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Introduction
Elections bring many promises from political parties and their presidential candidates. Generally, candidates for elections present promises, ideas, and policies that are designed to entice voters to them and eventually propel the country to its full potential if such promises are implemented.
In the events leading to the 2024 Ghanaian election, the leading parties presented their manifestos, promising Ghanaians a lot of goodies. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) launched its manifesto on Aug. 24, 2024. On the other hand, candidates for the then ruling party, the New Patriotic Party (NPP), presented its manifesto on Aug. 4, 2024.
Both parties had several similarities in their manifesto. DUBAWA highlighted the similarities in the link here.
Fast forward to elections, the NDC had a resounding victory with an impressive 184 Members of parliamentary majority.
But these promises and the resounding victory in Parliament must mean something to Ghanaians. At the very least, once the candidate in opposition has won power, citizens expect to see an attempt to manifest the fine manifesto promises in the new ruling party’s policies.
Cassiel Ato Forson, Minister of Finance, started that journey by presenting the 2025 budget on March 11. DUBAWA seeks to highlight key promises in the NDC’s manifesto that were featured in the recent budget.
Manifesto promises on the economy
The NDC promised to scrap “draconian taxes,” which was plunging the average Ghanaian household into economic distress and poverty in the former government. Specifically, the NDC promised to abolish:
- E-levy
- Emissions Levy
- 10% levy on bet winnings.
- COVID-19 levy.
- Import duty on vehicles and equipment imported into the country for industrial and agricultural purposes.
2025 Budget Statement
In the 2025 budget statement, the finance minister affirmed the government’s commitment to remove the following “nuisance taxes:”
- 10% withholding tax on winnings from the lottery, otherwise known as the “betting tax.”
- Electronic Transfer Levy (E-Levy) of 1%.
- Emissions Levy on industries and vehicles.
- Value Added Tax (VAT) on motor vehicle insurance policy.
- The 1.5 tax on winning of unprocessed gold by small-scale miners.
However, the COVID-19 Levy will be abolished as part of VAT Reforms, which are scheduled to be completed “this year,” with guidance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Promises on gender-specific policy fulfilled
The manifesto promised some gender-specific policies to help women. The NDC promised to introduce a Women’s Development Bank initiative to offer loans to women in business. The 2025 budget has allocated GH¢ 51.3 million as a “seed fund” to fulfil this pledge.
“Mr Speaker, we have also allocated GH¢ 51.3 million as seed fund for the establishment of the Women’s Development Bank,” the finance minister told parliament.
Also, the NDC promised to distribute “free sanitary products” to girls to relieve them of the financial stress associated with menstruation. In the 2025 budget, the government has allocated GH¢ 292.4 million to distribute sanitary napkins to females in primary and secondary schools.
Promises on job creation and apprenticeship fulfilled
In its manifesto for the 2024 election, the NDC promised to curb the country’s increasing unemployment rate, especially among the young. See pages 27 to 31 of the NDC’s promises on job creation.
“The current unemployment crisis has been occasioned by reckless economic mismanagement, rampant corruption, waste, and a disconnect between government policies and job outcomes. Increasing hopelessness and desperation have compelled many to join the mass exodus of Ghanaians in search of greener pastures – a phenomenon called ‘jakpa’ by the youth. This poses a significant threat to our fledgling democracy. Thus, job creation will be a high priority for the next NDC government,” the manifesto stated.
To create jobs and decrease the rate of unemployment, the NDC promised to implement the 24-hour Economy Policy, the National Apprenticeship Programme, the ‘Adwumawura’ programme, and the Digital Jobs Initiative.
In the 2025 budget, the government allocated GH¢ 300 million, GH¢ 100 million, and GH¢ 100 million to implement the National Apprenticeship Programme, the “Adwumawura” programme, and the National Coders Programme, respectively. The National Coders Programme is under the Digital Jobs Initiative.
The government has yet to send the 24-hour Economy Policy to parliament for consideration. However, to ensure the policy’s smooth operation, the government has allocated GH¢13.85 billion to the “Big Push” Programme, which seeks to ensure infrastructural growth as a foundation for the broader 24-hour Economy Policy.
Educational promises fulfilled
There were several promises on education. Though decrying the current state of senior high school education, the NDC promised to improve the free senior high school policy by providing a “dedicated and sustainable funding source.”
Toward such fulfilment, paragraph 200 of the budget statement indicates that the government has “uncapped” the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to cater as a dedicated source of funds for financing free senior high school education.
“Mr Speaker, this year, the budget for the free secondary education programme is GH¢3.5 billion. By uncapping the GETFund, we will be making available an additional GH¢4.1 billion to the GETFund, specifically for financing the free secondary education programme and other related expenditures,” Ato Forson said.
Similarly, the uncapping of GETFund will ensure the availability of dedicated funds to cater to the tertiary education of Persons with Disability (PWD).
Also, the then-presidential candidate pledged to introduce the “No-Fees- Stress” or “No-Academic- Fee” policy, which seeks to cater to the seemingly stress-free transition from senior high school to public tertiary institutions for first-year students. Find other promises on education on pages 39 to 42 of the manifesto.
Paragraph 196 of the 2025 budget speech indicates that the government has allocated GH¢ 499.8 million to implement the policy.
“Mr Speaker, an amount of GH¢ 499.8 million has been allocated for the No-Academic-Fee policy for all first-year students in public tertiary institutions under the “No-Fees-Stress” initiative,” the astute economist told parliament.
In addition, as promised in their 2024 manifesto, the 2025 budget allocated GH¢ 203 million for payment of teacher trainee allowances.
Key Health Manifesto Promises and the 2025 Budget
The NDC, in their manifesto, promised Ghanaians “Free Primary Healthcare” to ensure that everyone receives quality and holistic healthcare. The 2025 budget has “uncapped” the National Health Insurance Levy to cater for this. This will raise GH¢ 9.93 billion. For 2025, the amount allocated will also cater for:
- Claim payments
- Essential medicines
- Vaccine payments
- USAID financial shortfall
- Ghana Medical Trust Care (MahamaCares), among others.
In addition, to cushion trainee healthcare professionals, the budget has allocated GH¢ 480 million as nursing trainee allowances, as promised in the 2024 Manifesto.
Key promises yet to be fulfilled
Although the NDC promised to abolish “import duty on vehicles and equipment imported” for industrial and agricultural purposes, the 2025 budget did not emphatically state any taxes related to doing business at the ports and harbour that have been scrapped yet. The budget promised to “review all taxes, fees and charges” at the port.
“Mr Speaker, Government will, in addition, reduce the cost of doing business at the Ports by conducting a review of all the taxes, and charges, to remove those that are inimical to importers,” paragraph 259 of the budget stated.
Also, the NDC promised to implement the 24-hour Economy policy initiative. However, no budget allocation was made for it. The finance minister told Parliament that the policy would be presented to them “in due course” for consideration, but this does not give certainty when the policy will be implemented.
Conclusion
To reset Ghana, the finance minister presented the first budget for the current administration on behalf of the president, John Dramani Mahama. The budget seeks to fulfil key promises made to Ghanaians. However, the key question is how these promises will be fulfilled efficiently and effectively.
