significantly enhance social protection for the vulnerable in society, industrialize our economy, tackle youth unemployment and empower farmers. Between 2017-19 all the key economic indicators such as economic growth, agricultural growth, industry growth inflation, interest rates, fiscal deficit, exchange rate depreciation, and trade balance were moving in the right direction.
However, between 2020 and 2022, we experienced severe challenges, triggered by the pandemic which brought the world and our country to a thundering halt. We may be tired of hearing it but there is no avoiding the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russia-Ukraine war, resulted in the greatest economic depression in the world since the 1930s, with most countries recording negative GDP growth. The severity, especially of the Pandemic, was captured in the words of the IMF Managing Director then thus:
“this is a crisis like no other…Pandemics don’t respect borders, neither do the economic shocks they cause. The outlook is dire. We expect global economic activity to decline on a scale we have not seen since the Great Depression.”
Supply chain disruptions and the rising price of oil resulted in major increases in the prices of fuel, freight and food across the globe.
I believe it is worth pointing out that in addition to the external factors, there were two major items of expenditure that are critical to understanding the difficult economic situation we have faced. And these are, the banking sector cleanup and the energy sector excess capacity payments. The three items (including Covid-19 expenditure) cumulatively amounted to GHC50.1 billion and this was financed from borrowing.
The fiscal deficit which was reduced from 8.4% in 2016 to 4.1% by 2019 increased to 10.8% in 2020 (as a result of revenue declines in the midst of increasing expenditiures). In addition, our debt became unsustainable. Along with many emerging market economies, Ghana lost access to international capital market financing. This resulted in a balance of payments crisis as Ghana had to continue to honour its debt service obligations, energy payments and the import bill. We faced a serious global and domestic economic crisis.
There were many who predicted that we were going to end up like the situation in Sri Lanka with fuel shortages, food shortages, inability to pay workers, dumsor, anarchy and chaos. Indeed, Ghanaians were hit by rising food prices, increased exchange rate depreciation, rising fuel prices, rising transport fares. Bond holders also saw a sharp decline in their net worth following the debt restructuring program. We faced very challenging times. But with calm leadership and the support and understanding of the good people of Ghana, we weathered the storm. The government had to seek IMF support to stabilize our economy and restore fiscal and debt sustainability over the next three years.
I must salute and give particular recognition to the Bank of Ghana, which has come under unfair criticism for taking the necessary measures which helped pull the economy back from the brink. The central bank provided needed financing to the Government at that critical moment. What the Bank of Ghana did was very responsible, in putting the interest of the good citizens of Ghana first.
The data available shows that the financing provided to Government by the Bank of Ghana was temporary. The Bank of Ghana has provided zero financing to Government in five out of the last seven years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023). The Bank of Ghana financing to government in the COVID-19 year of 2020 and liquidity crisis year of 2022 was because of a domestic and global crisis (underperforming domestic revenue and no access to international capital markets).
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The good news is that the data shows that the economy is recovering from the crisis we faced. Inflation has declined from 54% in January to 23% in December 2023. Economic growth is rebounding, spending is under control with the fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP has declined from 10.8% in 2020 to
4.2% in 2023. The debt to GDP ratio, after increasing from
61.2% in 2019 to 76.6% in 2021 has declined to 66.4% in 2023. And exchange rate depreciation has also slowed down sharply since February 2023, Whereas the exchange rate depreciated by 30% in 2022, between February and December 2023, it only depreciated by 9%.
What is remarkable is that notwithstanding the domestic and global crisis that we have experienced between 2020 and 2022, the economic performance as measured by the key economic indicators (such as GDP growth, Agricultural growth, industry growth, Trade Balance, Exchange rate depreciation, lending rates, Gross international reserves and jobs) is better than that of the 2013-2016 period when there was no global crisis. Let me give some examples:
GDP Growth
16. On GDP growth, it is worth noting that between 20132016, Ghana’s GDP growth averaged 3.9%. During our first term (2017-2020) GDP growth increased to an average of 5.3%. Following COVID-19 and the global slowdown, Ghana’s GDP growth declined to an average of 4.9% between 2017 and 2022. What is remarkable about this performance is that notwithstanding the global economic crisis from COVI-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, economic growth under our government is still stronger on average than under the 20132016 era preceding our coming into office.
Agricultural Growth
17. The stronger GDP growth performance in the 2017-2022 period is underpinned by a strong agricultural GDP growth which increased from an average of 2.9% between 2013-2016 to an average of 6% (double) between 2017 and 2022. We have made a lot of progress in agriculture even though there is more to be done. Rice imports for example have declined by 45% (from 805,000MT to 440,000MT) between 2021 and 2023! The goal is to be a net exporter of rice by 2028. It is clear that some of our policy interventions such as planting for food and jobs have born fruits.
