Strengthen security agencies - IEA

Accra, May 31, GNA - A Survey Findings by the Institution of Economic Affairs (IEA) has called on government to strengthen the security agencies in its effort to fight crime in promote safety.

It said government should expedite actions on appointing the independent prosecutor to deal with corrupt public officers.

Dr Eric Osei-Assibey, a Senior Economist IEA, presenting the findings on expectation of Ghanaians on the new government said the citizenry expected government to create more jobs as one of the high priorities while building infrastructure was the least for them.

He said majority of the people considered government to introduce free education but the urban areas prefer more quality education than free.

'The higher the educational level of the people, the higher they think quality education is a priority,' he added.

He said some regions such as Upper East, Upper West and Volta regions expected government to focus more on quality education.

He said the survey revealed that, some Ghanaians expected the government to build more infrastructure, others called for revision or review of the National Health Service Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and improvement on quality health service.

He said the critical issues that government must address were sanitation, improvement of water to various households, ending of 'dumsor' and also reduce utility bills.

'People are concern more on the cost of utilities, electricity in particular and expect government to find a way to reduce the cost of these utilities,' he added.

Professor Ransford Gyampo, the Research Fellow at IEA, said government should create the enabling environment for more jobs to be created and accelerate the implementation of its policy on one district one factory and planting for foods and jobs.

He said the rising cost of utility bills has been a burden to the populace, so the government should constitute a body which would investigate, review and improve billing systems in Ghana.

He urged government to review and strengthen the NHIS to deal with all bottlenecks, corrupts practices and inefficiencies that have stalled the smooth running of the scheme.

'In the area of education, government should not compromise on quality while putting measures in place to promote free education at the senior high level,' he added.

He said the priority of some Ghanaians was in the area of fighting against corruption and they expect government to concentrate on investigating corruption and punish public institutions involved.

Mr Justice Emile Short, Senior Fellow at IEA said Ghana was confronted with several socio-economic issues which include the rising cost of utilities, unemployment, limited access to affordable health care, unreliable power supply, crime and corruption.

He said following the release of the 2017 budget the IEA in partnership with the Centre for International Private Enterprise took a survey to investigate and to seek the opinion of the public on the expectations on the new government, he added

The findings of the survey which covers the areas such as the economy, environment, education, health and governance

Mr Short said the result provided is an opportunity to access whether the policy priority of the government was in line with the expectations of Ghanaian people.

'It is the IEA's hope that the survey findings will guide the new administration's policy and prioritization process and shape government programme for the year 2017,' he said.

GNA

By Morkporkpor Anku/ Theophania Dzadza, GNA