Sustainability of National Development Requires Upgrade, Reset, Restoration, and Restructuring: Razak Kojo Opoku

The current state of Ghana requires a combination of upgrading, resetting, restoring, and restructuring across all sectors of the economy, particularly in relation to the numerous unprofitable, counterproductive, and redundant policies and programs.

Comprehensive sustainability in national development is achieved through the continuous improvement of effective policies, alongside the upgrade, review, reset, or discontinuation of others.

Policies and programs such as the Free SHS Policy, One District One Factory, One Constituency One Ambulance, the Digital Economy (Digitization & Digitalization), Roads & Infrastructure, etc., call for an upgrade.

Issues like cronyism (appointment of a large number of family members and friends to government positions), nepotism, favoritism, winner-takes-all politics, the undermining of private businesses, corruption, nuisance taxes (including the E-levy), galamsey (illegal mining), youth unemployment, the National Cathedral construction, unprecedented national debt, the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme, the activities of the Bank of Ghana, and the downgrade of Ghana’s credit ratings call for resetting.

Good governance, accountability, adherence to the rule of law, discipline, non-interference in state institutions, the integrity of the judiciary, good moral values, the protection of fundamental human rights, tolerance of divergent views, and the absolute independence of the media call for restoration.

The economic architecture or structure of Ghana urgently requires restructuring to address the fundamentals of the economy, including macroeconomic, microeconomic, fiscal, and monetary policies. The rapid depreciation of the cedi, coupled with high interest rates, unstable inflation rates, and a higher debt-to-GDP ratio, calls for restructuring the economy of Ghana.

Where Ghana has reached, we cannot rely solely on upgrading or resetting to further develop the country for the greater good of all or the majority of citizens.

We cannot upgrade the flawed policies and programs of Akufo-Addo’s government or those of previous governments, especially Mahama’s administration.

Similarly, we cannot reset all the excellent policies and programs of Akufo-Addo’s government or those of previous governments, particularly Mahama’s administration.

There is a need to upgrade and restore the good policies and programs while resetting and restructuring the bad ones from both the current and previous governments.

For instance, in June 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched the Great Reset Initiative, aimed at facilitating recovery from the global COVID-19 crisis in a way that prioritizes sustainable development. The Great Reset Initiative covers three major objectives:

Creating conditions for a “stakeholder economy.”
Building in a more “resilient, equitable, and sustainable” way, utilizing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics.
Harnessing the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
It is quite challenging to pinpoint the exact policy anchors of the NDC’s ‘Resetting Ghana’ agenda.

How do we reset Ghana without policy anchors and an economic framework enshrined in the manifesto?

A 24-hour economy is suitable for upgrading the economy, not resetting it.

How do we upgrade Ghana without first paying necessary attention to restructuring the economy?

How do you holistically upgrade Ghana without providing Ghanaians with a concrete and detailed policy synergy of the macro model of corporate entrepreneurship and innovations, as well as micro model enterprises?

How do you implement the Great Transformational Plan without an upgrade, reset, restore, and restructure? The 10 Pillars of the Great Transformational Plan (GTP) are not detailed enough to address the multidimensional problems of the national and local economies of Ghana.

As for the smaller parties and the over 20 independent presidential candidates, almost none of them have any superior intellectual policy document for the socioeconomic transformation of Ghana. They are only behaving as “attack dogs” and acting as interest-driven pressure groups in our democracy.

Not every policy or program needs resetting.

Not every policy or program requires upgrading.

Some policies and programs, in fact, need outright deletion or discontinuation, effective January 8th, 2025.