18. Industrial GDP growth also followed a similar trend. After averaging 3.3% between 2013 and 2016, industrial growth increased to an average of 7.5% between 2017 and 2020. Industrial Growth however declined after the global crisis with a recorded average growth rate of 5% between 2017 and 2022. Again, what is remarkable about this performance is that notwithstanding the global economic crisis from COVI-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war, industrial growth under our government is still stronger on average than under the 20132016 era. Our programs and policies such as the revival of Anglogold Ashanti (Obuasi mine), revival of Ghana Publishing Company, revival of Ghanapost, revival of State Housing Corporation, revival of State Transport Corporation, IDIF, and the attraction of international automobile companies to Ghana, amongst others have clearly yielded positive results. The Ministry of Trade reports that under IDIF, 169 factories
are currently in operation and 152 factories are under construction. 211 out of the total of 321 (66%) are new projects whist 110 companies are existing projects being supported.
19. Ghana’s trade balance (the difference between exports and imports) prior to 2017 was in persistent deficit (for best part of 30 years!). Between 2013 and 2016 the trade deficit averaged $2.5 billion. The trade balance improved significantly to a surplus that averaged $1.8 billion between 2017 and 2020. Notwithstanding the global crisis, Ghana has continued to record a trade surplus which has averaged $1.9 billion between 2017 and 2022, a better performance than in the 2013-2016 period when there was no global crisis. This is evidence that we have indeed increased productivity and exports relative to imports.
Trade Balance
19. Ghana’s trade balance (the difference between exports and imports) prior to 2017 was in persistent deficit (for best part of 30 years!). Between 2013 and 2016 the trade deficit averaged $2.5 billion. The trade balance improved significantly to a surplus that averaged $1.8 billion between 2017 and 2020. Notwithstanding the global crisis, Ghana has continued to record a trade surplus which has averaged $1.9 billion between 2017 and 2022, a better performance than in the 2013-2016 period when there was no global crisis. This is evidence that we have indeed increased productivity and exports relative to imports.
Gross International Reserves
20. Ghana’s gross international reserves also increased from an average of $5.8 billion in the 2013-2016 period to an average of $7.9 billion between 2017 and 2022.
21. On the performance of the cedi exchange rate, it is interesting to note that between 2013 and 2016 the cedi depreciated by an average of 17.7%. Between 2017 and 2020 there was a significant decline in the cedi depreciation to an average of 7.5%. The average cedi depreciation further declined to 6.8% between 2017 and 2021. However, following the 30% depreciation of the cedi in 2022, the average cedi depreciation between 2017 and 2022 is 10.75%. So again, notwithstanding the domestic and global economic crisis, the depreciation of the cedi under our government is lower than what we inherited from the 2013-2016 period.
22. In the area of Bank lending rates, the story is the same. Bank lending rates averaged 27.5% between 2013 and 2016. During our first term, average bank lending rates declined to 23.7%. Following the global and domestic crisis, bank lending rates increased slightly to an average of 25% between 2017 and 2022. Even though bank lending rates increased to 35% in 2022, on average interest rates have been lower in the 2017-2022 period.
Interest Rates
22. In the area of Bank lending rates, the story is the same. Bank lending rates averaged 27.5% between 2013 and 2016. During our first term, average bank lending rates declined to 23.7%. Following the global and domestic crisis, bank lending rates increased slightly to an average of 25% between 2017 and 2022. Even though bank lending rates increased to 35% in 2022, on average interest rates have been lower in the 2017-2022 period.
JOBS
What is probably the most remarkable development in terms of the economy is that our government has created 2.1million jobs between 2017 and 2022 notwithstanding the global economic crisis. The public sector recruited 1.2 million people while the private sector created 975,000 jobs (per SSNIT data) . We recruited 100,000 more health workers, 100,000 more teachers, more than doubled the fire service personnel, etc. Our government has quite clearly created more jobs in a seven year period than any government. This is truly remarkable under the circumstances even though we still have to create more jobs.
Clearly notwithstanding the economic crisis, this government has been able to steer the ship of the nation away from catastrophe. In the face of the crisis, the overall performance of the economy in areas such as GDP Growth, agricultural growth, industrial growth, trade balance, gross international reserves and job creation demonstrated resilience.
Available data also shows that notwithstanding the challenging economy we inherited, and the global economic crisis that ensued, government has chalked a large number of achievements across the country. Due to time constraints I will not be able to enumerate all these achievements. However, government will soon outdoor our Performance Tracker which details all of our achievements in every sector and every district in Ghana. I will just name a few:
Undertaken a major roads construction and rehabilitation program across the country (over 11,674 Km according to the Ministry of roads and highways). I am not aware of any government that has done as much in the roads sector since independence.
