General News of Thursday, 6 December 2018
Source: Graphic.com.gh
2018-12-06
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has said the sound management of the Ghanaian economy, coupled with the implementation of a number of social intervention programmes, such as the Free Senior High School policy, has exposed the lack of understanding of some elements of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on the subject of social and economic development. According to President Akufo-Addo, over the last 23 months in office, his administration has overseen a revival of the Ghanaian economy, with growth rates increasing from 3.6 per cent in 2016 to 8.5 per cent in 2017, in addition to a reduction of the fiscal deficit from 9.3 per cent in 2016 to 5.9 per cent in 2017.
This has also led to the strengthening of the monetary policy, a reduction in interest rates, and the continuing stability of the cedi.
In addition to strengthening the macroeconomic fundamentals of the economy, the President noted that his government had decided to develop the human capital of the country, if the country is to move onto the path of progress and prosperity.
President Akufo-Addo made this known last Tuesday when he began his three-day tour of the Greater Accra Region, with a visit to the Healthi-Life Beverages Company Ltd.
Human capital
“If resources are all we need to build a country, we should be very rich in Ghana. But, we need, above all, trained human capital. That is why I made it a priority to open access to education. All those characters who are blabbing about the Free SHS, they don’t understand what social and economic development is all about,” President Akufo-Addo said.
He continued, “In two years of the policy, nearly 300,000 more young people have gone into SHS than before. The people who opposed the policy are saying that when they come back to power, God knows when that is going to be, they are now going to review it. A policy you opposed, you are now going to review it. What does that mean? You are obviously coming to collapse it. We are not going to allow anyone to collapse this policy.”
Access to education
In addition to guaranteeing access to education, President Akufo-Addo noted that his government had also laid the foundation for the revival of Ghanaian agriculture, with the implementation of the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
In the first year of the policy, President Akufo-Addo noted that 200,000 smallholder farmers were co-opted into the programme, with some 500,000 farmers involved in 2018. He gave an assurance that next year, one million farmers were going to be involved in the planting for food and jobs programme.
“We are doubling our yields across the country, increasing productivity of our farmers, and it has become obvious that for the first time in a long time, we are no longer importing maize in Ghana, and food has become more and more abundant in Ghana,” he said.
The President stressed that next year, the government would begin the implementation of the Rearing for Food and Jobs programme, to boost the country’s livestock programme.