The (P)NDC Legacy Vrs NPP (2)

Last week, this column dealt with sectors of our national life by the (P)NDC and the NPP in their periods of leadership in Ghana. This is the continuation:

AGRICULTURE.
By the end of 2000 under the NDC, the agricultural sector which is the backbone of Ghana's economy registered a pitiful growth rate of just 2.1%. The sector had recorded a steady decline in food and cocoa production over a long period of time which was directly related to the policies of the government in those periods. The (P)NDC removed subsidies on agricultural inputs like fertilizers, impoverishing farmers and causing food shortages in the country, in spite of the fact that at a certain point in time, there were about 13 Ministers in charge of agriculture in Ghana. The nation imported basic food items like plantain, tomatoes and the rests from neighbouring Cote D'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

For nearly two decades, the (P)NDC presided over a massive decline in the cocoa sector with Ghana losing its position as the largest global producer of cocoa, the highest cocoa production the regime could reach was 390,000 metric tons. After 19 years of their reign, cocoa farmers received just GH¢14.06 per bag of cocoa in the 1999/2000 cocoa season. The regime failed to implement any policy which would lead to an increase in cocoa production, yet they criticized and derided the NPP's Mass Spraying of Cocoa policy.

The NPP tripled the growth rate of the agricultural sector from 2.15 in 2000 to 6.5% by 2006. The increases were across board- 50% increase in plantain production, 30% increase in yam production, 25% increase in cassava and maize production. Ghana was able to achieve national food sufficiency and was able to withstand the global food shortages that occurred in 2008 due to NPP's successful management of the agriculture sector.

For the first time in 25 years, the NPP introduced, in 2008, subsidies on fertilizers in order to increase food production in the country. The prices of fertilizers, NPK, which is commonly used by poor food crop farmers were cut by half, from GH¢52.00 to GH¢26.00. per bag to boost food production. Additionally, over 100, 000 small scale farmers were supported annually with cash and inputs on credit to grow maize, sorghum and rice. These policies which were compassionate to the poor and the vulnerable in the agricultural sector earned Ghana the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), a total of US$547million, which benefited about 23 districts in various agricultural activities and created hundreds of thousands of jobs for the youth.

THE COCOA SECTOR
The NPP almost doubled cocoa output, producing no less than 600,000 metric tons every season between 2003/2004, and recording a total of 700, 000 metric tons in 2006/2007 cocoa season; the highest ever in the history of Ghana. The NDC did not accept the policies that led to that achievement, instead, they attributed the achievements to reverse smuggling from neighbouring Cote D'Ivoire. One may ask, what policies made it possible for Ivorian farmers to decide to sell their cocoa beans to Ghana when the reverse has always been the case?

In the same period of increased cocoa production, the NPP increased cocoa prices to farmers from the GH¢14.06 in 2000 to GH¢102.00 in the 2008/2009 cocoa season. Furthermore, farmers received their bonuses in all but one year in the eight years of the NPP administration. Farmers also benefited from the Cocoa Roads Improvement Project, which is now known as Cocoa Roads and increased scholarships for their wards in schools. Cocoa Housing Schemes were put in place, and it was the pet project of Honourable Joseph Boahen Aidoo, the then Western Regional Minister.

The success in the cocoa sector was as a result of the aggressive implementation of the Mass Cocoa Spraying Exercise under the Cocoa Diseases and Pests Control Programme (CODAPEC0) which was begun in 2001. There was sustainable annual increase in the number of farmers provided with agrochemicals and labour to control Capsid/Mirid and Blackpod diseases which led to huge rises in productivity. More than 627,000 cocoa farmers benefited and the programme employed 50,750 young people.

FISHERIES
The (P)NDC totally ran down the fishing industry in Ghana by first selling off the State Fishing Corporation which had branches throughout the country and employed several thousands of Ghanaians. The regime sold off the corporation's assets of scores of trawlers and fish storage Cold Stores to themselves. Many of the trawlers causing problems in Ghana today were registered by the (P)NDC to their apparatchiks.

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For 19 years, the (P)NDC made promises to fisherfolks in the country but never fulfilled a single one of them. The people of Elmina were promised that their fishing pier was going to be dredged, it never happened.

The NPP showed commitment to the fishing industry by creating a separate Ministry for the Fishing sector so that their challenges could be dealt with appropriately. Consequent to that, infrastructure in that sector was improved, boosted investments and provided support to small-scale fishermen. The Elmina fishing pier was subsequently dredged by the NPP government. Two out of the 12 fishing land sites along Ghana's coastline at a cost of US$148 million was begun by the NPP. At least six large capacity cold stores along the fishing coast were to be built to support the fishing industry.

INDUSTRIALIZATION AND DE-INDUSTRIALIZATION OF GHANA

Under the 19 year rule of the (P)NDC regimes, the industrial sector grew at an average rate of just 3% per annum. Employment within the industrial sector grew at an average of 2.8%. The regime was responsible for the appalling mismanagement of our industrial sector, with privatizations carried out on such poor terms such that 40 of the former state enterprises immediately closed down whilst several others were simply left to rot on the divestiture list. In other cases, state enterprises were given out under highly questionable and opaque terms to political cronies most of whom were unable to manage them in a manner that would employ people and create jobs for the youth.

The assets of the defunct GNTC and all the regional Guests Houses were sold out for song to cronies and members of the ruling regime. The (P)NDC in 19 years sold over 300 state-owned enterprises under very bizarre and questionable circumstances. The deals were done behind closed doors without subjecting them to Parliamentary or public scrutiny. Nobody knows how much was accrued from the sale of such immensely valuable enterprises such as our rich gold mines at Obuasi, Tarkwa, Prestea and Dunkwa On-Offin, Bauxite mine at Awaso, Manganese mine at Nsuta and the largest timber firm in West Africa, the African Timber and Plywood (AT&P) with vast reserve and concession at Samreboi, to the state.

The NPP launched numerous innovate policies to revive the industrial sector such as the Venture Capital Fund to support industry, Presidential Special initiative on Cassava, Oil Palm, Salt and Garment Production. A garment factory was established in Tema, the Pwalugu Tomato factory was re-vitalized as well as the Juapong Textile Factory. The industrial sector under the NPP attracted a US$7.5 billion foreign direct investment into the sector-over seven times more than the NDC.

Corporate tax was reduced from 32% to 24% within the eight year period while microcredits were made available to micro-businesses through the setting up of Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), as well as support for small and medium scale enterprises. The NPP privatized only two state-owned enterprises, the Ghana Telecom and the Ghana Airways, all of which were put before the Parliament of Ghana. Parliament scrutinized and gave approval to the transactions, unlike those of the (P)NDC.

The NPP undertook to strategically acquire totally, the assets of VALCO, Ghana's flagship aluminium company from its previous owners, Kaiser and Alcoa of the USA. This was to enable Ghana to set up its own aluminum smelting based industry backed by the huge bauxite deposits in Awaso and Nyinahini. Industry experts state that the successful exploitation of Ghana's rich untapped bauxite reserves through VALCO, combined with efficient and cheap power and an efficient railway infrastructure will launch Ghana on to the path of heavy industrialization, transforming the economy and massively boosting employment.

These acheivements are real, but the NPP is so lazy to tell its story. Daavi please give me four tots.

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