We have initiated or overseen the construction/rehabilitation of more railways than any other government since 1992 ( Achimota-Nsawam, Accra-Tema,
Kojokrom-Tarkwa, Kojokrom – Manso, Tema-Mpakadan)
We have extended more rural telephony network than any other government since 1992 (increasing from 78 sites to 1008 sites)
Constructed more public libraries than any other government since 1992. We have increased the total number of public libraries from 61 in 2017 to 115 by 2023.
We have established 702 cyberlabs in public schools and 81 communities since 2017.
Constructed more fish landing sites than any other government since 1992(Axim, Dixcove, Moree, Mumford,
Winneba, Senya Breku, Gomoa Fetteh, Teshie, Keta, Osu,
Ekumfi, Mfantseman)
We have constructed two major fishing harbours in Elmina and James Town (almost complete).
We have completed 18 district hospitals, two regional hospitals, 20 polyclinics, and 75 CHPS compounds. We are also
in the process of building more district hospitals than any other government since independence under Agenda 111
We have constructed more sanitation facilities than any other government since 1992. As a result, we have increased the proportion of the population with access to toilet facilities from 33% in 2016 to 59% in 2022. Also, 5,400 communities have also been declared open-defecation free since 2017.
Constructed more sports facilities than any other government since 1992. We have completed six new multipurpose sports stadiums, and four on-going in each of the ten old regions, completed the University of Ghana Stadium in Legon, built multi-sports facilities at Borteyman for the African Games, as well as increased public astro turf in Ghana from 3 in 2016 to over 150 now, with many on-going.
Provided more vehicles and equipment (including boats and helicopters) to the security services than any other government since 1992 and we will continue to prioritize national security going forward.
We have constructed more infrastructure and implemented more development policies in the zongo communities than any other government since 1992. The Zongo Development Fund has completed over 200 infrastructure projects.
Abolished the 3 month arrears policy for teachers
Constructed more courts and accommodation for the judiciary than any other government since 1992. Constructing
120 courts (80 completed) and 150 bungalows for the judiciary.
Completed 1,609 projects by the development authorities
Kept the lights on after four years of dumsor by paying $1 billion a year in excess capacity charges
Restored teacher training allowances that were cancelled
Restored Nursing training allowances that were cancelled
To make sure our education sector is not left out of the digital revolution, we are providing free Wifi to our senior high schools (710), 46 Colleges of Education, 260 district education offices, and 13 public universities.
Increased Scholarships beneficiaries by 70%
Extended NHIS coverage to childhood cancers
Extended NHIS coverage to Hydroxyurea for sickle cell patients
Saved the deposits of 4.6 million bank depositors by saving the banking system from collapse
Doubled the capitation grant
Provided free water to all households for a whole year during COVID-19
We provided free electricity to life line consumers and a 50% discount to other consumers for a whole year during COVID-19.
It is important to note that between 2009 and 2016, the average annual increase in end user electricity tariffs was 50% per year! Between 2017 and 2023 on the other hand, the average annual increase was 11.1%. This is the lowest annual average increase in electricity tariffs for any government since 1992.
We abolished or reduced 21 separate taxes in our first term (before the global crisis)
We also reduced import duties by 50% between 2019 and 2021 even though traders did not reduce prices for consumers as they promised to do.
Introduced the National Rental Assistance Scheme to assist people with rent advance and 1,393 people have benefited so far.
Increased the share of the DACF to persons with disabilities by 50%
Reduced infant mortality per 1000 live births from 37.9 in 2016 to 32.6 in 2022
We have implemented Free TVET and
We have also implemented Free SHS with an increase in enrollment from 800,000 in 2016 to 1.4 million by 2022. The year 2023 has recorded the highest ever level of enrollment in SHS of around 500,000 students. The performance of the students at WASSCE is also the best since 2015 and we have also achieved gender parity.
DIGITAL GHANA
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We were elected into office in December 2016 to solve many of the systemic problems and challenges that our citizens were facing and which we had highlighted in our manifesto (e.g. no unique identity, no property address system, fake birth certificates, etc). We had lived with many of these problems since independence.
For me, to lead is to solve. Indeed, all my adult life, my biggest motivation is about finding solutions; solutions that improve lives; solutions that make public services efficient and accessible; solutions that make society progress; solutions that protect the public purse; solutions that make our businesses competitive. I derive my greatest satisfaction from solving problems and I have done so whenever I am given the opportunity and will do more if I am given the mandate to do so.
I had long held the view that many of these problems facing the economy could be resolved through digitalization. In fact in my 2010 book on Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reform in Africa, I proposed digitalization amongst others as the way forward for African countries.
So when we assumed office in 2017, as Vice-President, I made the decision, with the blessings and support of the President, to focus on the critical but underdeveloped systems that would expand the economy, improve systems, and create jobs through digitalization. Therefore, as the Minister for Finance oversees the budget (fiscal policy) and the Governor of the central bank also focused on monetary and exchange rate policy, I focused on the complementary data and systems improvement that would ensure the ease of doing business and change the fundamentals of the economy, making it more dynamic and responsive to modern trends, and the management of it more scientific and efficient.
I was, thankfully, appointed as Chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT). As a sub-committee to Cabinet, we do not have any decision-making powers, but I am very proud of the quality of advice we have been providing over the years to Cabinet.
As Vice-President, I was asked by the President to assist in solving some of the problems that were inhibiting the transformation of Ghana’s economy. My approach was to help formalize the economy through digitalization as stated in our 2016 manifesto. This is why my office has had oversight responsibility for many of the government’s digitalization projects. We can only build a vibrant modern nation if we have strong systems and institutions that work. Very soon, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform the world, how are we preparing Ghana for this new phenomenon? I will now come to how we are using digitalization to transform the economy and preparing our society to be competitive as Africa is busily becoming the largest single market in the world, with its 1.4 billion people.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF UNIQUE IDENTITY
A major problem that we had as a country was the absence of a unique identity for citizens and residents. With oversight from my office, the National Identification Authority moved quickly with the issuance of biometric national ID cards (The Ghanacard) to the population. The Ghanacard project was initiated by President Kufuor. So far, some 17 million people have been enrolled on the Ghanacard by the NIA. Between 2007 and 2016, only 900,000 cards were issued! With the Ghanacard, the identity of people (even dead people) can be established using their fingerprints. With the Ghanacard, every Ghanaian, regardless of location or status, whether rich or poor, now can be officially registered and recognized as a Ghanaian. Before this, it was possible for someone to be born, live and die in Ghana without ever being registered.
Identity fraud, age cheating, football age, people cheating on their retirement age, fake birth certificates and fake passports, etc. will no longer be possible with the Ghanacard. Today, because your bank account or SIM card is linked with your Ghanacard, people cannot borrow money from a bank and disappear and appear with a new name as used to happen leading to higher interest rates. The Ghanacard can also be used to travel from abroad into Ghana across 44,000 airports in the world. The Ghanacard is the major element in many of the digitalization initiatives to follow. That is why its successful implementation has been so important to me.
A PROPERTY ADDRESS SYSTEM FOR GHANA
68. To solve the problem of a lack of a working address system in Ghana, with oversight from my office, we have leveraged on GPS technology to implement a digital address system for Ghana capturing every square inch of land. Today, every property in Ghana has a unique digital address along with street names and house numbers. Finding directions to any location is now very easy.
PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Ladies and Gentlemen, we faced a major problem of very few people having access to and financial services. To solve this problem, I championed the implementation of Mobile money interoperability (MMI). MMI has made it possible to transfer money seamlessly across different mobile money providers and between bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Today, because of mobile money interoperability (MMI), you can transfer money from a customer of one mobile money service provider to a customer of a different mobile money service provider and also make payments from your mobile money account into any bank account and you can receive payments from any bank account into your mobile money account. This can be done 24 hours a day!
Apart from achieving financial inclusion, , MMI has also significantly promoted a cashless culture, especially by our market women and the business community, thus reducing robberies and attacks of market women and business folks on our highways. Robbers used to attack vehicles carrying traders, knowing they were carrying cash, but now, many traders don’t carry cash, because they keep their monies on their mobile wallets for seamless transactions wherever they are.
You can also receive remittances from abroad directly onto your mobile phone without the need to go to a bank or Western Union Money Transfer. Because the mobile money account performs just like a bank account, as a result of MMI, over 90% of Ghanaian adults have mobile money accounts that function like bank accounts. We have basically solved the problem of financial exclusion in Ghana. The State of Inclusive Instant Payment Report has ranked Ghana as number one in Africa in terms of access to financial inclusion! Ghana has 100% access to financial inclusion! Today because of digitalization anyone can do banking and digital financial transactions 24 hours a day!
The data shows that at the end of 2016, total cumulative value of mobile money transactions was GHC 78.5 billion. Following MMI, the total cumulative value of mobile money transactions has increased to over GHC 1.9 trillion at the end of 2023. Therefore, between 2016 and 2023, following MMI, momo transactions have increased by 2,335%! (a 23-fold increase!). This is why Ghana continues to be the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa.
The digital payments infrastructure is boosting e-commerce in Ghana. Businesses are booming over Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Many people who cannot afford to rent or build shops are able to do business on the internet at little cost with deliveries helped by digital address and payments using mobile money interoperability. This can be done 24 hours a day! Ghana is currently ranked number 6 in Africa in terms of e-commerce after Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Morocco according to UNCTAD.
