As Nana Addo turns 77 years today, Monday, March 29, 2021, Pulse.com.gh takes a look at the issues talked about since he took over as President.
He is away in Spain to attend the "Focus Africa 2023" conference, being held in Madrid but there are several good wishes from many Ghanaians on social media on his birthday.
However, Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has described President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo's achievements as "phenomenal".
Here are some achievements by Nana Addo in government as he celebrates his 77th birthday.
- Free SHS
The President, making good his promise of free secondary education, declared that, beginning public senior high schools (SHS) would be free.
By free SHS, there will be no admission fee, no library fee, no science centre fee, no computer lab fee, no examination fee, and no utility fee; there will be free textbooks, free boarding, and free meals, and day students will get a meal at school for free.
Free SHS will also cover agricultural, vocational and technical institutions at the high school level.
- 100,000 graduates employed under NaBCO
The government said about 100,000 graduates had been employed through the Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme.
In October 2018, the President commissioned the passing out ceremony for 100,000 beneficiaries under NABCO modules which include Feed Ghana, Educate Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Heal Ghana, Enterprise Ghana, Digitise Ghana, and Governance Ghana.
Nana Addo at the passing out ceremony admonished the recruits not to consider the GH¢700 stipends as free money but should work hard to earn it.
- Nursing trainee allowance restored
Trainee nurses lined up to thank President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for restoring their allowances scrapped by the previous government.
The allowances will see over 58,000 trainee nurses and midwives in the various public nursing and midwifery schools receive a little over GH¢400 every month.
The allowance, which was scrapped by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was met with strong resistance from the nursing trainees who complained bitterly about the difficulties it had brought upon them.
The NDC government insisted the continuous payment of the allowances would threaten the future of Ghana's economy.
- National Digital Property Addressing System
As a move to realizing the vision of formalising the Ghanaian economy, Nana Addo launched the National Digital Property Addressing System, "ghanapostGPS".
The launch of the National Digital Property Addressing System is a fulfillment of one of the campaign promises made by the New Patriotic Party, in its bid to win the December 2016 elections.
The informal nature of the economy, Nana Addo explained, has affected the nation's ability to broaden the tax base, deepen and widen financial inclusion, and deliver services to those most in need.
- One district, one factory project
Nana Addo inaugurated the government's one district, one factory project, with the promise to drive industrialization across the country.
At least 173 factories are ready to be rolled out as part of the initiative.
The 173 projects will be carried out by private businesses with support from the government.
The one district, one factory project marks a giant step towards the fulfillment of major promises made by the NPP in the heat of the 2016 elections.
Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta in the 2019 mid-year budget review in Parliament hinted that work has started on 15 factories under One-district, One-factory (1D1F) initiative.
They included a pineapple processing factory in the Ekumfi District, a pineapple and orange processing factory in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) municipality, a cassava starch processing factory in the Fanteakwa District, a cashew processing factory in Tema, a fruit processing factory in the West Akim District, a shea butter processing factory in the Accra metropolis, an avocado processing factory in Ningo-Prampram and the cultivation and processing of sweet potato into bread, chips, and biscuit in Gomoa West.
Others are manufacturing and distribution of pharmaceuticals in the Nsawam-Adoagyiri municipality, the Accra metropolis, and the Suhum District.
The rest are the manufacturing of agricultural inputs in the Tema metropolis, garment manufacturing in the Accra metropolis, and a tile and brick production factory at Tanoso in the Brong Ahafo Region.
- Focus of economic policy from taxation to production
The focus of the government's economic management is to shift emphasis from taxation to production. This strategy aims at stimulating growth in the private sector to accelerate job creation and prosperity.
In 2017, the government reduced the tax burden by more than GH¢1 billion through the abolishing of some taxes and the restructuring of others.
Taxes abolished included the 17.5 percent VAT/NHIL on Financial Services and the one percent Import Duty on Spare Parts. Also removed was the VAT on Real Estates, domestic airlines, and some imported pharmaceutical products to ease the burden on the National Health Insurance Scheme.
In February 2018, the government further reduced the Special Petroleum Tax for consumers at a time of rising oil prices on the international market.
The strategy on revenue mobilisation is to enhance performance by automation of systems, plugging of leakages, improving tax compliance and administration, review of taxes, and culture change.
The government is determined to widen the tax net and to make it fairer, simpler, and convenient for citizens to meet the obligation of contributing towards national development.
To ensure that government achieves the 2018 revenue targets, we have brought some reforms and measures into the tax regime. These initiatives will improve the efficiency of our tax administration, reduce costs and enhance taxpayer services.
- Cleaned up the mess in the financial sector
The government led by Nana Addo claimed it that inherited and saved the deposits of 4.6 million depositors following the cleaned up in the banking system.
The government criticised former President John Mahama for failing to show leadership to resolve the financial meltdown in the country during his tenure of office.
It noted that Mahama rather kept the banks and other financial houses in their comatose state till they died, instead of allowing the Regulator (Bank of Ghana) to perform its work independently as required by the law.
- Ghana exits IMF programme
In 2019, Ghana has officially exited the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.
Ghana entered a US$925.9 million three-year arrangement with the IMF in April 2015 following issues with the economy.
It was extended for an additional year on August 30, 2017.
The final tranche of the payment hit government accounts on March 29, 2019.
The arrangement was aimed at restoring Ghana’s debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability to foster a return to high growth and job creation while protecting social spending.
During the programme implementation, there was a freeze on employment into government departments except for those under education and health.
But with the efforts of Dr. Bawumia and his ministers, Ghana formally and successfully completed the IMF programme that the country inherited in 2017.
- Pension scheme for cocoa farmers
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo outdoored the Cocoa Farmers Pension Scheme which aims to guarantee a decent pension for cocoa farmers in Ghana, so they can maintain a good standard of living after retirement.
The scheme is in fulfillment of a 36-year-old provision in Section 26 of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) Law 1984 (PNDC L.81) which mandates COCOBOD to establish contributory insurance for Cocoa Farmers.
Nana Addo said the establishment of the pension scheme was not just in fulfillment of the legal mandate but in line with the plans to improve the living standards of cocoa farmers in Ghana.
- AngloGold Ashanti restarts Obuasi gold mine
AngloGold Ashanti Ghana, a wholly-owned subsidiary of South African gold miner AngloGold Ashanti, has restarted operations at its Obuasi gold mine after mining activities were suspended five years ago.
Producing first gold on budget and a tight schedule is a significant achievement for the company, for the community at Obuasi, and Ghana as a whole.