Mr Isaac Tellar
General manager, Sunset Hotel, Kumasi
As someone from the tourist industry, I expect the government to initiate policies and programmes that would enhance accelerated development of the industry.
The government can do this by actively supporting the proprietors of the tourist industry in terms of facilities and affordable loans from the banks. This would enable the proprietors put up more facilities of international standards, which would in turn attract tourists into the country.
The effect would be that tourists will appreciate the facilities and recommend them to their business partners abroad and encourage them to also visit the country.
With such support, the industry can generate enough revenue comparable to gold, timber and cocoa and this will go a long way to enhance the country’s socio-economic development.
For now, the tourism industry is performing quite well, but there are a lot of things that need to be done to take it to another level of development.
Besides additional facilities of international standards, the training of human resource within the sector is also very important.
I am saying this because some of the proprietors of the tourism facilities are new to the industry and do not have enough knowledge about the sector. It is therefore important that at least they are provided with some basic knowledge as pertains in the industry.
The government should as well support the Ghana Tourist Board in terms of logistics and other essentials to enable it exercise its supervisory role effectively.
It is equally important that the government offers assistance to people in the private sector who are interested in investing in the tourism sector of the economy.
Majority of contracts in the tourism sector go to foreign companies to the detriment of local enterprises. It is time the government offered some of such contracts to local contractors to boost their morale and also as an effort to retain funds in the country. Such retained funds could help build the economy rather than put them in the hands of foreigners who would use such funds to develop their countries.
It is important also that national security is improved and given a boost. The security services must be provided with attractive salaries, good accommodation, equipment and facilities that would improve their service delivery.
Nana Osei Tweneboah Koduah
Retired Banker
The change in government is good for the nation and I expect the government to move in a direction that would boost the national economy as quickly as possible.
With the country having come by oil, it is important that the government initiates policies that would attract foreign investment.
I expect also that the government would pay much attention to public opinion instead of rigidly sticking to its own policies and programmes even if they are not of national interest.
The previous government concentrated on the construction of flyovers in the urban communities to the detriment of the construction of feeder roads that would have helped in evacuating foodcrops from the rural communities to the urban centres.
The government should endeavour to develop the road infrastructure in the rural communities to enable farmers transport and market their produce easily in the urban centres.
With regard to the school feeding programme initiated by the previous government, I look forward to its extension to cover all schools in the country.
The National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) was one of the good legacies of the previous government and I expect this government to futher develop it to enable the ordinary Ghanaian source for affordable health services without much sweat.
I am saying this because it is when the people are in good health that they can concentrate on productive ventures that would go a long way to sustain the growth of the economy.
It is equally important for this government to initiate policies that will quickly reconcile the people. The election was very close and some of the rhetorics on the political campaigns were divisive as there
seem to be bitterness among a section of the populace and this is disturbing.
Nana Batafo
Akyampong Nti II,
Konongohene
The government faces a lot of challenges because public expectations are very high.
In terms of infrastructure development, education, health, agriculture and job creation among others, I expect this government to perform better. As such policies and programmes that would speed up development in these areas are very crucial.
Infrastructure development in all sectors such as health, education, water, sanitation, and agriculture as well as the welfare of the populace are urgently required so the onus lie on the government to justify the confidence reposed in it by the electorate and endeavour to initiate programmes that would impact positively on the lives of the people.
Konongo, like other municipal capitals, has only one second cycle institution and it lacks many facilities.
Which undermine efficient teaching and learning.
The lack of accommodation especially for the teaching staff in many educational institutions spread all over the country, affect the intake of students at the beginning of each academic year.
This problem of accommodation is not limited to second cycle institutions alone but even to the tertiary level where students spend millions of cedis to pay for their hostel accommodation.
It is therefore time that government initiated infrastructure development on a grand scale both in second cycle and tertiary institutions nationwide to reduce this problem.
This would enable parents invest monies that would have gone into hostel accommodation in other enterprises. chiefs should be prepared to provide land for the development of schools infrastructure.
