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on food. This is unacceptable. Atta Mills will want to begin a renaissance in agriculture. We will want, at the end of our term, to ensure that the Ghanaian spends much less on food. How do we intend to do this? We intend to double production of cereals and other staples and the cultivation of vegetables, fruits and even flowers. Indeed, ladies and gentlemen, there is no country in the world which has succeeded in agriculture without paying attention to one important ingredient; that is water. Unfortunately these days, due to climatic changes we cannot rely on rainfed agriculture. For this we are going to rehabilitate all the irrigation projects that we have in the country and even establish new ones in designated areas. But our flagship irrigation project is going to be the canalisation of the Accra Plains consisting of 178,000 hectares of land. I want to remind you, ladies and gentlemen, that this was indeed an important, but unimplemented programme of Kwame Nkrumah with regard to his Volta River Project. We shall also establish a factory to produce fertilizer in the Western Region using our gas reserves. Next, we are going to continue our agro afforestation, which we bequeathed to the NPP. This time round we are also going to encourage bamboo cultivation. Ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to poultry it is a very sad story. In 1992, 95% of the poultry consumed locally came from local sources. At the moment, due to the unbridled importation of poultry products, local poultry sources account for only 10%. The poultry industry is near collapse. We want to reverse this trend. We are going to impose tariffs and duties on imported poultry products and this can be done in accordance with WTO rules. We will also reduce the cost of poultry feed and finally help poultry farmers reactivate their businesses, through the establishment of a poultry sub-sector fund. When it comes to fishing, the activities of foreign fleet and trawling activities have indeed led to a situation where our fish stock is seriously depleted and where the livelihood of some of our fishermen is being adversely affected. We propose to reserve a 200-mile exclusive economic zone for purposes of conservation. This can be done under the new end law of the sea and during this period trawling will be monitored and regulated. Now when it comes to pre-mix fuel we will attempt to remove the bottlenecks associ- 6
ated with its production and distribution. And within that, the interest of fishermen will be best served if the pre-mix fuel is made the responsibility of our chief fishermen. Ladies and gentlemen, any country which ignores education does so at his own peril. Now let’s look at pre-school and primary education. In this 21st century, it is unpardonable and unacceptable for children to acquire education under trees, dilapidated structures and life-threatening sub-structures. It is not good. We will take steps to rehabilitate these structures. We will also, in addition, extend the school feeding programme to cover all primary schools. We will, in addition, take seriously the de-worming exercise and also in cases where the people cannot afford school uniforms, we will give them standard school uniforms. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, when it comes to secondary education I must say that the Prof. Anamuah Committee did a very professional job. But when it came to the level of political decision-making, the NPP government thought it was important to put its seal on the educational reform programme by tinkering with the component on secondary education. Now the tinkering indeed, appeared very petty in certain respects especially the change of name from Junior Secondary School to Junior High, Senior High. One will ask what will the NDC do? Are you going to reverse the decisions? The answer is no. We do not want education to be regarded as a football to be kicked around by parties in power. What we intend to is to convene a meeting with all the stakeholders and all political parties so we agree on the way forward. There is also the problem of access. At the moment only half of the people who qualify for secondary education gain access. In our time we were able to provide 250 secondary schools. In the 7 and half years of the NPP government they have provided only 15; we have a shortfall of 300. We need to do something about this. When it comes to the curriculum now in this globalised world, demand driven areas happen to be creative arts, French, Spanish, Sciences, etc. These subjects in addition to religious and moral education will be included in the curriculum and then emphasised. Indeed, the Constitution stipulates that education should be progressively free. We will take steps to ensure that over a period we are able to achieve some 7
Page 1 and 2: Delivering On Your Promises: IEA Gh
Page 3 and 4: The Institute of Economic Affairs (
Page 5 and 6: PREFACE The Institute of Economic A
Page 7 and 8: 1. AN EVENING ENCOUNTER WITH PRESID
Page 9 and 10: consider this unacceptable. Even mo
Page 11: HIV/AIDS. Indeed, about a week ago
Page 15 and 16: ing glory to the efforts by the GNP
Page 17 and 18: QUESTION AND ANSWER SECTION Matilda
Page 19 and 20: youth, who are the future. Here we
Page 21 and 22: Now you ask about the language we a
Page 23 and 24: teaching will no longer be taken in
Page 25 and 26: It tells you that where you have a
Page 27 and 28: Ernest Owusu Aboagye, Pharmaceutica
Page 29 and 30: their full dignity. We have a lot o
Page 31 and 32: of you come to me under cover of da
Page 33 and 34: Harry Williams: Prof. you spoke ext
Page 35 and 36: Akwasi Sarpong, JOY FM: Prof Mills,
Page 37 and 38: know that it is not the state’s d
Page 39 and 40: Indeed we have cases where there is
Page 41 and 42: what you are saying. That is what m
Page 43 and 44: teachers, the teacher is at the cen
Page 45 and 46: issue if we think that NHIS alone i
Page 47 and 48: get enough. We’ve already said th
Page 49 and 50: As a young lecturer I used to think
Page 51 and 52: • We look at the judiciary - is t
Page 53 and 54: Dr. Nduom that the time has come wh
Page 55 and 56: Prof. Mills: I have two. I would ha
Page 57 and 58: Question: According to the 2000 Pop
Page 59 and 60: Prof. Mills: I will say that afford
Page 61 and 62: Question: You have each touched on
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There is the perception that we are
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with you. You may have heard our di
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THE INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS I
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