Govt disappointed at NPP’s boycott of forum

The government has expressed disappointment at the decision of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to boycott the National Economic Forum, which starts in Akosombo today.

It has, however, indicated that it is unshaken by the last-minute decision of the main opposition party, since there is every indication that the forum will go ahead successfully, based on the positive responses received from invitees.

Briefing the Presidential Press Corps on preparations made for the forum at the Flagstaff House Monday, a Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Felix Kwakye-Ofosu, stated that the NPP was not the only entity invited to the forum.

Earlier at a news conference, the leadership of the NPP had declared that the party would not be part of the forum.

It said its decision followed the government’s failure to give advance notice to the party and making available the “base document” that would inform it on the issues to be discussed at the forum.

 “We received a letter of invitation from the seat of government on May 9, this year to be part of the national economic forum that is scheduled to begin on May 12, 2014. 

“The letter, signed by the Executive Secretary to the President, was dated May 2, and in spite of the short distance between the Flagstaff House and the NPP  Headquarters, it took more than a week for the letter to be hand-delivered,” the party said.

Paul Afoko

At a press briefing at the NPP Headquarters in Accra Monday, the National Chairman of the party, Mr Paul Afoko, said, “This shows a lack of seriousness on the part of the government towards this important national exercise.”

“How can a government call stakeholders to such an important forum at such short notice and expect any meaningful contribution in this national dialogue?” he asked.

“This is a clear manifestation that the government is just being disingenuous and that the supposed national economic forum is really intended to be a PR gimmick calculated to keep the people of Ghana in the dark about the real state of the economy,” he added.

He was joined at the briefing by the General Secretary of the party, Mr Kwabena Agyapong; the Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, and the First Vice-National Chairman, Mr Freddie Blay.

But at the Flagstaff House, Mr Kwakye-Ofosu said he had read the NPP statement on the boycott and that "it is regrettable that such a decision will come at this time".

He emphasised that for the NPP to take a position of such nature based on speculation was most unfortunate.

Denial

Mr Kwakye-Ofosu said it was untenable for any group of persons to say that there was no need for the forum because the government had already presented its economic policy document to the IMF.

He explained that the objective of the forum was to share ideas and build consensus on the economic future of the country, as the nation prepared to move away from a lower middle-income country to an upper middle-income one.

"The forum is not called to address short-term economic challenges, as some believe," he stated.

Mr Ofosu-Kwakye said the invitations sent to political parties gave them the leeway to send representatives of their choice to the forum.

Ben Malor

The Head of Communications at the Presidency, Mr Ben Dotsei Malor, said participants in the forum were coming from all shades of society, including academia, Parliament, civil society organisations, the private sector, among others.

Mr Malor, who is also the Presidential Spokesman, said, "The forum is important for all Ghanaians, as it offers a platform for the people to gather and agree on important measures to help Ghana lift itself from a lower income to an upper middle-income status."

He said the President would officially open the meeting at 8.30 a.m. and expressed delight at the interest generated in the forum so far.

From that development, he said, "it will be unfortunate at this stage for anyone to find an excuse to go out of this national broad-based forum”. 

"We encourage all the people to gather and give to Ghana first," Mr Malor said.

NPP’s press conference  

Mr Afoko had stated that barely a day to the national economic forum, the NPP was still unaware of the “base document” and its content to be used at the forum, a situation that he said “deprived the party the opportunity to scrutinise, critique and make any meaningful impact”.

“Article 55 (3) of the Constitution provides: ‘A political party is free to participate in shaping the political will of the people, to disseminated information on political ideas, social and economic programmes of a national character’.

“Pursuant to this, if a party is invited to a national economic forum properly so-called, the party must prepare itself adequately to make a meaningful impact,” he said.

The NPP Chairman said information available to the party suggested that the government had already adopted a set of reforms between 2014 and 2017, including the retrenchment of workers, and had communicated such intention in its policy document to the IMF, titled, ‘Economic and financial policies for the medium term’ and dated April 14, 2014.

“This document contains what the government describes as ‘home-grown policies’ and was formally submitted to the IMF during the recent Spring meetings in Washington, DC.

“The question is, if the government has already adopted a set of policies and has already submitted it to the IMF, what is the purpose of convening a national economic forum to deliberate on what to do?” Mr Afoko asked.

Public workers to be retrenched

He also said Ghanaians were aware that Parliament had recently approved a $30-million facility, which had a grant component of $10 million, from the World Bank for capacity building of the Ghana Statistical Service, where “300 of its workers will be sacked soon”.

“This forms part of the general agreement that the government had with the World Bank and the IMF to downsize the civil and public office staff strength. This resort is what the John Mahama-led government is purposed to pursue, beginning 2015,” he said.

He added that the IMF had, over the years, routinely reported on the state of the economy after every Spring meeting and it appeared for the first time that in Ghana’s economic history the government had refused to grant consent for the publication of the 2014 Article 4 consultations with the IMF.

“What is gov’t hiding from Ghanaians?”

“The question is, if the government has nothing to hide, then why has the report not been published? This feeds into the perception that the NDC government is behind the total blackout of the report from the public,” he said.

“Why is this government comfortable in sharing details of its economic plans with the IMF, while at the same time hiding such plans from Ghanaians?” Mr Afoko further asked.

In principle, he said, the NPP was not against a national economic forum, adding, “However, in its present form, it offers no opportunity to significantly engage in the process.”

“However, by organising this economic forum, we believe the Mahama-led government is at it with the usual deliberate policy propaganda and PR gimmick, attempting to hoodwink the good people of Ghana in the face of the monumental hardships we have all been subjected to.

“We believe that if the government’s intent on its declared ‘home-grown’ initiatives is anything to measure the goal and objectives of the forum, then it is abundantly clear that the purpose of the forum is to create a platform to legitimise proposals that have been formed up between the NDC government and the World Bank and the IMF,” Mr Afoko said. 

“Let’s implement best practices”

For his part, Mr Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said the failure of the government to make available the base document to the NPP had deprived it the opportunity to scrutinise and critique issues to be discussed, hence being in a position to offer alternative ideas for the benefit of the country.

Mr Agyapong added that it was time Ghana adopted best international practices that required the government to forward documents to stakeholders in advance to enable them to make informed decisions and make better contributions towards a national dialogue.

“Best international practices in places such as Kenya and Nigeria require that the government make available documents two months in advance to all stakeholders prior to a national discussion,” he said.