EXACTLY A YEAR HENCE - WHO'LL BE NEXT PREZ - KUFUOR'S RECORD COMMENDABLE (P1)

Story: Stephen Sah & Kofi Yeboah

EXACTLY a year from today, President John Agyekum Kufuor will hand-over the presidency to a successor yet to be determined after an eight-year tenure in office.
It will be the day on which the dream of one man, be he Professor J.E.A. Mills or Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum or Dr Edward Mahama or, indeed any of the other presidential aspirants will become a reality of the time.
Ahead of that occasion, an appraisal of the stewardship of President Kufuor made by some Ghanaian think tanks, selected by the Daily Graphic, shows that President Kufuor’s performance in the various aspects of governance, has been quite commendable.
Overall, the President scored between 50 and 70 per cent in various sectors of assessment, earning high marks in the areas EXACTLY a year from today, President John Agyekum Kufuor will hand-over the presidency to a successor yet to be determined after an eight-year tenure in office.
It will be the day on which the dream of one man, be he Professor J.E.A. Mills or Nana Akufo-Addo, Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum or Dr Edward Mahama or, indeed any of the other presidential aspirants will become a reality of the time.
Ahead of that occasion, an appraisal of the stewardship of President Kufuor made by some Ghanaian think tanks, selected by the Daily Graphic, shows that President Kufuor’s performance in the various aspects of governance, has been quite commendable.
Overall, the President scored between 50 and 70 per cent in various sectors of assessment, earning high marks in the areas of the economy, security and freedom of the economy, security and freedom of expression, recording average marks in upholding human rights and accessing justice while recording lower marks in respect of fighting corruption.
The appraisers of the President’s stewardship were the President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mr Tony Oteng-Gyasi, the Co-ordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa, Nana Oye Lithur, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG), Mr Kwesi Jonah, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Studies of the University of Ghana, Prof Atsu Ayee and the Director of Research at the Kofi Annan Peacekeeping Training Centre, Dr Emmanuel Kwesi Enning and Mrs Jean Mensa, the Administrator of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA).
Mrs Mensa congratulated the President for the successes chalked by his administration over the past seven years but pointed out that some challenges in his final year in office and for the future government.
She said it was refreshing that the present administration has won power and kept if for the past seven years.
Mrs Mensa explained that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was the first non-military institution to win power through the ballot box and kept it for seven years adding that “all previous attempts were successful at winning power but failed to hold on to it. She said this was significant in our history bearing in mind that Flt Lt J.J Rawlings won power and was able to keep it for eight years but he came from a military background.
Mrs Mensa also commended the government for maintaining macro-economic stability for seven years during which inflation has declined from the high of 40s to the low 10s. “We have also seen interest rates drop from the high 40s to the low 10s on the seven year period noting that “while the IEA thinks the NPP government has done well, the challenge though is how to maintain the current macro stability and keep inflation and interest rates under leash”.
She said it was important for the government to disentangle ourselves from running a colonial economy which mainly benefits the major multi-nationals in Ghana to an economy whose primary focus would be the improvement of the life of the average Ghanaian and also to an economy where “we are no more exporters of raw materials and importers of finished products but to an economy where we are the producers of finished goods for exports”.
Mrs Mensa also stressed the need for the Kufour administration to use the final year to decentralise the Ghanaian economy and our political structure.
“As of now, district chief executives still do not feel they owe any responsibility to the people. They owe their responsibilities to the Presidency in Accra and the challenge is how to decentralise so that district chief executives would owe their responsibility to the residents of the various districts”.
Mr Jonah on his part described the national economy under President Kufuor as sustainable and the country as a preferred destination for foreign direct investment (FDI).
He said although Ghana was tackling indices of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as poverty and access to school for children of school-going age, it was still lagging behind in respect of health indices, such as infant and maternal mortality, and stressed the need to reconsider those areas to activate growth.
According to Mr Jonah, presently, the economy was reported to be growing at an average rate of five per cent and although there have been increases in external exports with attractive prices on the world market and economic growth must increase.
“The inflow of investment has been quite good. The exploration of oil and the emergence of major mining companies in the country is a clear indication of external confidence in the national economy”, he noted.
He added that the inflow of about $500 million from the Millennium Challange Account (MCA) and the floating of Ghana bonds on the London Stock Exchange, coupled with good governance, were all indicators that Ghana was a safe place for investment.
Mr Jonah, who is also a senior lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana, said the re-denomination exercise embarked upon by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was a major plus for the government because it boosted business in an economy where transactions were largely cash-based.
On the political front, Mr Jonah said Ghana had been an island of peace and tranquillity in the sub-region because it had upheld the tenets of the constitution, particularly with respect to fundamental civil liberties.
That, he noted, had allowed an atmosphere that allows all political parties the freedom to criticise the government and contribute to the development process without any interference from the Executive.
However, Mr Jonah expressed concern about the Representation of the People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL), saying that it was a privilege and not a right for Ghanaians living abroad to exercise their franchise.
Regarding the international political arena, he said the holding of the African Union (AU) Summit in Accra in 2006 and the appointment of President Kufuor as the AU chairman had been a good omen for Africa, especially the sub-region.
Assessing the President’s performance in industry, the Mr Oteng-Gyasi said the President's performance was above average.
He noted that President Kufuor and the government had had to contend with very difficult economic environment but they worked to stabilise the economy, adding that manufacturing was now growing between four and five per cent.
Mr Oteng-Gyasi also praised the government for showing a willingness to listen to players in industry and implementing some of their suggestions, but he pointed out that there was more room for improvement.
“We would have loved to see a clear industrial policy for the country but that has not been the case,” he indicated, adding that the nation needed to invest in the production of agro processing machinery and other items that could be manufactured locally.
