Franklin Cudjoe
IMANI Ghana has urged the Ghanaian electorate to demand what it termed as ‘measurable promises’ from the six political parties contesting the 2016 polls and reject empty promises.
According to IMANI, it’s important for the citizenry to question the various political parties over the promises they are making, as the general elections draw closer.
It is necessary to check whether promises being made by the various parties are “quantifiable,” “feasible” and with cost estimates so as to promote accountability, IMANI said.
IMANI Ghana made the call at the launch of its latest research analysis on selected political party promises.
The research, which formed part of the policy think tank’s Parties’ Manifestoes project, was conducted between June and August, 2016, by Hubert Nii-Amponsah, Stefan Reppen and Andrew Ntim.
The purpose of the project, DAILY GUIDE gathered, was to enhance democracy, fiscal responsibility, as well as promote a financial plan and feasible promises in the 2016 electioneering season, among others.
About 247 promises reportedly made by the six parties namely NPP, NDC, PNC, NDP, CPP and PPP during the period under review were analyzed by the researchers.
Out of the number, 18 were said to be quantifiable, 43 semi-quantifiable and 186 non-quantifiable or ‘empty promises’
The party analysis was done sector-by-sector, including governance, economy, education, infrastructure and social policy.
According to the researchers, who released the report on Wednesday in Accra, the 247 promises were collated from different platforms, including newspapers, journals, electronic media and the PPP’s manifesto.
The NDC and NPP are yet to come out with their manifestos.
Concerns
The researchers said the delay by the two vibrant political parties in coming out with their manifestoes was very unfair to the electorate.
The electorate might not have time to study the various manifestoes to be able to make informed decisions for the December polls, they stated.
The researchers also found some of the promises being made by leaders of the various parties on their campaign tours as very ambitious and lacking clarity.
They said such promises cannot be clearly measured and that they do not have any financial plans or estimates for their implementation.
They touched on the promise by the Convention People’s Party to mobilize two million youth to plant 1.2 million almond trees in 20 days covering 7,300,000 hectares.
CPP claims the cultivation almond can earn Ghana up to $300 billion but the researchers strongly believe it is highly unlikely for the project to raise such an amount for the country as promised by the party.
Also, the researchers expressed concerns about the PNC’s Silo Storage vision, wondering how much money will be allocated to fulfill that promise, among others.
What specifically does the NPP intends to do to revive the ‘collapsing’ National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as the party had promised to do when elected into office, they said.
On the part of the National Democratic Party (NDP), IMANI noted that the party had failed to come out with a plan of action to address the myriad of challenges it said were affecting the various sectors of the economy.
“At what point does Ghana become a hub for power supply in the whole of West Africa? By how much will NDC increase export load,” they quizzed.
The researchers further raised concerns about the “free SHS-Accommodation for the Deprived” project.
“Where will the money come from for government to fulfill the SHS programme?
Again, the researchers focused on the NDP over its promise to “develop a law to make property developers and builders incorporate solar in their construction.
“Must all construction have solar or only certain buildings?”
“How will NDP ensure that housing cost does not increase significantly through the introduction of the solar project.
Founding President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe, said Ghanaians must ask questions to seek details with respect to how such promises would be fulfilled.
Mr Cudjoe, who disagreed with the NPP flagbearer’s plan to divide the Western Region into two when elected into office, said “If the idea of creating a region is about roads then just construct roads.”
BY Melvin Tarlue