President Akufo-Addo Recieves Roadmap On Ghana Beyond Aid

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has received a charter on Ghana Beyond Aid. It outlines the roadmap for Ghana's determination to be a self-reliant country.

The document, which was produced by a 13-member Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee that was constituted by the President Akufo-Addo in June last year, is expected to become the mobilising force for Ghana's development.

Receiving the charter at the Jubilee House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the work done on "Ghana beyond Aid" - the slogan, mobilising force, as well as the detailed content of the document, would provide clear guidelines and roadmap to government on how it conducts business in the country."

President Akufo-Addo said the document reinforces that orientation, and, will also, "give guidance to the work of all institutions of state; the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, across board and social institutions."

The agenda of a Ghana Beyond Aid, essentially is to mobilise and consicientise Ghanaians "that no one was going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for them other than Ghanaians themselves," he pointed out.

Arrangements made with people outside the country are meant to assist "us get the fundamental objectives of the development of our Country. Progress will be made when we accept responsibility for our own actions and thereby, conduct ourselves in a manner that will be fruitful," the President explained.

He indicated that "the document is also going to be a guide as to how we go about applying the slogan [Ghana Beyond Aid] for it to become meaningful in the lives of the 30 million Ghanaians in Ghana and those outside Ghana".

The President said, as soon as practicable, he would want Parliament to have access to the document, to enable the House deliberate on and approve the strategy to give it a national character, that would guide all interventions aimed at making the country self-reliant.

The document is to be laid before Parliament for deliberations that would lead to it becoming a national policy document that would guide the actions of government, as well as that of the various stakeholders in the country.

Not only will it be a slogan, but also, "be a guide to the country's development process, as it goes about applying the slogan for it to be meaningful in the lives of the 30 million Ghanaians and those outside country..." he said.

He observed that the awareness created on the continent over the past four decades had shown clearly that Africa could only address its developmental challenges when it frees itself from the dependence on aid.

The President stated that Africa ought to utilise its own resources and rely more on appropriate home-grown policies to unlock the economic potentials of the continent.

Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo, who chairs the Charter Committee told the President that the strategic document was a reflection of the collective inputs of 30 institutions.

He said a lot had gone into the preparation of the document, and was hopeful that it (document) would give direction to the vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

The members of Committee include the Minister for Finance Ken Ofori-Atta; Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister for Planning, Prof. Gyan Baffour, and the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama.

The rest are from the Trades Union Congress, the Private Enterprise Foundation, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, as well as the Association of Ghana Industries.

Source: ISD (Rex Mainoo Yeboah)

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