a)

Contours are lines drawn on maps to show places of equal height above sea level. They also show relief features. The distances between contour lines are known as vertical distance or vertical intervals.

b)

a & b)

c)

a)

Political party is a group of people with similar ideas about how a state should be governed and with the aim of winning political power.

b)

Ways in which political parties are important in the practice of democracy

1. They train and produce politicians and national leaders
2. They communicate to the government, the opinions and desires of the people
3. They educate the electorate/the people who vote on political issues
4. Opposition parties help the government to be efficient by talking about the wrong things done by the government
5. They provide alternative government
6. They nominate (presidential and parliamentary) candidates and present them to the electorate
7. They promote national unity by bringing together people of different ethnic groups

c)

Problems facing political parties in Ghana

1. Inadequate funds
2. Bribery and corruption during elections
3. Power struggle among members of the same party
4. Favouritism and nepotism
5. Tribalism/ethnicity
6. Low level of political or civic education
7. Violence among opposing political parties
8. Disagreement in policy formulation/implementation

a)

Negative effects of rapid population growth on the development of Ghana

1. Migration

2. Pressure on natural resources or high cost of land

3. Reduction in capital formation

4. Environmental degradation

5. High dependency ratio

6. Inadequate medical care

7. Lower standard of living or low per-capita income

8. High cost of living

9. Environmental pollution

10. High rate of unemployment

11. Poverty

12. Increase in crime rate

13. Increase in social vices

14. Over crowding or congestion

15. Pressure on social amenities

16. Slums

17. High government expenditure

18. Social unrest

b)

Ways by which rapid population growth can be reduced in Ghana

1. Family planning

2. Making laws to control early marriage

3. Increasing gender equality

4. Encouraging relatively late marriages

5. Education on adequate spacing of children

6. Check on immigrantions – nationals from other countries

7. Economic empowerment of women

8. Tax relief for small households

9. Discouraging polygamy

10. Promoting girl-child education

11. Government policies

12. Intensifying education on adolescent reproductive health

a)

Conditions necessary for economic growth and high productivity

1. The use of modern technology: The use of computers, automated machines in agriculture and industries for instance has led to increase productivity in these sectors
2. Effective management: Management can acquire new skills from institutions like Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration which enable them improve on their efficiency and also perform their supervisory duties well to achieve higher productivity
3. Planning and target setting: This is necessary for increase in output. The experts should undertake thorough feasibility studies, formulate and implement policies that would lead to resource exploitation for sustainable development of the country
4. Training of workers: This could take the form of technical or vocational education, on the job training, in-service training or other institutional training programme for workers
5. Paying high wages to workers: Workers whose performances are appreciable must be paid in accordance with their output. This serves as motivation for greater performance
6. The use of appropriate tools in farming, manufacturing and other sectors of the economy has led to higher productivity for local use and export to earn foreign exchange for the country

b)

Reasons why Ghana's economy is not growing

1. Inadequate Infrastructure: The economy of Ghana is not growing because of its poor infrastructural facilities. The country's roads and railway networks are very poor and the supply of electricity and communication system are under-developed. These poor infrastructural facilities hinder the exploitation of the country's natural resources
2. Negative attitude towards work: Many Ghanaians especially those in the public sector exhibit poor attitude to work like absenteeism, lateness, loitering, laziness and so on. These negative attitudes result in time lost to production, breaks in smooth running of production and these affect the quality of work
3. Illiteracy: There are many people who are illiterates in Ghana. It has been estimated that about 50% Ghanaian children of school going age do not attend school. Illiterate population cannot easily adopt modern technology and scientific methods of farming to increase output
4. Political instability: The frequent changes of government by the military and ethnic conflicts do not make the economy to grow. New governments tend to discontinue the plans of the government they replace. Ghana has had about three changes of government through coup d'états and these adversely affected the nation's development
5. Lack of capital: Capital in the form of machines, equipment and others are limited. Since we do not have the technology or cannot buy the machines which we can use to exploit our natural resources, the economy cannot grow
6. Lack of effective supervision: There is lack of effective supervision in the public sector. Supervision in the economy particularly in the government sector is very poor and workers loiter about, converse and work lotto thereby wasting working hours which could have been used to increase productivity to grow the economy