Let Us Help President Mahama

1. High economic growth is a matter of choice, not destiny. It depends on the nature

of the policies, laws, and institutions that are put in place by the people of a

country to ensure that they have good governance and economic and social

conditions that lead to peace, economic opportunity and prosperity.

2. Whilst we engage in the endless and God-worrying tons of prayer and fasting, Let us practically help President John Dramani Mahama today to surmount the hydra-headed problems part self-inflicted, part a cyclical way of political and economic life in Ghana.

3. So, let us begin with say water, works and housing: My take is that the Ministry of water works and housing should look for serious money outside government but from another government, encourage limited private involvement in EXPANDING ACCESS to clean water in Ghana. Better still we must effectively let all districts manage and resource their water systems.

4. From Where Cometh the Cash? I am very much aware that the Canadian Government's "Export Development Canada" has several commercial vehicles with less than 2% interest rates in most cases over a period, compared with say the Accra Metropolitan's nearly 15% interest on $600m loan to rebuild part of Accra's drainage system. There is a $150m on the table now for several months for the Community Water and Sanitation Department after the latter demanded $250m all upfront. After many months of feet dragging, they only signed the MoU last week after we made a little less positive noise:)

5. The catch here though is that the Canadians like the Americans won't pay a bribe ahead and won't probably pay in the end!!!

6. Next, we will talk about how we can help President Mahama by providing high speed and spacious boats , each capable of catching a shoal of fish equivalent to the total catch of 200 canoes in a day, but who can't go past the oil rigs and withstand sea storms. Instead of building landing sites and a college of fisheries for small amounts of fish, encourage fishermen to be competitive and break the monopoly of thieving pre-mix fuel administrators. Good morning, all.

Franklin Cudjoe, Founding President and CEO, IMANI Ghana.

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Respectfully yours,
Franklin Cudjoe

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Five tasks for Ghana's incoming president
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Cudjoe is Founding President of IMANI Center for Policy & Education. IMANI is a Think Tank that has carved a niche in Ghana's policy environment for putting out objective, independent analysis and critique on many issues, using tried and tested techniques that apply across different disciplines. IMANI has won two John Templeton Foundation awards, the first Antony & Dorian Fisher Award and cited in the United Kingdom's House of Commons' debate on aid and development in Africa as well as by South Africa's Supreme Court Judge on patents and intellectual property. In 2010 IMANI led the World Bank's Africa region's taskforce within to investigate what Africans needed from the World Bank. Email : [email protected] Web : www.imanighana.org