ADDRESSING EFFICIENT DELIVERY AND CORRUPTION IN THE
PUBLIC SERVICE
Our approach to improving the delivery of public services is to minimize human contact as much as possible. Therefore, we embarked on an aggressive digitalization of the processes of service delivery across many public institutions with coordination from my office:
Digitalization of the passport office: We digitalized the passport office with oversight from my office. With digitization, the average turnaround time for the acquisition of passports has been significantly reduced and today you can apply for your passport online from home 24 hours a day. The digitization of the passport application process has resulted in a major increase in the number of passports processed annually as well as the revenue yield to the passport office. In 2018, a total of 346,911 passports were issued with a revenue of GHC11.8 million. By 2023, the passport office issued 751,761 passports with a revenue of GHC94.0 million. The ultimate objective is to eradicate human interface in all phases of the passport application process, to give true meaning to the online filling and processing of forms. I will come back to this shortly when I get to my vision and priorities.
Digitalization of the ports- Paperless Ports: Previously, the bureaucracy in the clearing of goods at Ghana’s ports involved a lot of paperwork and used to be largely manual. This caused delays, corruption, inefficiencies, frustration and loss of revenue to government. Many citizens who had cleared goods at the country’s ports had horror stories about their experiences at the ports. With oversight from my office, the introduction of a paperless port system has reduced the layers and simplified the process, reduced the time needed to clear goods and the avenues for corruption and increased efficiencies and revenue mobilization at the ports.
Constructed more courts and accommodation for the judiciary than any other government since 1992. Constructing
120 courts (80 completed) and 150 bungalows for the judiciary.
Completed 1,609 projects by the development authorities
Kept the lights on after four years of dumsor by paying $1 billion a year in excess capacity charges
Restored teacher training allowances that were cancelled
Restored Nursing training allowances that were cancelled
To make sure our education sector is not left out of the digital revolution, we are providing free Wifi to our senior high schools (710), 46 Colleges of Education, 260 district education offices, and 13 public universities.
Increased Scholarships beneficiaries by 70%
Extended NHIS coverage to childhood cancers
Extended NHIS coverage to Hydroxyurea for sickle cell patients
Saved the deposits of 4.6 million bank depositors by saving the banking system from collapse
Doubled the capitation grant
Provided free water to all households for a whole year during COVID-19
We provided free electricity to life line consumers and a 50% discount to other consumers for a whole year during COVID-19.
It is important to note that between 2009 and 2016, the average annual increase in end user electricity tariffs was 50% per year! Between 2017 and 2023 on the other hand, the average annual increase was 11.1%. This is the lowest annual average increase in electricity tariffs for any government since 1992.
We abolished or reduced 21 separate taxes in our first term (before the global crisis)
We also reduced import duties by 50% between 2019 and 2021 even though traders did not reduce prices for consumers as they promised to do.
Introduced the National Rental Assistance Scheme to assist people with rent advance and 1,393 people have benefited so far.
Increased the share of the DACF to persons with disabilities by 50%
Reduced infant mortality per 1000 live births from 37.9 in 2016 to 32.6 in 2022
We have implemented Free TVET and
We have also implemented Free SHS with an increase in enrollment from 800,000 in 2016 to 1.4 million by 2022. The year 2023 has recorded the highest ever level of enrollment in SHS of around 500,000 students. The performance of the students at WASSCE is also the best since 2015 and we have also achieved gender parity.
DIGITAL GHANA
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We were elected into office in December 2016 to solve many of the systemic problems and challenges that our citizens were facing and which we had highlighted in our manifesto (e.g. no unique identity, no property address system, fake birth certificates, etc). We had lived with many of these problems since independence.
For me, to lead is to solve. Indeed, all my adult life, my biggest motivation is about finding solutions; solutions that improve lives; solutions that make public services efficient and accessible; solutions that make society progress; solutions that protect the public purse; solutions that make our businesses competitive. I derive my greatest satisfaction from solving problems and I have done so whenever I am given the opportunity and will do more if I am given the mandate to do so.
I had long held the view that many of these problems facing the economy could be resolved through digitalization. In fact in my 2010 book on Monetary Policy and Financial Sector Reform in Africa, I proposed digitalization amongst others as the way forward for African countries.
So when we assumed office in 2017, as Vice-President, I made the decision, with the blessings and support of the President, to focus on the critical but underdeveloped systems that would expand the economy, improve systems, and create jobs through digitalization. Therefore, as the Minister for Finance oversees the budget (fiscal policy) and the Governor of the central bank also focused on monetary and exchange rate policy, I focused on the complementary data and systems improvement that would ensure the ease of doing business and change the fundamentals of the economy, making it more dynamic and responsive to modern trends, and the management of it more scientific and efficient.
