Ghana needs a development agenda devoid of political manifestos – MP

Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency, Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah, has posited that policymakers in Ghana must move beyond the era of political manifestos to an era of developmental manifestos.

He explained the need for government to push for the creation of a new initiative that will ensure that development is key in public policies.

Through what he termed as “developmental agenda”, projects that are undertaken by various scientists and institutions would be implemented to bridge the gap between science and policy.

“This country should have a development agenda devoid of political manifestos. So if we have that development agenda, then we must push on every platform for Ghana to stop political manifestos and then we continue with the development agenda of policies,” he said.

According to him, “even in the implementation of these policies, we the politicians, whether the person has the capacity to execute the job or not, we don’t care.”

Mr. Ashiamah further suggested that the government should develop a concise budget to ensure that research works conducted by Ghanaian scientists and researchers see the light of day.

“Then the government of today must commit enough budget from this particular agenda we have so that those projects will be implemented,” he opined.

He added that nepotism, corruption and political biases are factors that hinder developmental growth in the nation, thus, must be discouraged.

Daniel Kwesi Ashiamah made these submissions at a policy discussion hosted by BRECcIA Ghana on how the gap between science and policy can be bridged.