Lobby for smarter policies to accelerate growth – Prof. Lomborg

Company News of Monday, April 29, 2019

Source: Graphic.com.gh

2019-04-29

Bjorn Lomborg, visiting professor at the Copenhagen Business School, stressed the need for Ghanaians to change the national discourse to compel politicians to push for smart policies for accelerated growth.

He said smart solutions via economic prioritization were a better approach to accelerated national development.

Professor Lomborg, who is also chairman of the Copenhagen Consensus Center (CCC), is entrusted to the Daily Graphic during an interview last Friday. He was accompanied by Mr. Roland Mathibadon, Executive Vice-President of the Center, and Mr. Ralph E. Nordjo, Coordinator of Center Priorities for Ghana.

The Copenhagen Consensus Center is a global think-tank aimed at helping countries prioritize the best policies with the aid of a cost-benefit badysis.

Quantification informed prioritization

Speaking on "Finding the best policies for Ghana's future, starting with the Sustainable Development Goals," Professor Lomborg told the Daily Graphic that smart policies could help many get out of poverty and hunger, reduce violence and improve education. country a better place.

He believed that although the country is already setting priorities, he advocated for more quantified priorities.

As Ghana prepares for the 2020 elections, it also said that it would be more prudent to catalog for implementation all the smart things needed and needed for accelerated national growth.

For example, he said, universities, civil society organizations, politicians, youth and voters in general should be able to engage in a national dialogue on the use of resources by the nation.

"We are not looking for good or bad policies that have already been applied; But to move forward, we need smart and effective policies, not weak policies for the country's rapid growth, "he said.

Dense academic subject

According to Professor Lomborg, a dense academic subject should not end up on the shelves but lead to a national conversation.

In doing so, he also urged the country's politicians to present their smart and clever policies towards the country before the general elections of 2020, so that they are considered as part of the national debate.

Politics is not just about winning the next election, it's about changing the national conversation to focus and embrace smarter development goals for the good of society.

Smarter goals

Taking advantage of the research, Prof. Lomborg explained that Ghana, for example, had an increase of 11 billion GH ¢ for its budget, and that each sector would like to have its fair share of the national pie.

"What we hope is to show some of the best interventions in which the country can do a lot of good for every Ghana cedi spent instead of a little good," he said. .

Similar research has been conducted in countries such as Haiti, India and Bangladesh, and it has been found that the priority given to training first responders on urban sanitation construction and resolution of Cholera problems had more impact on the lives of citizens.

"We are not trying to catch anyone, but some popular ideas are not necessarily smart and good. We are just trying to get everyone thinking about smart good ideas, "he said.

Ghana's priority project

Professor Lomborg revealed that the CCC Global Think Tank had launched an inclusive priority project for Ghana, which aimed to work with the country's politicians, academics and economists to help shape the most important policies for the well-being of the country. to be of the country.

"Together with politicians, academics and economists, they will badyze policies, organize round tables and present the best policies for the country for a period of one year.

"We have a lot of things to do, but first we need to prioritize, which hampers sustainable accelerated growth," he said.

In the same spirit, the center organized a public conference in Accra last Thursday to begin the process of finding the best policies for Ghana's future.

Round tables, he said, would also be organized to prioritize policies and inspire the process.