On chieftaincy, I expect the government to decentralise the institution. Some chiefs are sidelined when it comes to decision making at the district level and so I believe that with the decentralisation of the chieftaincy institution, there would be District House of Chiefs, where major decisions could be taken at the district level.
I am saying this because there are a lot of divisional chiefs who are not only highly educated but also proficient and experienced in many fields. However, such chiefs are always sidelined when it came to discussing national issues.
Ms Sophia Brobbey
Student, Christian Service University College
No country can develop without promoting technology, hence my expectation from the newly elected government would be for it to collaborate with Apostle Dr Kwadwo Safo to take technology initiatives to a higher level in order to enhance the development of Ghana.
The Apostle has proved over the years that given the opportunity and support, he could bring Ghana at par with the developed world in terms of technological advancement.
Governments in Europe and Asia, actively supported their people who are well versed in technology with financial assistance but the same cannot be said here in Ghana.
I think Ghana would be the eventual winner if the Government supports Apostle Safo in his research into the production of vehicles and other heavy duty machines on a large scale.
When this is done, agriculture can be modernised to enable Ghana become self sufficient in the production of food and cash crops.
Over the years, farmers in Ghana have shown that they can produce food in large quantities, if they were supported financially. Mention could be made of local rice production. We have the land and the human resource to produce and export surplus food, but I wonder why measures have not been taken to take full advantage of the land and human resource in this direction.
It is for this reason that I expect the present government to take the bull by the horn and initiate policies and programmes that would enable Ghana produce food in large quantities.
This would go a long way to improve the growth of the economy and thereby help the government delve into areas that would create jobs for the youth to enable them support sustainable socio-economic development.
With regard to the school feeding programme, I expect the government to expand it to cover all basic schools in the country. This is because only few students in the basic schools enjoy such a laudable programme.
Rockyfeller Amudzi
Businessman
I expect the new government to live up to expectation. It must invest in the human resource base of the economy and improve upon the economy as a whole.
The government must work quickly to alleviate the hardships that the people faced during the last regime.
It must also carefully consider the manufacturing sector of the economy which is at the brink of collapse. Local industries must be given protection in order to survive foreign competition so that they can play a meaningful role in the economy.
I expect the President to have a listening ear. Additionally, new ministers must live by example and above reproach. They must not be arrogant but remain humble and listen to the people in whose interest they have been employed to work.
The people of Ghana must also lend a helping hand to the government and endeavour to offer constructive criticism when necessary.
Mr Kwaku
Adu-Aninkorah
CEO, Makeown Group of Companies
In the first place, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Professor John Evans Atta Millis for his victory.
For us in business, we expect that the President would put in place measures that would quicken the pace of development in the private sector in terms of availability of funds and the laying of sound infrastructure to entice people to invest in the sector with the ultimate aim of reducing unemployment in the country.
Secondly, I would appeal to the President to use his immense skills and knowledge to bridge the political divide that had crept into our social fabric.
I expect him to endeavour to spread the national cake evenly, just as he stated in his maiden speech that he would be a father to all. It is my hope that he would make good his promises and do things that would bring Ghanaians together .
It takes time to put programmes in place that would alleviate poverty. For the youth on the street who are a major concern to all, the government should put pragmatic measures that would take them off the streets and be given employable skills.
This would reduce the crime rate, especially armed robbery which creates panic among the public.
Sanitation and cleanliness should also be a priority of the government.
Change is inevitable in life, and I expect that the change that has taken place in Ghana will come with progress for Ghanaians, so that by the end of the four-year term, he would be judged by his initiatives, policies and programmes.
I also anticipate that the government would develop storage facilities nationwide to reduce the waste that occurs during bumper harvest seasons as well as support farmers financially with loans with moderate interest rates to enable them expand their farms.
I think that it was also time that Ghana moved away from the production of raw materials with regard to agricultural production and rather diverted its attention to the addition of value to our produce to enable the country generate adequate income form agriculture.
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