Election 2020: CDD Compiles Key Issues To Shape Parties’ Manifestos

Panel members on the Manifesto Project organized by the Center for Democratic Development Ghana (CDD Ghana) have called on political parties in the country to design manifestoes that address critical developmental issues in the country.

The program was to propose research-based ideas to help shape and guide the manifesto promises which will be made by political parties in the 2020 elections.

The various speakers at the event in Accra on Thursday, July 2 discussed critical areas of the economy needed for Ghana’s progress.

Employment

Head of the Economics Department at the University of Ghana, Prof. William Baah-Boateng who spoke on employment pointed out the non-existence of reliable data on the unemployment rate.

He said this makes it difficult to assess political party announcements made on job creation.

“If I want to be controversial, I will take something like NABCO which is something that is difficult to convince the politician. However, if you break the NABCO down and you do a lot of analysis, you wonder if it is a public sector or decent job or what kind of job. If you talk of a decent job, you will have some kind of social protection as part of it. One other thing is pension; are they paying social security?” Health

On his part, Senior lecturer and health economist at the University of Ghana Business School, Dr. Abekah-Nkrumah expressed worry that Ghana's health system is not built to withstand a pandemic such as COVID-19.

He argued that a sustainable health insurance scheme would have insulated the health system from all the shocks posed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The issue is, are we able to pay the National Health Insurance to be able to pay a market premium for their services? Because it could be an avenue for dealing with efficiency within the production centres. Now when you talk about the issue of quality, over the last couple of years, we have focused on delivering investments in infrastructure all over the place. But the simple issues with quality are still there. How are we harnessing the sort of investments we have made over the years to be able to deliver services that are sustainable and quality that meet the needs of the ordinary Ghanaian?”

CDD is expected to in the coming days embark on data and evidence gathering from sources independent of the political parties, and the commissioning of papers to inform policy options towards socio-economic transformation.

The Center will also have several public engagements with stakeholders, political parties, and the media with the purpose of stimulating public discussion on key governance and developmental issues.

---citinewsroom