Ghana Won't Lose Sovereignty to Any Foreign Country - President Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has affirmed that Ghana's sovereignty will not be ceded to any foreign country in spite of the determination to use whatever opportunities that are available to develop the country.

Addressing Journalists at the "2018 Encounter with the Media", at Jubilee House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said, he was aware of the anxiety expressed by some people that Ghana might put itself in a position of too much dependency on China.

"There is no chance that I would ever preside over the loss of Ghana's sovereignty to any foreign country," the President stated.

He decried the country's unimpressive infrastructure development over the years, adding that, "For far too long, the lack of money has hampered our development and dampened our self-confidence."

The Two billion dollars barter deal Ghana had negotiated with China -- the Sino-Hydro project-- which is about to take off next year, 2019, he said is expected to bring about dramatic changes to the country's infrastructure developments, especially in the roads sector.

"If the railways and aviation sectors are causing excitement, I believe I can promise that there will be even greater excitement when work on repairing and building many roads around the country intensifies," President Akufo-Addo stated.

He said the first $650 million worth of projects as part of the facility, had been approved by Parliament, and are ready for execution, adding that, the roads to be tackled first had been enumerated and expected to make a great and immediate difference in the lives of Ghanaians.

Addressing issues of insufficient numbers of classrooms, desks, laboratories, computers and dormitories, President Akufo-Addo said government, with ingenuity and innovation, had, through the Ghana Education Trust Fund, secured a $1.5 billion facility to help construct classrooms and dormitories in Senior High Schools across the country.

"Parliamentary approval has been obtained and the first tranche of this facility will be used to build more classroom blocks and dormitories in our schools to give our schools appropriate facilities to meet the demands of the 21st century.

"And, so, we are on double track and we are building the classrooms and laboratories and gradually turning the once deprived schools into well-equipped ones. We find that paying attention to the proper management of schools means we are getting better results," he noted.

President Akufo-Addo also stated that it is not every day that Volkswagen, Nissan and Sino-Truck offer to build assembly plants in a country round about the same time.

"Systematically, we are also rolling out our 1 District, 1 Factory policy of industrialisation. Thus far, 79 projects have been implemented under 1D1F, with another 35 going through credit appraisal by officials of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the financial institutions that are supporting the programme," he said.

Under the Stimulus Package, President Akufo-Addo indicated that 237 million dollars has been disbursed to 16 companies, with an additional 35 being considered for support.

"The process of industrialization will be accelerated in the course of 2019," the President assured.

Source: ISD (Rex Mainoo Yeboah)

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