Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has indicated that the current government has for the past 18 months worked hard to build an economy that is capable to anchor the development the people of Ghana envisaged.
He stated: “The current government has grown the economy from 3.6 per cent to 8.4 per cent in just one year”.
He noted that government had deliberately instituted some useful social interventions and economic programmes that had taken away key social burdens from the shoulders of the Ghanaian people while at the same time put money into their pockets.
He mentioned some of the interventions as the free Senior High School policy, the restoration of the teachers’ and nurses’ allowances, the free BECE registration for JHS graduates, reduction in electricity cost for both business entities and households.
“The current government has also doubled the capitation grant for basic schools and expanded the school feeding programme. We have also introduced the Planting for Food and Jobs”, he added.
He continued: “We have also begun issuing the national identification cards which are critical for what the current government has planned to do for the country in the future”.
The Vice-President was speaking at this year’s Kuntum festival of the chiefs and people of Essikado in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis on Saturday.
It was on the theme “Culture, the Power House of Development”.
The Vice-President also mentioned the introduction of the Nation Builders Corps (NaBCO) which was expected to employ about 100,000 graduates in every constituency of the country.
He revealed that the government’s ‘One Village, One Dam’ policy had taken place in the three northern regions and that about 570 dams would be constructed next year in those areas.
He revealed that the government’s ‘One District, One Factory’ policy was in progress and that very soon Ghanaians would see the impact of the policy.
He urged traditional rulers to help protect the relative peace in the country at their respective jurisdiction since there could not be development in the absence of peace and unity.
Dr Bawumia indicated that government valued the country’s rich culture and its importance to national development.
The Paramount Chief of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, appealed to Ghanaians to do whatever they could to protect the country’s relative peace since without it there could not be any meaningful development.
“We should be grateful to God for the peace that we are enjoying, whether we have enough money or not. We shouldn’t do anything that has the tendency to disturb the peace”, he stated.
The Western Regional Minister, Dr Kweku Afriyie, stressed the need for Ghanaians to be patient and allow the government to take concrete measures to end illegal mining and ensure responsible small-scale mining in the mining communities.
The Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Ms Catherine Abelema Afeku, called on the youth to be proud of their culture and also portray themselves as true Ghanaians in order not to lose their African heritage.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Essikado