Economist at the University of Ghana Business School, Prof. Godfred Alufar Bokpin says the economic promises recently made by the leader of the New Force Movement are theoretically good, but lack a clear implementation plan.
The leader of the New Force Movement, Nana Kwame Bediako on Sunday organized a virtual launch of his manifesto where he out-doored an ambitious ’12 pillars for Economic Freedom’ blueprint.
Bediako’s economic plan includes a regional industrialization agenda, mobilization of US$50 billion in investments from the diaspora, building a 200 tons gold reserve, construction of a seedling bank to maintain 100 years of food security, reforming SSNIT, improving internal freight transportation by water, railway development among others.
Speaking in an inclusive interview with The High Street Journal, Prof. Bokpin admitted that these bold solutions are what the country needs at the moment even though they may not make sense given the present situation.
“Certainly, where we find ourselves, we need bold leadership and bold leadership is fundamental to reset the economy. To that extent, you will need a leader who will think outside the box. Sometimes some of the things they may be saying may not make sense but it does not have to make sense now because some of them are more futuristic and you need to have that eye to see,” he said.
However, the economist is concerned whether these ambitious and bold promises made by Nana Kwame Bediako and other parties have been properly conceptualized with clear pathways to achieving them.
His apprehension stems from the age-old practices where politicians make overly ambitious promises without proper feasibility studies and cost and benefit analyses just to sound convincing to the electorates.
In his view, this explains why there is a huge gap between the manifesto promises and what they actually deliver when given the opportunity.
“In my considered view and also based on observations, since 1992 promises differ significantly from actuals. They differ significantly. In fact, some of the promises the parties are making, I’m not sure they have sat down to look at the implementation and all that is required. They have not and how they are linked to other things they are saying.”
He added that “the biggest challenge is whether they have fully conceptualized what it will take to fully implement them. More so under the current constraints, remember you can achieve your objectives but your ability to achieve those objectives is subject to certain constraints so you have to situate all of this within those constraints, fiscal constraint, and all of that.”
Prof. Bokpin believes these promises are very great on paper and sound like the solutions needed to transform the economy. However, without a clear plan for implementation and funding, they will forever remain manifesto promises. He is therefore measured in his expectations since most of them lack concrete plans to achieve them.
“For the optics, yes it is very good and if you check, across almost all of them, they are making promises that they have not cost it.”
