The Vice President and Presidential Candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has announced policies he would implemented to tackle the high cost of living in the country when elected as President in 2025.
He argues that the cost of living in the world has increased massively following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war and stated global inflation increased from 1.55% in 2016 to 8.27% at the end of 2022 which is a fivefold increase!
“Ladies and Gentlemen, a major priority of my government will be to reduce the cost of living” Dr Bawumia announced when he addressed the nation yesterday Wednesday, February 7, 2024, at the UPSA auditorium on his vision for the transformation of Ghana.
In particular, Dr Bawumia noted the increase in the cost of living has been driven by increases in food prices, energy prices, housing (rents) and transport prices. He asserted any attempt to reduce the cost of living on a sustainable basis must therefore tackle agriculture, energy, housing and transport prices and that is what he would do.
“I want a Ghana where we attain food security through the application of technology and irrigation to commercial large scale farming. We will also 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. Ghana 52 has an abundance of limestone to do this. I will prioritise the construction of the Pwalugu Dam by using private sector financing to crowd-in grant financing” he stated.
Public transport
The Vice President said his administration will adopt the use of electric vehicles for public transportation which in his view will reduce the cost of public transport between 30-40%. He added the public transport pricing formula is dominated by two key variables; the price of fuel and the price of spare parts.
However, he posited that electric vehicles do not use petrol or diesel and spare parts are minimal and that is what will bring down the fares for Electric Vehicle (EVs).
He emphasized, “More importantly, transport fares for EVs will be stable and the constant and large increases in fares will become a thing of the past.”
Housing
Tackling the issue of housing in Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said his government will partner with the private sector to build large housing estates without the government having to borrow or spend. He noted the country will have a major focus on the provision of Public Housing in the same manner that Singapore has done
“Also, the 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.”
Energy
The NPP Presidential candidate has also promised to implement policies that would propel the country to achieve energy self-sufficiency at reduced cost through solar and other renewables with the application of market efficiency to the energy market.
“We will diversify the generation mix by introducing 2000MW of solar power and additional wind power through independent power producers to reduce our dependence on oil and gas by the end of my first term in office.”
He added, “This will significantly reduce the cost of electricity. The fact that current residential, commercial and industrial consumer’s power is still neither reliable nor cost competitive is a testament that the regulatory and administrative measures so far implemented have not fully achieved the objectives we have set for ourselves in dealing with the legacy issues we inherited.”
