Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has urged all Ghanaians to get on board to fix the broken economy the New Patriotic Party (NPP) inherited from John Dramani Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration.
“For far too long,” he said, “our nation is faced with myriad of challenges, some of them unique to our circumstances, some of them not so unique to us.”
Referring to the latter he said, “We can learn from others” but the former, he pointed out, “We must find our own solutions to them.”
In view of this, he underscored, “I believe the time has come to marshal our intellectual capacity to come together and work towards finding solutions to our problems so that the common man or woman on the street will see us not as an elitist club, but a club to enhance the public good and promote the collective socio-economic goals in society.”
The vice president made the call during the launching of ‘Economic Club of Ghana’ in Accra Wednesday evening.
Reason
Under the current circumstance, he said government’s main concern is “how to get over our aid and donor-dependency syndrome that has become so pervasive in almost all aspects of our nation building, ironically against the background of our rich natural resources and intellectual capacity.”
This, he said, was the reason why the Akufo-Addo-led government has indicated its resolve to pursue transformation of the economy.
As part of the structural economic transformation, Dr Bawumia indicated that government was looking forward to building an economy that is self-sustaining and independent of assistance from the advanced countries over the next few years.
He indicated, “We are embarking on an ambitious but achievable industrialization agenda, with the private sector at its heart.”
Also, Dr Bawumia indicated, “We have set the ball in motion, but will require commitment and alignment of the private sector and all Ghanaians to realizing this objective.”
Belief
He therefore stressed the belief that “consistent engagement, dialogue and discussions among relevant stakeholders, will be key to the structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy, going forward.”
He was therefore optimistic that “The Economic Club could be a strong source of ideas and well researched innovative thinking to inform and to complement governance ideas in building the economy, recognizing that a weak economy and a low capacity economy will not take us into the desired middle income status. We are becoming a low middle income for too long.”
Measures
According to Veep Dr Bawumia, “A couple of weeks ago, we held stakeholder consultative meetings to design the framework for the Akufo-Addo Plan for Agricultural Transformation. Last week, another stakeholder regional forum on enhancing value addition in the extractive sector in Africa was organized here in Accra.”
In the next month or two, Dr Bawumia hinted, “We shall have a roundtable discussion on land administrative reforms,” indicating, “As a government, we do not assume the know-it all philosophy but rather believe that a great rich set of ideas are inherent in people like you, and we are ready to tap into that.”
He has therefore challenged the Club and its member not to be partisan.
He charged, “I challenge you to be firm and unwavering in your analyses and discourses. Be problem solvers. Let your commentary be a source of public economic education, not just commentators to score points. Let us think outside the box of standard economic paradigms. Let us ask old questions anew and seek new solutions. That is the recipe for progress, innovation and growth.”
Apart from that, he entreated, “There should be no fear whatsoever in the presentations of your views, critical or not, because that is what makes democracy, and our kind of democracy beautiful and allows for economic development to be carried out in a free and fair society.”
Present at the ceremony were some of the big names in Ghanaian economic circles, including onetime Minister of Finance, Professor Kwesi Botchwey; Dr Kwabena Duffuor; Professor Ernest Aryeetey; Dr Kofi Amoah and a host of others.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent