Founder of the National Interest Movement, Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster, has disclosed that government must prioritise resolving desertification in the country instead of focusing on generating income in tree crop planting.
According to him, Ghana’s targets of some $16 billion from tree crops from its five years strategic plan and the planting of tree crops is a good idea but the focus of government must shift to areas in the country which badly require such initiative. He indicated that government will see real results once the focus on the right places to plant the trees is undertaken.
“I think that the way it has been done in terms of prioritising income over prioritising the stop of desertification maybe needs to be reversed because if you are planting a lot of trees in already forested areas and I think three quarters of trees have been planted in already forested areas, mainly eastern region, western region and Ashanti region, that is not where you are getting the advance of the desert.”
Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster
Dr Sakara iterated that government needs to plant crops that will have a “buffer effect” on the entire country starting from the Brong Ahafo region. He explained that once this is done, it is easier to “check the advance of desertification” and also help create another micro climate that will protect the tree zones in the southern area.
“Now, I know why they’ve chosen the easier part because of all these cattle roaming around in the savannah areas and destroying all the greens they have planted. But there is a solution to that, you have to tag those animals, reduce their population to what the carrying capacity of the land is and ensure that fodder crops are gathered at places where they can find them.”
Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster
Creating a national development plan
Commenting on government’s generation of some GHC93.7 million in two months of implementation of the e-levy, Dr Sakara expressed the need for government to create a long-term national plan to address some of the challenges they had with projections of revenue. He highlighted that the figures given were projections that were not based on any long-term plans of government.
“Because these things are short-term, I want to make a reference to the need for a long-term national development plan in segments and those segments will allow you clear mile post within which you can make proper budgeting and projections.”
Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster
The founder of the National Interest Movement emphasized that within every sector, people are “reacting to situations and making projections that have no reference to at least a medium-term expenditure” framework and plan. He stated that when government makes “instantaneous projections” based on what it hopes to achieve, there is no reference to check to see how the projections are faring.
“In other words, it is the pressure of getting money that has forced us to do this and therefore we need to get this much money… You need to proceed based on a trend of what has been happening over awhile to be able to make a good projection. Be that as it may, yes, the shortfall is there and also within that, people have found various ways of avoiding that payment.”
Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster
Dr Sakara revealed that Ghanaians feel the e-levy is “double and triple taxation” which is further compounded by the high cost of living being experienced in the country. Due to this, he explained that people are adopting ways of saving money and “if it’s a transfer they need to do, they will find other ways of doing it” which doesn’t involve losing part of that money.
“Because in this high cost of living, every single cedi counts and people have gotten to that level where they are counting every single cedi. So, any way of saving money, people will do that.”
Dr Michael Abu Sakara Foster
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