Covid-19 or not the financial system must be restructured

Restructuring the economic system is essential. Many sectors of the financial state need aid, their advocates make persuasive arguments, but all sectors can’t be prioritized. Exactly where do we allocate constrained means? What guides prioritization? 

Do we spend in regions that can deliver the most influence for the most significant selection of folks with the most affordable cash flow?  Do we concentrate on huge job and prosperity generation? 

Do we aim on a strategic economic sector, which can crank out work instantly and into the medium time period?  Commit in agriculture, housing and health and fitness.

Agriculture is the 2nd biggest supply of livelihoods it is a superior effects sector.  Supporting the livelihoods of agricultural sector personnel positively impacts local economies as nicely as the nationwide economy. How do we commit below for most effect?

1. It is crucial that the governing administration implements procedures and techniques that are modest holder woman farmer welcoming. For instance, strengthening women’s obtain to extension products and services and credit history.
2. Federal government ought to focus on minimizing write-up-harvest decline by enabling a lot more on-farm agri-processing.  Importantly, government should really also make investments in the progress of proper very low price tag engineering for compact-scale agri-processing. This consists of the enhancement of photo voltaic dryers and solar refrigerators. 
3. Governing administration really should prioritize the use of agroecology strategies. For occasion, the ongoing fertilizer programme really should be reorganized so it completely takes advantage of domestically developed organic fertilizer.  In the same way, the authorities should aim on saving, enhancing and preserving indigenous seeds.
4. The authorities ought to help worth addition in strategic goods for domestic consumption, and regional export. For instance, making certain the ideal functioning of factories developing tomato dependent products and solutions is urgent.
5. The govt ought to strengthen the agri-processing sector as nicely as the potential ahead and backward linkages.  Strengthening and expanding college feeding programmes would also be a crucial intervention.

To systematically embrace the opportunity to redress Ghana’s two million housing scarcity is to seize the possibility to create excellent work, reduce housing injustice, and create a countrywide asset – the country’s housing stock.  Thus, excellent housing permits general public health and fitness, good living and is wealth by itself.

Some vital tips:

1. Federal government should really specifically lead the design of quality social housing, which will keep on being the residence of the condition. Folks who are vulnerable must be given priority in accessing the housing.
2. Authorities should allow and finance housing cooperatives that will guide the construction of good quality social housing, which will keep on being the home of the housing cooperative.
3. As a housing and occupation development initiative, the construction course of action will have to provide formal and unionized building work for masons, carpenters, electricians, plumbers etcetera.
4. This housing initiative will be deliberately developed for climate adjust resilience.  It will contain rain h2o harvesting, decentralized squander water administration, storm water administration, and photo voltaic electrification.
5. This housing initiative will be made holistically, to provide work chances and community products and services. For illustration, all housing communities ought to include cooperatively owned and managed day care facilities and pharmacies as very well as a local community marketplace, a credit score union, and a playground/park.
6. Govt should not enter into any new personal-general public partnerships to construct “affordable housing,” considering that there is no proof of it functioning efficiently to satisfy its said aim of “affordability.”

COVID-19 did not expose the historic and ongoing underinvestment in the health and fitness sector.  This was presently effectively recognised. Now is the time to develop a strong health and fitness sector that is adequately resourced.  Ghana is a signatory to the Abuja Declaration. A motivation was manufactured to allocate 15% of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP) to the well being sector each and every 12 months. Ghana, like most African nations, has under no circumstances fulfilled this dedication.

Listed here are some recommendations for creating a robust overall health sector.

1. The Govt should devote in the development of the health workforce. This features the attraction and retention of healthcare staff in rural areas.
2. The govt need to fortify preventive and promotive well being interventions by doing the job by means of community establishments (e.g. women’s and widows groups). These really should be supplied with a fundamental earnings.
3. As component of the national industrialization efforts, the government should progress a health devices output centered strategy.  This could target to begin with on the creation of ventilators and personalized protective devices (PPE).
4. The govt need to establish and put into action a technique of generic substitution.  This need to be joined to the creation of generic medication within the region by indigenous pharmaceutical firms.
5. The governing administration should really bolster the ongoing advancement (formalization) of standard medication. There ought to be the development of Public-Public partnerships to empower the even further output of standard medicine and its more incorporation into the countrywide overall health sector.

Strategic emphasis on these 3 locations – agriculture, housing, and wellbeing — can be transformative. More than rebuilding the Ghanaian overall economy is at stake.  The overall economy is not only to be rebuilt. It have to be restructured, to be a lot more equitable, environmentally friendly, and resilient.

About the writer: C. Uzondu (Ph.D.) is a Policy Analyst. His writings go over subjects ranging from drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene (Clean), well being, housing, agroecology and political ecology.