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A Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Alex Segbefia, says the Mills administration is a listening government and will consider those proposals laid out by the NPP flag-bearer which are feasible and progressive.
“I think there is a lot that can be learnt; I mean we are a listening government and we have a president who listens and you also have to hear what others are saying even if they are your opponents and therefore one has to scrutinize clearly what Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is saying and what the NPP are saying to see whether we can improve [on] anything that we are already doing, [for] there is always room for improvement,” he told Joy FM’s Super Morning Show Friday morning.
Mr Segbefia was speaking to a number of policy proposals made by the flag-bearer of the opposition New Patriotic Party at the maiden edition of the Danquah Institute’s Liberty Lectures.
Nana Akufo-Addo proposed to, when elected president, institute an Economic Development Authority (EDA) to be “the lead government agency for planning and executing strategies to make Ghana a truly global business destination. The Ghanaian entrepreneur is calling for a policy that looks after his or her interest on the same basis as the foreign investor who is here to supplement our own local efforts.”
Nana Addo explained that the “EDA’s mission will be to create for Ghana, sustainable economic growth with vibrant businesses and good job opportunities. The Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Minerals Commission, Free zones Board, Ghana Export Promotion Council, and Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) will all need to be merged into the EDA. The EDA will develop a Local Content Policy to facilitate the greater participation of Ghanaians in the general scope of the economy.
“We believe that government must be pro-active in providing the environment plus the opportunities for the private sector to create and share wealth for the greatest benefit of society,” he added.
The Deputy Chief of Staff said he understood the rationale for the proposal being put forth by the opposition leader given that the government on assumption of office merged revenue agencies such as the Value Added Tax (VAT), the Internal Revenue Service and others into the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
He however believes there will be a duplication in the proposition of Nana Addo.
“In some ways, when you listen to some of what has been proposed, it appears to be a duplication…and also, a lot more emphasis should actually, in my humble opinion, be put on ensuring that the individual agencies who have various tasks to perform actually perform their tasks and then perhaps this will not be necessary because if people are not performing, bringing them together does not enhance performance of itself,” Mr Segbefia said.
He said the NDC government was already doing a lot to strengthen the institutions Nana Addo intends to merge under the EDA.
“GIPC is trying to get off the ground;…there is drive by this government to make sure that those who are trying to come in and register [their businesses are able to do so easily], the whole idea of one-stop-shop, so I do not think that bringing them together of itself would solve the problem; there is already a one-stop-shop concept,” he said.
Mr Segbefia said he thinks Nana Addo’s proposal has more to do with politics.
Source: Myjoyonline