According to Mr. Cameron, Ghana has done Herself and the Continent proud and every effort must be made to move forward in the right direction. The Leader of the Conservative Party said further that President Mills disposition as an opposition leader and as President is one that is worth emulating. As regards Ghana/U.K ties, the Conservative Leader said he was pleased that President Mills is making a strong case not only for Government assistance, but also making a case for more British entrepreneurs to make Ghana their preferred investment destination. President Mills thanked Mr. Cameron for his kind comments but said that it is the people of Ghana who must be commended for deepening and entrenching the nation's democracy. According to President Atta Mills, majority of Ghanaians wanted a change and were determined to safeguard their mandate through acceptable channels. "We have invested a lot in peace and democracy and at this point, there is no turning back" President Atta Mills said. His Excellency the President also singled out the Electoral Commissioner, Dr. Kwadwo Afari Djan, for commendation and said that the Commissioner took decisions that were in the best interest of Ghana. "The Commissioner was firm and at the times that he needed to take critical decisions, he did not waver" President Atta Mills said. On the issue of attracting donor support and investments into Ghana, President Atta Mills said that as a government that is anchored to the tenets of social democracy, it is his prime concern to make sure that his government invests heavily in social intervention programmes hence his unrelenting approach to seeking the needed funds to execute his agenda. "At the end of my term, I will be judged by the extent to which my Team has been able to improve the standard of living of the people of Ghana and not by any other yardstick and so I am committed to nothing but building a Better Ghana" President Atta Mills said. "We have been hit by the global financial crisis but we still need to build schools, build hospitals, provide good drinking water, and I am determined to do just that" President Atta Mills added. His Excellency President John Atta Mills congratulated David Cameron for the leadership role he is playing in the politics of Britain. |
6 months ago
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The president did well to articulate the concerns of Ghanaians to Mr. Cameroon. It is true Prez Mills will be judged as to how he and his team have been able to improve the living standards of Ghanaians.
There are a number of things President Mills and his government could do to make Ghana the new Africa Tiger.
First of all the President and his team must have vision as to how they want to see Ghana after four years and those visions must be formulated and integrated into national policies and programmes. We all know Dr. Nkrumah’s vision led him to build Akosombo dam, two universities, Tema and the harbour, nursing and teachers training colleges, numerous secondary schools and a number of factories most of whom have been sold or left to rot. All these were achieved during his nine years as president.
To revive the economy and create jobs for the youth, government must set aside a certain percentage of Ghana's Gross Domestic Product ( 5% annually) to build the infrastructures including roads, power plants, rail lines, hospitals, schools and housing and a single department must be made to coordinate the infrastructure building in the nation. The building of infrastructures will not only create jobs but will also provide the enabling environment for investors to invest in the country which will lead to further expansion of the economy. Government must work with the private sector to establish processing factories to take care of the waste that occur in the Agricultural sector.
Government must also take the opportunity to fight corruption which is slowly destroying the nation. Therefore, the president must ensure that anti-corruption watchdog institutions are made independent, strengthened and adequately resourced so they can do their jobs properly. There is no point asking investors to come only for them to be bombarded to pay bribes by officials.
The years of aid dependency and loans and its associated odious debts must end. No nation has ever developed by depending on hand outs and left over from other nations. Government must therefore come up with ingenious ways to mobilise internal and external funds for use in building the nation. Government can do this by marketing the nation abroad through the sale of bonds and stocks. Government must work vigorously and aggressively to sell the nation to those with private capital. What Ghana needs are investment, trade and not aid which cripples us and makes us beggars in the eyes of donors. Government must seek genuine and equal partners in development not multinational corporations whose intentions are to rip the nation off.
All these require President Mills to show strong, competence, dedicated leadership and commitment to diversify and build the nation beyond just exporting cocoa, gold and importing used stuff from abroad. Ghanaians deserve better than that. Government must encourage Ghanaians to work hard. China, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia have all done it because both government and citizens all worked hard.
Now that the elections are over and the president has finished enjoying his honey moon, Ghanaians must unite behind him and his ministers as they try to move the nation forward. Democracy is not just about multi party elections but include the whole process of development and nation building. Citizens must therefore get involved in the building of the nation as they did during elections.
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