- It is sad to actually admit but it appears that in Ghana we are approaching things from a reversed perspective due to unguided politics.
Written By Kwame Owusu Danso - I have always talked about Rwanda and their President H.E Paul KAGAME without having a firsthand experience of how their system is and how it's operated.
Well, I'm in Rwanda at the moment and I would want to do a quick policy comparison between here and my beloved country Ghana.
Poverty alleviation plan
I can admit that all countries in the world have not been able to fully solve and uproot the issue of poverty. However, it is important to recognize varied efforts from countries that are working around the clock to see at least a certain level of growth in that department. Rwanda has had a couple of poverty alleviation policies and its implementation is always connected to the National Development Policy - thereby ensuring that there's a symbiotic relationship between sectorial plan for poverty reduction and medium- long term development plan. Giving oxygen to this hasn't been a mere rhetoric and you'd find that there have been frantic efforts at achieving same. This thinking gave birth to what they describe as The Government of Rwanda Poverty Reduction Strategy.
READ ALSO: RWANDA, THE SINGAPORE OF AFRICA
The Government of Rwanda strongly believes in the right of all its people to live a life free from poverty, hardship, oppression and insecurity. Rwanda’s Government is committed to securing for all its citizens a full range of social, economic and political rights and to working with its people to reduce poverty and exclusion. Since the war and genocide of 1994, they have achieved considerable progress in economic, political and social recovery by adopting radical reforms. They have developed a coherent strategy for sustainable development and poverty reduction, avoiding the economic stagnation which characterised the past. This is not in the books for reading purposes, it's been implemented.
I can tell you for a fact about how even their land reform regularization policy and its implementation is geared towards alleviating poverty in this country. There's is what they call Habitat Agenda, and ART 75 of this Agenda clearly elucidates quite vehemently how they’re using their land tenure system to alleviate poverty.
It is sad to actually admit but it appears that in Ghana we are approaching things from a reversed perspective due to unguided politics. I got to know about the AFRICAN PEER REVIEW MECHANISMS (APRM) which Ghana adopted in 2005 but from then till today not a single target has been achieved!
The so many VISIONS of Ghana’s long term development plan and its implementation from former president Rawlings right down to The current president never saw ( maybe will) the light of day.
I read the supposed Ghana Development Policy and the other policies and I was engulfed with emotion owing primarily to the fact that there is NO connection between all the other sectors of the Economy and the National Development plan (If there's any currently).
When you pick up the Rwanda National Development Policy, all the other sectors are connected to the National plan (E.g. How the National Youth Development plan fits into their Agenda for the next 20-30yrs) thus there's is coherence vis-a-vis direction in the approach and a foreseeable implementation plan.
Ghana's growth can be likened to a Ship in the Middle of an ocean with the Captain thinking about survival when the ship is not even sinking.
If we have to develop as a Nation, we must first decouple politics from reality and deal with challenges head-on irrespective of our political divide.
For those persons always defending their political Parties blindly, ask yourself, in the next 10yrs how would Ghana be like?
We Need a mid- long term radical, home-grown developmental plan, that is Achievable and will not drive us to engage in unfounded and unrealistic political rhetoric.
I'll share my experience on Discipline and leadership in the coming days.
Godspeed
Kwame Owusu Danso
#GhanaFirst🇬🇭
