Areas where Bawumia aims to depart from the current NPP government's policies include the abolition of the Electronic Payments Levy (E-Levy), making National Service a voluntary exercise instead of mandatory, reviewing the Free Senior High School policy, abolishing VAT on electricity and excise duties on betting, and utilizing digitalization to ensure tax compliance and combat corruption.
Bawumia unveiled his economic plan, emphasizing lean government, private sector growth, tax reforms, and technological advancement in preparation for the presidential election.
Pulse.com.gh lists the 70-point plan of Dr. Bawumia to transform the country if given the nod in the general election.
1. A growth mindset curriculum to help students build critical skills such as problem solving, risk-taking, opportunity spotting, and design thinking.
2. Enhance the repositioning of the education system towards STEM, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and vocational skills to cope with the demands of the fourth Industrial Revolution and job creation.
3. Expand infrastructure at medical schools as well as the Ghana Law School to support an increase in admission for students for medical and legal studies.
4. Enhance fiscal discipline through an independent fiscal responsibility council enshrined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2018 (Act 982).
5. Reduce the number of Ministers to 50
6. The Fiscal responsibility Act will also be amended to add a fiscal rule that requires that budgeted expenditure in any year does not exceed 105% of the previous years tax revenue.
7. Reduce the fiscal burden on government by leveraging the private sector.
8. Introduce a very simple, citizen and business friendly flat tax regime. A flat tax of a % of income for individuals and SMEs (which constitute 98% of all businesses in Ghana) with appropriate exemption thresholds set to protect the poor.
9. Tax amnesty
10. Electronic and faceless audits by GRA
11. No taxes on digital payments. The e-levy will therefore be abolished.
12. No VAT on electricity (if still on books)
13. No emissions tax and
14. No betting tax
15. Tema port will be fully automated.
16. A new policy of aligning the duties and charges at Tema port to the duties and charges at Lome Port
17. Spare parts importers duties will be at a flat rate per container (20 or 40 foot).
18. Collaboration with the private sector, we will train at least 1,000,000 youth in IT skills, including software developers to provide job opportunities worldwide.
19. Empower the private sector to create modern, sustainable and well-paying jobs for the youth.
20. Reduce the cost of Data by working with industry players in setting clear policy guidelines that will remove any investor uncertainty and difficulties in business planning.
21. Expeditious allocation of spectrum.
22. Make it easy for Ghanaians to obtain passports, under my government, any Ghanacard holder will only have to pay a fee for a passport.
23. an e-visa policy for all international visitors to Ghana to enable visas to be obtained in minutes subject to security and criminal checks.
24. Attain food security through the application of technology and irrigation to commercial large-scale farming.
25. Promote the use of agricultural lime to reduce the acidity of our soils, enhance soil fertility and get more yield from the application of fertilizers.
26. Prioritize the construction of the Pwalugu Dam by using private sector financing to crowd in grant financing.
27. Adoption of electric vehicles for public transportation.
28. Partner with the private sector to build large housing estates without the government having to borrow or spend.
29. National Rental Assistance scheme (which is working so well) will be enhanced to deal with the problem of demands for rent advance of two years and more.
30. Diversify the generation mix by introducing 2000MW of solar power and additional wind power through independent power producers.
31. More private sector participation in generation and retail.
32. No import duty on solar panels.
33. License all miners doing responsible mining.
34. As long as miners mine within the limits of their licenses (e.g No mining in river or water bodies), there will no longer be any seizure or burning of excavators.
35. Fully decentralize the minerals commission as well as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ensure that they are present in all mining districts.
36. Collaborate with the large mining companies, convert abandoned shafts into community mining schemes.
37. Open more new community mining schemes.