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Budget Statement & Economic Policy For 2019: Cuts Ghana Key Inputs -Part Ii

Feature Article Budget Statement  Economic Policy For 2019: Cuts Ghana Key Inputs -Part Ii
NOV 4, 2018 LISTEN

EDUCATION & PUBLIC TERTIARY INSTITUTION
A transportation and Logistic Firm for Public Universities can Reduce Universities Cost of Operation

Government should consider placing ban on public universities spending so much resources on buses and other forms of vehicles. Rather, an out-sourced service company can be made to provide transportation and logistics services at reduced prices. Some universities prioritize vehicle purchases over spending resources on teaching and learning. For example, transport firm in Accra can be made to provide transportation and logistics for UG, GIMPA UPSA, Accra Technical Universities, and all the SHS instead of allowing each department, college or institution to have buses whose utilization is less than 15%.

National Science and Technology Endowment Fund. Government should consider setting up National Science and Technology Endowment Fund. Sources of funds can include: consolidated fund, GETFUND, 10% of tuition collected from Ghanaian and international students fee paying students, levy on lottery winnings, etc. This will help strengthen research and scholarship in the field of science and technology. Currently donors fund most of the research works in the country. Donors choose their research interest which sometimes might not line up with our national research priorities. Ability to for the country to fund its own research will mean that we can own our research work.

Scrape teacher and nursing training allowances, and rather pay for the cost of boarding and lodging. This will free funds to be spent on key priorities areas like building of CHP Compounds and strengthening education and health sector at the rural and deprived cities.

National Service Waiver for Students on Start-up Projects

Students who at the time of graduating from the university and have come out with any project idea or start-ups idea, such a person may be exempted from national service. This will allow the student to spend time to develop and nurture the business ideas under mentorship program under the tutelage of NEIP. A monthly stipend, which is equal to the national service allowance, should be paid to those students.

Students who take loans to study be made to deduct the interest of the loan from the tax liabilities. When a company takes a loan for expansion or for capital investment, it becomes a cost of operations. Subsequently, such a relief should be extended to students who take loans to study in Ghana only. Once the person starts working, all the interest paid on the loan be can be deducted from their tax liability (PAYE) at the end of the year. Those who fall under this category should apply to the GRA, and the bank must include original bank statement of the loan account for verification.

JOB CREATION
Centralized Recruitment Portal for Employment into the Public Sector.

Recruitment in to the public service over the years unfortunately has been through the back doors especially entry level. Positions are not advertised publicly to allow for competitive hiring process. This perhaps explains why the public sector is non-competitive. To address this government should set up centralized recruitment portal for public jobs to ensure that the public service gets the best of the talent. This should apply to SSNIT, GBC, FDA, GSA, VRA, DVLA, ECG, and the MMDAs. People should be hired on merit.

Job creation within Ghana Posts
To create jobs in the postal services, and to increase e-commerce, government can consider allowing all passports, drivers’ license, company registration certificates and other be delivered by courier services (Ghana Post/EMS). Also people wanting to register their company can be asked to submit their forms at Post Office where the clerical checks be done and the form couriered to the Registrar General Office for processing. This can reduce congestion at the RGD Offices. We can take clue from how some diplomatic missions nowadays operate. ECG, Ghana Water Company can also deliver their bills through courier.

Jobs Creation for the TVET Sector
Some automobile companies have expressed interest in coming to set up their assembly plants in Ghana. Government needs to develop the TVET sector well so that these firms can be mandated to source some of their car parts from the Ghanaian market. In this way, we can create more jobs for the economy. In India, it is mandated that foreign automobile companies source a minimum number of parts from Indian firms locally.

Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR)
Government should ensure CSR expenditure outcomes leads to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Government should encourage voluntary compliance on this. An annual ranking on how CSR helped addressed SDGs can be published by government in collaboration with the private sector.

Tourism Development across The MMDAs: One District One Tourism Potential

Domestic tourism has the potential of creating jobs. For this reason, MMDAs should map out all tourist and potential tourist cities in their jurisdiction. A dossier can be prepared on each and by government can explore PPP approach in funding the development of those sites.

**Editor Note: CUTS is a public policy research and advocacy think tank working in the areas of consumer welfare, competition policy and law, economic regulation, trade and development, good governance and public finance. For more information contact: [email protected] or 024.392.0926 or 0302245652.

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