The day I witnessed the passing of the baton - Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko writes

Sunday marked a monumental watershed for the New Patriotic Party, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and, in a small but deeply spiritual way, for me personally.  Its commemorative relevance could not have been lost on keen observers that it was the one most significant event that symbolised that for the NPP the baton of leadership has, indeed, been passed on. 

A party’s manifesto launch with a new presidential candidate is the strongest signal of the beginning of a new leadership era. The President, Nana Akufo-Addo, who had led the party for 16 years, put it so succinctly when I said to him on our way to the venue: “This is it, sir.” His response: “Yep!” with a big smile, “We of the generation that founded and built the NPP from the beginning are now handing over to the next generation.”

The occasion was the launch of the NPP Manifesto in Takoradi, exactly 111 days to the general elections. The document is rightly called the NPP 2024 Manifesto. But even more so, a manifesto is designed to capture the vision, set the priorities, and give us some clear indications of what gives a presidential candidate sleepless nights.  And, when there is a new leader, that leader’s vision is what drives the party’s future fortunes; steeped, of course, in the party’s philosophy and supported by track record.  

So, Sunday, 18 August 2024 was the day Bawumia engraved his own vision on the platform of the Danquah-Dombo-Busia tradition. After months of the opposition throwing brickbats at Akufo-Addo and his Vice President as a ‘destroyer’ and a ‘liar’, respectively, the ruling party used the occasion nimbly to show what it has achieved in the 8 years and roll out a programme for the future that says: ‘A  vote for Bawumia is a vote for both continuity and change.’ And, more so a transformational kind under a new leader with a new vision, who has never been President before.

It was an event I couldn’t miss. It was a humbling and emotional moment for me, a person who until recently was super-active in the realm of campaign strategies for over the last two decades; super-active in setting up and growing an ideological institute that offered critical support for the party, and super-active in Akufo-Addo’s long trek to victory in 2016. It was a proud moment for me, also, seeing many of the people I helped groom and worked with taking full charge of the new order and running with it, assuredly, as some of us draw down the curtain on frontline activities.

A prouder moment, of course, was for the President. Akufo-Addo’s demeanour, as his Number 2 man for 16 years laid out in 105 minutes, his vision and programmes for the 2024 general elections, made it obvious to all that he was in no doubt that he had handed over the baton of his party leadership and will also, hopefully, be handing over the affairs of state to a ticket he knows has the capacity to take Ghana to the next big level. 

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy, the Indian billionaire and co-founder of Infosys, who celebrates his 78th birthday today (Tuesday 20 August), made a statement which captures the mood of President Nana Akufo-Addo Sunday. Murthy, when transitioning to Chairman Emeritus of Infosys, said, “When you run a part of the relay and pass on the baton, there is no sense of unfinished business in your mind. There is just the sense of having done your part to the best of your ability. That is it. The hope is to pass on the baton to somebody who will run faster and run a better marathon.”

Every President comes in with her own set of priorities, which, among other considerations, is informed by the situation she meets and where she wants her country to be. The problems are many and cannot all be tackled successfully over a term or two in office and even as you set out to tackle some, new ones may emerge. In fact, no manifestos are the same even when it is for a particular leader’s subsequent terms in office. Paul Kagame has not lost an election in Rwanda since 2000, yet, for last month’s contest, his RPF offered several new promises including new ways of tackling poverty, by “providing integrated package of interventions” to the needy.
 
America, like most countries, has faced its severest cost of living crisis since the Great Depression of 1933. Vice President Kamala Harris after recently blaming high prices of groceries on price gouging and profiteering by companies is promising to introduce a controversial federal price-fixing plan for the private sector if elected in November. This is part of her own set of sweeping initiatives intended to tackle America’s cost of living crisis.
 
Bawumia means business

The NPP’s 2024 manifesto is no different in promising continuity and change, even if bolder in stamping the new leader’s authority and direction on the party for the crucial battle ahead. I congratulate him for his bold vision! The manifesto lays out Bawumia’s comprehensive plan for Ghana. The document is strong on ideology, strong on empowering business, clear on how to create jobs, and protective of the social interventions that have become some of the hallmarks of the Akufo-Addo presidency. It makes a strong case to reconnect the NPP with the middle class and business community. But, most of all, it makes it obvious to all that Bawumia owns a vision and his must be seen as that which is directly in tune with the 21st century zeitgeist. He is serious about what to do with the mandate he seeks and he is serious about empowering businesses with it. In short, Bawumia means business.
 
Admirable is how he seamlessly weaves together the party’s philosophy of free enterprise,  shows continuity in protecting and deepening the successes of the NPP, like Free SHS, 1D1F, NHIS and Agenda 111, exhibits courage in departing from his boss in abolishing some unpopular policies like e-levy and betting tax, makes the case of being a problem solver, and points to examples of some of the problems he has solved even as Vice President, like Gold For Oil (G4O) to tackle forex exchange shortages, and puts out the most comprehensive tax reforms ever proposed for any African country but with the goal of stimulating economic activity, creating jobs, and ensuring broader and easier compliance.

Tax Amnesty 

Perhaps, the biggest immediate win for voters from January 2025 in the event of a Bawumia victory is his pledge to offer complete tax amnesty over a period and also full amnesty on all past penalties and interests.  It simply means, a victory for him in December should mean that the huge tax bill and/or usually even bigger penalties and interest that your business is being “harassed”  to pay will immediately vanish. What his team must do quickly, is to spell out the details to let employers and employees know what is in it for them. All initial feelers suggest that it is fast-gaining popularity in the big cities across the country, especially Accra, Kumasi, Koforidua, Tamale, Takoradi and Ho.
 
In his words, “To start the new tax system on a clean slate, my government will provide a tax amnesty i.e. a complete exemption from the payment of taxes due and the waiving of associated interest and penalties up to a certain year to individuals and businesses for failures to file taxes in previous years so that everyone will start afresh. In return, my government will expect the beneficiaries of this most significant gesture to invest such savings directly into creating jobs and expanding their businesses. Our ultimate goal is to move Ghana to a lower tax regime with broader coverage to stimulate greater economic activity and generate more revenue to the state.” There is clarity of thought, execution and of goals.
 
From figures available, even if this tax amnesty is from 2020 to 2024, the total private sector debts (businesses and individuals) to the GRA that will be forgiven should be a whopping amount. Even if the full amnesty is to cover up to 2022, the total debts (principal, interests and penalties) totalled GH¢5.64 billion. If stretched to cover up to 31st December 2024, the total value of the amnesty could be as much as GH¢6 billion.  Interest and penalties alone are projected to be GH¢1.8 billion, which can all be reinvested. I will urge the media not to wilfully indulge in talking down what this means to the Ghanaian taxpayer.
 
The vision that sets Bawumia miles apart is about his conviction“to build a Ghana where we leverage technology, data and systems for inclusive economic growth.”When he says,“I am determined to not let Ghana miss out on the Fourth Industrial Revolution as our continent did on the Industrial Revolution some centuries back,” it is a struggle to challenge him because he has backed it with action. And his ambition to prepare at least one million young Ghanaians in IT skills will generate a large pool for jobs and wealth creation if realised.

Gold for forex

Another exciting feature of the future Bawumia offers is his Gold For Forex (G4F) policy. He believes he has found a solution to a problem that all governments since independence had struggled to contain, obtaining foreign exchange to ease pressure on the cedi and he has a pilot since 2023 to suggest it can be done if scaled up. Gold is a universal means of purchasing foreign currency to shore up reserves and also an economy’s local currency. You may wonder why was this gold purchase scheme not a big feature under previous governments? Leadership is best tested under crisis and this administration used the 2022 global crisis to find a solution to an enduring problem.
 
The gold purchase programme has released over $5 billion into the Ghanaian economy in just 2 years simply by the Bank of Ghana using cedis to buy gold competitively as reserves and to sell on the international market. This is more than the $3 billion offered over 3 years under Ghana’s IMF programme. Yes, G4O has prevented queues at our fuel stations.  Indeed, through this gold purchase initiative, one of the biggest multinational companies in Ghana recently managed to repatriate GH¢3.1 billion cedis worth of dividends in foreign exchange within 45 days, an amount which had been outstanding for over 3 years. And, they did so simply by collecting the company’s cedis to buy gold for forex through the central bank after the intervention of the Vice President.
 
Whiles admitting that a structural transformation of the Ghanaian economy, with industrialisation and value-addition, is the ultimate goal, Bawumia’s policy is a major policy disruptive that will not only help bring about sustained macro-economic stability but also be a major creator of wealth for many ordinary Ghanaians connected to mining. This is because it serves as an additional incentive to another promise of his, the dawn of a new golden age for natural resources. It has been a revelation for many of us to hear that Ghana’s unexplored gold reserves are estimated at 5 billion ounces, carrying a market value today of $10 trillion dollars. A lot more can be achieved with it; but if responsibly done.. 

-    Finally, as the Chairman of the Africa Prosperity Network, which is keenly supporting the advocacy for continent-wide mobile money interoperability, I was mightily encouraged by Bawumia’s pledge to push for full implementation of Ghana’s “leadership role in achieving cross-border mobile money interoperability, among other payment systems, within the AfCFTA, to enhance buying and selling within Africa’s 1.4 billion consumer market,” an initiative championed at the AU stage by his boss. If, indeed, we are able to prepare from now on a strong modern army of young entrepreneurs and digital experts who can freely sell their goods and services across borders and to such a huge African market, then our competitiveness as a nation of inclusive enterprise and shared prosperity will be truly fulfilled.  

The author is Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko