The promises of accelerated economic growth and development by the two leading political parties if elected into office on December 7 and the plan by the government to abolish the double-track education system in the next few years are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday.The Graphic reports that the two main political parties, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have promised accelerated economic growth and development in their manifestos if elected into power on December 7.

The report said that both parties have offered similar fundamental objectives for macroeconomic management, although the strategies to achieve them differ somewhat.

According to the report, each has committed to accelerating the growth rate and reining in the fiscal deficit. They also converge on having a positive primary balance, along with a lowering of inflation and interest rates, as well as achieving trade surplus balances.

The NDC manifesto promises “fiscal responsibility”, but without any quantitative targets. The party promises to stop applying personal and corporate income taxes on small businesses altogether, while reducing the corporate tax rate for medium-size companies from the current 25 per cent to 15 per cent.

The NPP has, with the benefit of experience, now turned its focus towards expanding the tax net, instead of narrowing it, by bringing the informal sector into the net through a combination of data provided by the national ID card initiative and digital addressing and leveraging the use of tax identification numbers (TINs) as a prerogative for accessing public goods and services.

The newspaper also reports that the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Pre-tertiary Education, Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum, says the government has put in place prudent and strategic measures to abolish the double-track system in the next few years.

He mentioned some of the measures that had been put in place by the government as strategic planning and the construction of infrastructure in the affected schools to ensure the system was eradicated within the next four years.

The deputy minister explained that the double-track system, which was introduced by the government in 2018 was a remedial measure to ensure that no qualified student was denied access to senior high school education due to the lack of infrastructure or funding from the parents or family.

Dr. Adutwum, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic on Tuesday at Adagya in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region, stated that the huge investment being made by the government in the education sector was among measures being put in place to ensure that education became the driving force for the nation’s development.

The Times reports that a blazing fire swept through a welding shop at Agric Kokode, near Kumasi, burning 12 vehicles, on the evening of Wednesday.

The incident was said to have been triggered off after a fire from a nearby mechanic shop extended to the shop where the cars were being worked on.

Among the vehicles destroyed by the fire were, Range Rover, Toyota Tundra, two Jeeps and three Toyota Highlanders.

According to the owner of the shop, Seidu Abdulai, the fire could have been stopped, if personnel of the Ghana Fire Service at Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) and Komfo Anokye had responded on time.

Estimating the cost of damage, the cars including his working equipment, to about GH₵1 million, he called on the government to come to his aid in order to rebuild the shop.

The Assemblyman for the area, Wilson Sackey, urged the workers to desist from burning refuse which they have dumped close to the shop, where the fire started from.

The newspaper says that about 109 people have been arrested by the police for allegedly attacking a team of police and a bailiff who wanted to execute a court order at Ritz junction in Accra.

The suspects are in custody and being screened, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Accra Regional Police Command Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge told the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday.

She said on September 7, 2020, some personnel of the Accra Regional Police Command Operations Unit were assigned to a bailiff to execute a court order at Ritz junction.

Tenge said the team was met with fierce resistance by a group of people, who in the process attacked the bailiff.

She said on September 9, 2020, the Accra Regional Police Command restrategised and moved into the said location leading to the arrest of the suspects.