Some 50 promises Mahama made in 2020 NDC manifesto

 The opposition National Democratic Congress on Monday launched its 2020 manifesto ahead of the December 7 polls.

It is an event that attracted almost all those who matter in the NDC, except the founder Jerry Rawlings who sent a representative.

Themed: “Jobs, Prosperity and more: The People’s Manifesto,” it captured the party’s vision and aspiration for the country.

Theghanareport.com compiled a list of some of the notable promises the NDC is hoping will woo voters as the country prepares for the 2020 elections:

• Amend National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) to allow workers who have contributed for a period of ten (10) to fifteen (15) years to use their contributions as collateral to access mortgage loans.
• conduct a forensic audit of the entire financial clean-up exercise including the Ghana Amalgamated Trust Plc (GAT.
• Investigate the circumstances and the printing of high-value GH¢100 and GH¢200 denomination notes.
• Pay pensioners an annual thirteenth-month bonus
• Establish a specially tailored pension scheme for the informal sector and incorporate a provision for unemployment benefits for workers such as farmers, drivers, fishermen, traders, market women and artisans.
• Utilise tier 2 contributions to set up a Mortgage Assistance Fund to support workers to own their homes.
• Limit the areas of operations of the deposit-taking MFIs to the regions where they operate.
• Put a ban on the export of unrefined gold produced by the small-scale mining companies in Ghana, via the establishment of gold refineries in gold producing regions of the country in conjunction with the private sector.
• Promote local production of hygiene products for women including sanitary pads through training and support for start-ups to support the free distribution of sanitary pads to school girls.
• establish agro-processing factories in various districts in collaboration with the private sector such as fruit processing in Lower Manya, cashew processing in Bono and Bono East Regions and Pito Brewery in the Upper East and Upper West Regions etc.
• upgrade the Ohawu Agriculture College [in the Volta Region] to University of Agriculture and Agribusiness,
• Construct irrigation dams across the country.
• Provide Free Primary Healthcare for all cocoa farmers b. exempt all cocoa farmers from NHIS premium payment for secondary and tertiary care c. create a biometric database of all cocoa farmers and made available at all cocoa clinics so that at any point in time, cocoa farmers and their dependents can have access to free healthcare at the cocoa clinics in the various cocoa growing regions in Ghana.
• The next NDC Government will ensure the establishment of a pension scheme for cocoa farmers so they can enjoy pensions in their old age as already captured under the pensions sector.
• set up a system of legal aid for creative artistes to help fight creative/intellectual theft and plagiarism by others e. pass the Creative Industry Bill into law and implement it to promote the development of the industry
• Re-issue confiscated legitimate mining licenses to miners .
• Return seized legitimate concessions to their owners.
• Provide free anti-snake serum.
• Reward healthcare workers who accept postings to rural communities and underserved areas with a five-year work abroad programme.
• Expand the 37 Military Hospital
• Waive import fees, provide tax waivers and guarantee credit to manufacturers to increase the production of PPE
• abolish the mandatory national service and teacher licensure examinations for graduate teachers.
• Restore automatic employment of newly trained teachers.
• Provide pre-school facilities closer to markets, ministries and city centres to ease the burden of child-care on mothers and promote productivity while the children learn e. encourage the private sector to invest in pre-schools and recreational facilities for their workers.
• expand the Free SHS programme to cover students in private Senior High Schools in underserved/deprived areas.
• Abolish the double-track system.
• Provide free Technical and Vocational Education at the secondary and tertiary levels b. implement a free National Apprenticeship Programme by establishing centres in TVET institutionsin districtst.
• Provide free training and sponsor youth for free apprenticeship training with certified master craftsmen/women.
• provide tax reliefs for working parents with special needs children to enable them pay for 24-hour care for the children while they are at work.
• Absorb fifty per cent (50%) of fees of tertiary students for the 2020/2021 academic year as an incentive to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on students and parents.
• Abolish the mandatory national service and teacher licensure examinations for graduates of the Colleges of Education.
• Restore automatic employment of newly trained teachers.
• Provide free tertiary education for persons with disabilities
• Liaise with some banks and other financial institutions to launch the Zongo Housing Scheme to provide support for affordable housing in Zongos and Deprived Urban Settlements.
• Liaise with some banks and other financial institutions to launch the Zongo Housing Scheme to provide support for affordable housing in Zongos and Deprived Urban Settlements.
• Upgrade the Winneba Sports College into a state-of-the-art Sports University with campusesin selected regionsto enhance the human resource base and development of sportsin the West African sub-region to provide opportunitiesfor training and capacity building in sports management and administration as well as sports management and science.
• Continue and complete the New Edubiase Stadium started by the NDC Government.
• Establish sports recreational facilities in communities in every district.
• Embark on a US$10 billion accelerated infrastructural plan, dubbed the ‘Big Push’, which will drive jobs and the entrepreneurial agenda.
• Establish a special purpose port at Keta.
• Commence work on a railway line from Tema-Accra- Cape Coast-Takoradi; Tema-AccraKumasi-Kintampo; and Takoradi-Kumasi-Kintampo.
• Construct a Central Railway Terminal connecting the Accra Central Business District with Eastern and Western parts of Accra and the Kotoka International Airport.
• Legalise the use of commercial motorcycles known as okada, and tricycles and regulate the industry to make it safer by training the riders, ensuring they observe necessary safety precautions and mandating them to provide helmets for their passengers.
• Implement a National Mortgage Assistance Scheme and rent-to-pay agreements over fifteen to twenty years for public sector workers and workers in private employment.
• Provide free training to one million (1,000,000) youth from varying disciplines to equip them for coding and programming; web and apps development etc.
• Create a minimum of 250,000 jobs per year under the Edwuma Pa programme over the next 4 years.
• Launch “Operation STING” as an anti-corruption crusade, which will involve massive far-reaching and practical Governmental reforms as part of our integrity for development action plan.
• Pay Assembly Members
• Absorb the medical examination bills of rape victims
• Scrap law that bans the import of salvaged vehicles