Bar Confab Opens In Cape Coast

Nana Addo embracing Mr. Blay after the conference

Nana Addo embracing Mr. Blay after the conference



Addressing the members, the National President of the GBA, Nene Abayaateye Amegatcher, stressed that the appointment of a new EC Chairman would make Ghanaians have confidence that the 2016 elections would be conducted in free, fair, and incident-free manner.

The conference, which was held at the University of Cape Coast, was under the theme, ‘Insulating State Institutions from Interference for Effective Realization of their Mandate: The Role of Regulatory Bodies.’

According to Nene Amegatcher, the appointment of a new EC boss would help both the winners and the losers of elections to have no genuine basis to complain about the results.

‘The conduct of elections remains the most important threat to our national peace and life as people, so let’s enhance the image and credibility of EC before the 2016 elections, not only the various political parties, but all Ghanaians would be looking for a person of integrity as well as the one who does not pander to political pressures,’ he added.

On the state of the economy, Nene Amegatcher said since the beginning of the year, the major concern of most Ghanaians had been the rising inflation rate which is officially above 15%, the depreciation of the currency which has lost about 40% of its value, high fuel prices and high utility rates, among others.

He therefore called for urgent need to address the current challenges facing the economy, stressing a non-partisan approach to address the fundamental challenges – from the utilities, roads, education, health, unemployment, among others.

On education, the President of GBA noted that the system was nothing to write home about and therefore appealed to the government to aim at achieving the constitutional mandate of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education, which he said would help prepare the youth and children for the future.

‘To this end, the determining factor should be on infrastructural projects and adequate learning materials to prevent children from selling on the streets,’ he added.

Nene Amegatcher called on the government to pay much attention to the health sector, especially with the upsurge of cholera cases and the Ebola scare. He pointed out that both cases required more robust responses.

Touching on corruption, he recalled that the country had been rated third in the last Gallup polls, looking at the corruption cases recorded from all the sectors of the economy, and therefore appealed to all to help reduce the canker.

Drama unfolded when the leading contender of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential race, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the National First Vice Chairman of the Party, Freddie Blay, showed up at the venue of the confab yesterday.

The conference hall was electrified immediately the two were introduced by the MC of the programme.

Also in attendance were the Second Deputy Speaker in Parliament, Joe Ghartey; Nkrabea Effah Dartey; Nana Oye Lithur, Minster of Gender and Social Protection; Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood some other dignitaries.

  Email:[email protected]
From Sarah Afful, Cape Coast
 
 

Comments:
This article has 0 comment, leave your comment.