An Economist, Dr. Adu Owusu Sarkodie, has criticised the lack of plans for generating revenue in the manifestos of the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress.
Speaking on The Big Issue, he expressed concern with the lack of attention paid to Ghana’s fiscal deficit.
“If the manifesto is concentrating on only the expenditure side leaving the revenue side, then it means we are not paying so much attention to the budget deficit and the public debt,” Dr. Sarkodie remarked.
He stressed that more attention needed to be paid to the supply side as far as the various pledges from the two party’s are concerned.
“It is always about the demand side. But how do we get the revenue? How do we get the resources?”
Beyond this, Dr. Sarkodie also argued that the 2020 manifestoes of the two main political parties did not cater to the aspirations of a lower middle-income country and a desire to improve macro-economic stability.
“We need to go in for upper-middle-income country status. For ta medium term to long term plan, I want to see that but it doesn’t seem like I see that is in the two manifestos,” he said.
In line with this, he was also hoping for more of an emphasis on the prospects of the economy post-COVID-19.
“We need to pay attention to what is happening to our economy now and how we must all get out of it. So you cannot have a manifesto that is not paying the first attention to the economic slow down caused by COVID.”
On the NDC side, its overarching goal is to deliver jobs and economic prosperity.
The opposition party’s manifesto is divided into six key areas: fixing the economy, promoting human development, providing infrastructure for growth, providing decent jobs, good governance and corruption and deepening international relations and foreign affairs.
One of the highlights of the NDC’s manifesto is the $10 billion accelerated infrastructural plan, dubbed the Big Push.
For the NPP, the programmes and policies contained in its 2020 Manifesto were geared towards improving on the perceived gains chalked in the first term of President Akufo-Addo.
The party’s priority is to continue the nation on the path of social and economic transformation.
