Policy think tank Imani Ghana has described the Nana Akufo-Addo-led New Patriotic Party (NPP) government as having made reasonable progress towards implementing some of the promises made in its 2016 manifesto.
In what the think tank termed ‘IMANIFESTO18’, a presentation of an assessment of the NPP’s first year in office was done.
IMANIFESTO is a periodic analytical report by Imani Ghana that helps to determine the feasibility of manifesto promises, the level of execution of such promises and their impact on citizens.
The exercise, which previously rated governments in quantitative terms with marks between 0 and 100 percent, adopted a qualitative methodology this time around.
The assessment centered on key sector indicators such as the economy, health, education, energy, infrastructure and governance.
Government was assessed based on the 147 economic promises in its manifesto; 73 on governance, 25 on education, 45 on health, 37 on energy and 73 on infrastructure.
According to the report, government has made some progress in achieving the 147 economic promises in 2016.
“Government appears to be on track doing some of the things that it said it was going to do within its first year,” Head of Research at Imani Patrick Stephensen said.
He noted, however, that there is more room for improvement regarding certain policies rolled out by government.
“There are things that they need to look at,” he pointed out, “if not by the end of the 4th year we may rather wake up laughing at the wrong side of our mouths.”
He also mentioned issues bordering on the stability of the micro economy and its true reflection in the daily activities of Ghanaians.
Trade and industry, revenue mobilization, increasing agriculture, job creation and the One-District, One-Factory initiative were some of the positive variables that scored high.
The restoration of the nursing and teacher trainee allowances and Free SHS policy were some of the high points for the government under the education sector.
There were, however, concerns on equity versus quality as well as logistics and financial sustainability.
It therefore cautioned the government to be wary of just ticking off promises from a checklist without solving actual problems.
By Catherine Frimpongmaa|3news.com|Ghana