Economic forum reflects flaws in NDC – CPP

The Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has said the National Economic Forum and the adoption of the Senchi Consensus is a reflection of the failures of the development policy of the Government.

The party questioned the basis of the Senchi Consensus as it would not be able to address the economic woes of the country.

It pointed out that any scientific approach to the solution of the current economic crisis should have taken into account the economic development history of the nation as started by the CPP.

Addressing the media on Thursday on CPP’s position on the Senchi Consensus, Madam Samia Yaaba Nkrumah, Chairwoman of the CPP, noted that the SC had shown a deceptive and feeble commitment to the transformation of the structure of the economy, describing it as anti-poor and definitely not in the interest of the nation.

The occasion was also used to mark the 65th birthday of the CPP which was established at Tarkwa on 12 June, 1949.

She said that any objective study of the economic development of the history of the country would acknowledge the relevance and superiority of the development achievements of the CPP Government and the disruptive results of externally dictated policy of structural adjustment and neo colonialism that was given a stamp of approval in the Senchi Consensus.

Ms Nkrumah who is also the leader of the party listed the numerous investment of the CPP Government that covered every area of human need “from atomic reactor to rattan production”.

She said the CPP’s investments in food security, export and import substitution manufacturing and the diversification of the agricultural export commodity sector were guided by the Nkrumaist development policy guideline of reconstruction of the colonial economy that it inherited.

“The objectives of these investments were intended to develop an internally sustained development capacity to promote a balanced growth of the economy, improve the poor terms of trade, increase foreign exchange earnings, reduce import expenditure and achieve a trade surplus”, she added.

She said the CPP Government built more schools, hospitals and residential estates than any regime in the political history of Ghana.

She advanced a list of development policy alternative to the SC for the growth of the economy which included a review of the policies of trade liberalisation, exchange rate, fiscal and monetary policy exchange and interest rates and a proactive role for the central bank in national development”.

“It is an irrefutable fact that the development achievements of the CPP is unsurpassed by any regime in the economic history of our country and the nation in recognition of these achievements should return the CPP to power for the pursuit of its human-centered and development policies”, she added.