I was, thankfully, appointed as Chairman of the Economic Management Team (EMT). As a sub-committee to Cabinet, we do not have any decision-making powers, but I am very proud of the quality of advice we have been providing over the years to Cabinet.
As Vice-President, I was asked by the President to assist in solving some of the problems that were inhibiting the transformation of Ghana’s economy. My approach was to help formalize the economy through digitalization as stated in our 2016 manifesto. This is why my office has had oversight responsibility for many of the government’s digitalization projects. We can only build a vibrant modern nation if we have strong systems and institutions that work. Very soon, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform the world, how are we preparing Ghana for this new phenomenon? I will now come to how we are using digitalization to transform the economy and preparing our society to be competitive as Africa is busily becoming the largest single market in the world, with its 1.4 billion people.
ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF UNIQUE IDENTITY
A major problem that we had as a country was the absence of a unique identity for citizens and residents. With oversight from my office, the National Identification Authority moved quickly with the issuance of biometric national ID cards (The Ghanacard) to the population. The Ghanacard project was initiated by President Kufuor. So far, some 17 million people have been enrolled on the Ghanacard by the NIA. Between 2007 and 2016, only 900,000 cards were issued! With the Ghanacard, the identity of people (even dead people) can be established using their fingerprints. With the Ghanacard, every Ghanaian, regardless of location or status, whether rich or poor, now can be officially registered and recognized as a Ghanaian. Before this, it was possible for someone to be born, live and die in Ghana without ever being registered.
Identity fraud, age cheating, football age, people cheating on their retirement age, fake birth certificates and fake passports, etc. will no longer be possible with the Ghanacard. Today, because your bank account or SIM card is linked with your Ghanacard, people cannot borrow money from a bank and disappear and appear with a new name as used to happen leading to higher interest rates. The Ghanacard can also be used to travel from abroad into Ghana across 44,000 airports in the world. The Ghanacard is the major element in many of the digitalization initiatives to follow. That is why its successful implementation has been so important to me.
A PROPERTY ADDRESS SYSTEM FOR GHANA
68. To solve the problem of a lack of a working address system in Ghana, with oversight from my office, we have leveraged on GPS technology to implement a digital address system for Ghana capturing every square inch of land. Today, every property in Ghana has a unique digital address along with street names and house numbers. Finding directions to any location is now very easy.
PROMOTING FINANCIAL INCLUSION
Ladies and Gentlemen, we faced a major problem of very few people having access to and financial services. To solve this problem, I championed the implementation of Mobile money interoperability (MMI). MMI has made it possible to transfer money seamlessly across different mobile money providers and between bank accounts and mobile wallets.
Today, because of mobile money interoperability (MMI), you can transfer money from a customer of one mobile money service provider to a customer of a different mobile money service provider and also make payments from your mobile money account into any bank account and you can receive payments from any bank account into your mobile money account. This can be done 24 hours a day!
Apart from achieving financial inclusion, , MMI has also significantly promoted a cashless culture, especially by our market women and the business community, thus reducing robberies and attacks of market women and business folks on our highways. Robbers used to attack vehicles carrying traders, knowing they were carrying cash, but now, many traders don’t carry cash, because they keep their monies on their mobile wallets for seamless transactions wherever they are.
You can also receive remittances from abroad directly onto your mobile phone without the need to go to a bank or Western Union Money Transfer. Because the mobile money account performs just like a bank account, as a result of MMI, over 90% of Ghanaian adults have mobile money accounts that function like bank accounts. We have basically solved the problem of financial exclusion in Ghana. The State of Inclusive Instant Payment Report has ranked Ghana as number one in Africa in terms of access to financial inclusion! Ghana has 100% access to financial inclusion! Today because of digitalization anyone can do banking and digital financial transactions 24 hours a day!
The data shows that at the end of 2016, total cumulative value of mobile money transactions was GHC 78.5 billion. Following MMI, the total cumulative value of mobile money transactions has increased to over GHC 1.9 trillion at the end of 2023. Therefore, between 2016 and 2023, following MMI, momo transactions have increased by 2,335%! (a 23-fold increase!). This is why Ghana continues to be the fastest growing mobile money market in Africa.
The digital payments infrastructure is boosting e-commerce in Ghana. Businesses are booming over Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Many people who cannot afford to rent or build shops are able to do business on the internet at little cost with deliveries helped by digital address and payments using mobile money interoperability. This can be done 24 hours a day! Ghana is currently ranked number 6 in Africa in terms of e-commerce after Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and Morocco according to UNCTAD.