The AGI President said it was wrong for people to think that the President’s term in office was over, pointing out that “one year of policy decision-making can change a lot of things”.
He said without any pressure of running for re-election, the President had an added advantage of implementing good policies, expressing the hope that he would end his tenure on a very high note.
In his assessment, Prof Ayee described the achievement of the Kufuor regime as marginal.
On the economic front, he said the positive thing that happened to the country was the stability of the cedi because prior to taking office, the depreciation of the cedi was phenomenal as a result of which the currency was marginalised.
Prof Ayee said the drop in inflation was superficial because people still felt prices had shot up, especially after the re-denomination of the cedi, but pointed out that the government could not be faulted much because of the increase in petroleum prices on the world market.
He said not much had been done to tackle unemployment in spite of the President’s special initiative on employment, indicating that the number of unemployed youth was high and had resulted in the upsurge in armed robbery.
Prof Ayee said although standards of living had not improved, the government should be commended for the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the capitation grant and the school feeding programme.
He said the President’s zero tolerance for corruption was a public relations gimmick, which he never tackled and that would be a large electoral issue this year.
“The approach to corruption has been selective, especially the trial of Mallam Yusif Isa and others, have been a cosmetic show”, he said and claimed that a lot of people had been cited for corruption but left off the hook.
Prof Ayee commended the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for investigating former Minister of Transportation, Dr Richard Anane, although the judiciary interpreted it differently, adding that the perception of corruption now was much higher than it used to be in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) regime.
He said the human rights record of the NPP government was better than that of the NDC, especially with the repeal of the criminal libel law, describing it as “a feather in the cap of the government although we cannot have a total human right record because of a few abrasions here and there like what happened to Alhaji Mobilla”.
According to him, there had been an upsurge in ethnic violence because ethnic politics had reared its head and there was the need to do away with that through public education spearheaded by the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and political parties.
In respect of human rights, the ardent human rights campaigner, Nana Oye Lithur, gave the President five out of 10 marks based on an assessment of his performance on the Directive Principles of State Policy and human rights provisions enshrined in the Constitution were concerned.
On the positive side, she admitted that there had been an improvement in freedom of expression and press freedom, pointing out that the improvement was because “he himself has displayed a certain level of tolerance that has facilitated a progressive development, promotion and fulfilling of press freedom and freedom of expression”.
Nana Oye Lithur said there had also been tremendous improvement in political, social and economic rights as depicted by the enhanced credibility of elections in the country and initiatives, such as the school feeding programme and the capitation grant for basic schools, all geared towards achieving the goals of the free compulsory universal basic education (F-CUBE) as required by the constitution.
On the flip side, Nana Oye Lithur said corruption was a major indictment on the President’s stewardship, particularly so when he had launched his administration on a “zero tolerance for corruption” campaign.
“All said and done, that is one big indictment on his tenure. People were full of hope because he vowed to fight corruption. But I haven’t seen that he has addressed corruption effectively. It seems like he has shielded his government from allegations of corruption”, she observed.
Nana Oye Lithur also expressed disappointment in the manner the President had handled the extra judicial killing of 44 Ghanaians in The Gambia, three year after the incident took place.
She said in the first instance, it was out of order for the President to have attended the African Union (AU) Summit in The Gambia three years ago after the incident; secondly, the government had taken too long a time to investigate and take a firm decision on the issue.
Nana Oye Lithur mentioned forced evictions and demolition exercises in various parts of the country without recourse to due procedures, as well as rampant police brutalities and the deplorable conditions of mining communities and prisoners, as some of the minuses on the President’s human rights record.
“From where I sit, I saw him more as protecting the investor’s interest over and above the interest of the communities where these mining activities were going on. From the top of my head, I cannot recall any concrete statement that he’s made directed at people in mining areas... but we all saw him opening or inaugurating a mine or receiving heads of mining companies at the Castle”, she pointed out.
Nana Oye Lithur mentioned inadequate housing, lack of access to toilets, water, electricity and other social amenities as some of the areas the President failed to deliver satisfactorily.
With regard to security, Dr Enning said the government had done creditably, giving it six-and-half out of 10 marks.
According to him, there had been general improvement in civil-military relations and the physical improvement in the security services.
Dr Enning said the security had also become more subservient to civilian rule unlike in the past but added that the process of improving security started during the NDC regime but “the Kufuor administration has reduced the rot in the system”.
On the international level, he said President had made immense contribution towards restoring peace and stability to countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Sierra Leone and Liberia
Dr Enning attributed the success story on the security front to the various roles played by the Ghana Armed Forces, Parliament, CHRAJ and other democratic institutions.
He said one of the lowest point on security track record of President Kufuor’s administration was the Dagbon conflict.
Dr Enning said there were still challenges concerning issues of recruitment into the security services, adding that the increasing activities of drug lords and youth unemployment had the tendency to undermine national security and stressed the need to address them.
It is against such pluses and minuses that Ghanaians will go to the polls again in December this year to choose a successor to President Kufuor.
December is still a long way yet but with the major political parties having held their congresses and elected their presidential candidates, the lines are clearly drawn for an exciting campaign.
The largest opposition group, the National Democratic Congress set the tone with the election of former Vice President, John Evans Atta-Mills as its flagbearer. That was followed by the People’s National Convention (PNC) with the election of Dr. Edward Mahama.
The Convention People’s Party (CPP) followed with the election of Dr. Paa Kwesi Ndoum and then the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held its congress to elect Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as its flagbearer.
With a few other minority parties yet to elect their flag bearers, attention on the next phase of the process will be on the choice of running-mates by the various presidential candidates.