Professor Akosa in Chicago

The man widely tipped to win the presidential elections in Ghana in 2008; Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, says the level of poverty in the country is unacceptable and shameful.

Professor Akosa made these remarks during a telephone interview with the Internationals press in Chicago, Illinois on Monday 20th August 2007.

Akosa said the poverty rate in Ghana is far higher than the government admits and stated that the first 2 years of CPP government under his leadership would focus on creating jobs through private/public partnership. Akosa explains that this would be achieved through policy interventions to raise the income of the poor.

Akosa said under the CPP’s 7 year development plan, policies aimed at achieving growth to benefit all Ghanaians would be pursue with vigour. He named some of the policies as macroeconomic stability, financial sector development banking, insurance, mortgage and pension), infrastructure development, including alternative sources of energy, security, education and primary health care, family planning, equitable distribution of resources and introducing technology into agriculture to increase production.

Akosa said the policies are quite comprehensive, but those that he has listed are specifically aim to achieve pro-poor growth.

Akosa said education and primary health care in particular would form key elements in his poverty reduction strategies. Akosa explained that education’s central role in the CPP’s 7 year development plan is aimed at improving social conditions of the poor.

Akosa was once a member of the famous Young Pioneer Movement of the CPP stated that “public expenditure on education and health has been acknowledge by all stakeholders as one of the main re-distributive channels for reducing poverty, and thus spending a proportion of our GDP on education and primary health care can be justified. Akosa said as society becomes more affluent they can take care of their educational and health needs.

Akosa said under the educational strategy to reduce poverty and ensure maximum skills training, areas such as:

Enrolment, access and gender equality Expenditure on education (primary and secondary) Quality and rates of return and skills training Akosa said the above policies would be monitored to determine its contribution towards poverty reduction strategy in such areas as the match between supply and demand of educational skills to labour/industry.

On housing, Akosa said millions of his compatriots are unable to afford basic housing due to high unemployment (estimated to be 70% of the population are unemployed), thus leaving millions of people unable to afford basic necessities in life. Akosa said the poor’s income amounts to only 20% of the total.

Akosa also mentioned HIV/AIDS pandemic and its high infection rate among those in the prime age range, and said this is adding to the development problem. The situation among the slum dwellers is near to crisis point.

Akosa said under the CPP housing policy, which he hoped to adopt into the 7 year development plan, set a goal of 100,000 houses to be in the 10 regions. Akosa said a minimum of 1 million low cost houses to be constructed within the first 4 years of CPP government. Akosa said under the 1992 constitution, states that everyone have the right to have access to adequate housing, and that is precisely what the CPP intends to do. He was emphatic that many of his people sleeping in front of shops and in kiosks are not acceptable. Akosa said the CPP’s goal regarding housing is to encourage everyone to own a piece of Ghana, and said that is the “Ghanaian DREAM” as envisage by the Osagyefu. Professor Akosa said the ability of the Ghanaian government to provide housing was restricted under the Structural Adjustment policies in the 1980s and the 1990s, thus the need to form a partnership with the private sector, banks and other stakeholders to ensure the government achieves it aim of low cost housing for the poor. Akosa said the Home Loan and Mortgage Act would be revisited to encourage banks to grant affordable home loans to the working people to enable them purchase their homes.

Akosa said the policy would include Rural Housing Loan fund to finance first class low income housing in the rural areas. Akosa promised to the CPP is still on course to provide electricity and water to every household in the land. He said CPP did in the 1960s and they are going to do it again.