ADDRESSING EFFICIENT DELIVERY AND CORRUPTION IN THE
PUBLIC SERVICE
Our approach to improving the delivery of public services is to minimize human contact as much as possible. Therefore, we embarked on an aggressive digitalization of the processes of service delivery across many public institutions with coordination from my office:
Digitalization of the passport office: We digitalized the passport office with oversight from my office. With digitization, the average turnaround time for the acquisition of passports has been significantly reduced and today you can apply for your passport online from home 24 hours a day. The digitization of the passport application process has resulted in a major increase in the number of passports processed annually as well as the revenue yield to the passport office. In 2018, a total of 346,911 passports were issued with a revenue of GHC11.8 million. By 2023, the passport office issued 751,761 passports with a revenue of GHC94.0 million. The ultimate objective is to eradicate human interface in all phases of the passport application process, to give true meaning to the online filling and processing of forms. I will come back to this shortly when I get to my vision and priorities.
Digitalization of the ports- Paperless Ports: Previously, the bureaucracy in the clearing of goods at Ghana’s ports involved a lot of paperwork and used to be largely manual. This caused delays, corruption, inefficiencies, frustration and loss of revenue to government. Many citizens who had cleared goods at the country’s ports had horror stories about their experiences at the ports. With oversight from my office, the introduction of a paperless port system has reduced the layers and simplified the process, reduced the time needed to clear goods and the avenues for corruption and increased efficiencies and revenue mobilization at the ports.
My Vision
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- As Vice-President I am like a driver’s mate. But if, by the Grace of God, you make me President, I will be in the drivers seat with constitutionally mandated authority to pursue my vision and my priorities. So, what do I want to do in terms of vision, priorities and policies if you give me the opportunity, by the Grace of God, to become President of the Republic of Ghana?
- Ladies and Gentlemen, in this regard, I have been engaged in a lot of consultation and doing a lot of thinking in the last few months about lessons of the last seven years as well as my vision and priorities as I seek to become President of the Republic of Ghana. Clearly, the initial conditions that we inherited in 2017 are not the same as will be in 2025. Therefore, my priorities will be different. We have done many good things and I will be seeking to build on them.
- My vision is to create a tent big enough to accommodate all our people, to tap into the resourcefulness and talents of our people irrespective of our different ethnic, political and religious backgrounds, to channel our energies into building the kind of country that assures a food self-sufficient, safe, prosperous, and dignified future for all Ghanaians, to create sustainable jobs with meaningful pay for all, and for Ghana to participate fully in the fourth industrial revolution using systems and data.
To realize this vision:
A MINDSET OF POSSIBILITIES
111. We must have a mindset of possibilities and not impossibilities. The challenges we must overcome as a country are too important to let our political differences derail us. There is a critical failure of mindset that manifests itself
in the absence of core values, patriotism and principles within our society. We need to invigorate the can-do spirit of the Ghanaian to believe that we can even do better than we ever imagined if we put our minds to it. For example, our students from Mamfe Girls and Prempeh College have won international robotic competitions against their peers in the US, Germany and South Korea. We must apply the same mindset of beating the world in robotics, Sing-a-Thons and Cook-a-Thons to every sphere of activity. We must believe IT IS POSSIBLE!!!. This must be inculcated in our children from home and in school. This is why we are going to introduce a growth mindset curriculum to help students build critical skills such us problem solving, risk taking, opportunity spotting and design thinking.
SUSTAINED MACROECONOMIC STABILITY
- Ladies and Gentlemen, a major goal of my government would be to attain and sustain macroeconomic stability with low inflation, low interest rates, exchange rate stability and low budget deficits.
PRUDENTLY MANAGING GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE, INCREASING
REVENUE AND LEVERAGING THE PRIVATE SECTOR
- To sustainably reduce the budget deficit and interest rates, my government will enhance fiscal discipline through an independent fiscal responsibility council enshrined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982). The Fiscal responsibility Act will also be amended to add a fiscal rule that requires that budgeted expenditure in any year does not exceed 105% of the previous years tax revenue. This will prevent the experience of budgetary expenditures based on optimistic revenue forecasts which don’t materialize.
- Furthermore my government will reduce the fiscal burden on government by leveraging the private sector. Under the two-term administration of His Excellency Nana AkufoAddo’s government, we have put in place many social safety nets like free SHS, Free TVET, etc. With all these social safety nets in place, my government will now focus on jobs, and wealth creation by the private sector for all Ghanaians. My administration will incentivize the private sector to complement government in the provision of many infrastructure and other services to reduce government expenditure and improve maintenance.
- The private sector will be encouraged to build roads, schools, hostels, and houses for government to rent or lease
to own. The demand for roads construction is massive and this has historically placed a huge burden on the budget. I believe that the private sector should finance the construction and maintenance of roads through PPP concession arrangements . Also, government will move towards leasing rather than purchasing vehicles, printing equipment, etc. The private sector will have the responsibility for maintaining the equipment. With this approach, the budget can save very significant outright cash expenditure annually from various items across different Ministries, Departments and Agencies. This policy will energize the private sector and create many jobs.
- Enhancing the role of the private sector along with fiscal and administrative decentralization, improving our systems and the way our institutions function will lead to greater efficiency; cutting waste and ensuring value for money in procurement. The move towards the private sector provision of many public services would create fiscal space of at least 3% of GDP. This represents a major paradigm shift. Additionally, an efficient system of governance will require even fewer ministers. Therefore I would have no more than 50 ministers and deputy ministers.
A NEW TAX SYSTEM
- To increase government tax revenue, we have to reform and refocus the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) towards broadening the tax base. Unfortunately, the pressure that is placed on GRA staff to collect revenues makes them focus on existing tax payers. Sometimes they even have to go to sit in peoples shops to monitor sales (a process known as invigilation). In fact, many businesses feel harassed by this process and the constant audits of their operations. This has to stop. We must strike the right balance between collecting revenue and allowing businesses to thrive. Our job is to protect the productive forces.
Estimates suggests revenues amounting to 13% of GDP (or $24 billion in 2023) are not collected because people are outside the tax net. Even collecting half of or a quarter of this annually will be a game changer for public finances. To do this, we need to inculcate and enforce a culture of people filing their tax returns. Incentives must be provided to encourage people to file their tax returns even if they will pay zero taxes. We need a fresh start.
- My administration will introduce a very simple, citizen and business friendly flat tax regime. A flat tax of a % of income for individuals and SMEs (which constitute 98% of all businesses in Ghana) with appropriate exemption thresholds set to protect the poor. With the new tax regime, the tax return should be able to be completed in minutes! We will also simplify our complicated corporate tax system and VAT regime.
- To start the new tax system on a clean slate, my government will provide a tax amnesty (i.e. a complete exemption from the payment of taxes for a specified period and the waiving of interest and penalties) up to a certain year to individuals and businesses for failures to file taxes in previous years so that everyone will start afresh.
- Tax digitalization will be implemented across all aspects of tax administration. Everyone will be required to file a very simple tax return electronically through their mobile phone or computer. There will be no manual or paper filing of taxes from 2025. Faceless assessments will provide transparency and accountability. There will be no need for GRA to send officers to go sit in shops. E-invoicing, as being implemented
by the GRA will be extended to all companies. Estonia, India and Mexico will provide very useful models for Ghana in the area of tax digitalization.
- Any audits by GRA would also be done electronically and facelessly by GRA. Furthermore, no entity would be audited more than once in five years unless anomalies are detected which the individual or company does not correct after being given the opportunity to do so.
- We will amend the law such that if there is a dispute about tax assessment, a binding arbitration will take place through a body constituted by institutions such as the Ghana
Arbitration Center, Institute of Taxation, AGI, Institute of Chartered Accountants, PEF, and Ghana Employers Association with a mandate to resolve any appeal in a maximum of three months. This will not affect companies who by their agreements have such arbitrations taking place in international jurisdictions.
- With cuts in government expenditure, the private sector undertaking expenditure that would normally be done by government and the new tax regime that will enhance compliance, broaden the tax base, and increase tax revenue, the situation we are going to face in 2025 is going to be very different from the situation we faced in 2020 and 2022. With the policy measures implemented thus far, we have outperformed the IMF fiscal deficit target of 5% of GDP by attaining a fiscal deficit of 4.2% in 2023. The new policies that I am proposing to implement in 2025 will give us the fiscal space to eliminate some taxes such as the VAT on electricity, the emissions tax and the betting tax without compromising our deficit target.
BUILD A DIGITAL ECONOMY AND MAKE GHANA A DIGITAL HUB
- I want to build a Ghana where we leverage technology, data and systems for inclusive economic growth. I want us to apply digital technology, STEM, robotics and artificial intelligence for the transformation of agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing, fintech and public service delivery. As part of this process it is my goal to eliminate the digital divide by achieving close to 100% internet penetration. We have already made very significant progress in this direction by increasing internet penetration from 34% in 2016 to 72% in 2023 (by more than double!!!). The task in the next four years is to move from 72% to close to 100%! It is possible!
- I want to see Ghana build the digital talent we require for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This will mean providing digital and software skills to hundreds of thousands of youth. This along with other policies, will create jobs for the youth, including school dropouts. In collaboration with the private sector, we will train at least 1,000,000 youth in IT skills, including software developers to provide job opportunities worldwide.
- Generally, there will be an enhanced focus on TVET education. My government will also support the establishment of a National Open University Ghana in collaboration with the private sector with a focus on Technical and vocational skills and ICT.
Below is the full statement