KUFUOR GIVES ACCOUNT ...And says future is bright (1a)

Story: Nehemia Owusu Achiaw & Kwame Asiedu Marfo, Takoradi

President J.A. Kufuor yesterday addressed the last People’s Assembly of his administration in Sekondi and spoke about the achievements of his administration during the last seven years, noting that there was a brighter future for the country.
With the demeanour of a highly fulfilled man, the President listed the discovery of oil, infrastructural development, the fight against corruption, the rule of law and good governance as some of the legacies that his administration was bequeathing to Ghanaians.
Addressing the opening session of the seventh in the series in Sekondi, the President said the discovery of oil, which had been estimated at three billion barrels, was one of the trump cards for the rapid socio-economic development of the country.
He announced that the government was setting up a planning and regulatory authority to fashion out the necessary policies and measures that must be in place prior to the extraction of the oil two or three years from now.
He further announced that the government was also consulting at the highest level with Norway and Great Britain to secure advice on best practices in the management of the oil industry.
“These steps are being taken to ensure that Ghana avoids some of the problems that have befallen countries that struck oil in commercial quantities, and also to make the discovery beneficial to the entire society,” he explained.
For the communities in the immediate vicinity of the oil, President Kufuor said plans were afoot to open up those areas with roads, electricity and other social infrastructure.
Before the opening ceremony of the People’s Assembly, which was on the theme, “Ghana at 50: Looking into the future with hope”, the President had inspected a Guard of Honour mounted by a contingent of the Second Battalion of Infantry and also opened a photo exhibition set up by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation.
The forum was instituted in 2001 to afford people who, otherwise, would not have the opportunity to interact with the President to do so and ask him questions.
Trumpeting the achievements of his government, President Kufuor said today Ghana’s economy was not only stable and registering steady growth but also enjoying international acceptance.
“Inflation and interest rates are both on a downward trend, the cedi remains relatively stable against major currencies and has also been successfully re-denominated, without any incident,” he pointed out.
He said last year, for the first time, the government issued a Eurobond successfully on the London Stock Market to raise US$750 million for infrastructural development and added that the bond was over-subscribed by over US$3 billion, attesting to the high confidence the international community had in the country’s economy.
Recently, the International Financial Review listed Ghana as the best country in contracting a bond in the capital market from among emerging market economies in 2007, he said.
He said about two weeks ago, the IFC listed Ghana as the best reforming nation in terms of doing business in Africa south of the Sahara and among the first 10 in the world.
“These are some of the positive ratings of Ghana’s economy which should be a source of pride to all of us,” he added.
He said US$90 million of the amount raised from the Eurobond had been earmarked for the rehabilitation of the western and eastern railway lines, to be constructed in partnership with the private sector, adding that it should assure the mining companies in the Western Region, especially the manganese and bauxite mines, of a reliable railway system to support the expansion of their operations.
He added that COCOBOD, the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the timber industry and the Western Region, especially its twin-city of Sekondi/Takoradi, which were all direct beneficiaries of that historic renewal, must be happy.
Touching on development, the President said the Western Region was the richest region in the country, yet, somehow, it had been neglected in the past.
“I am really happy that this government has taken the initiative to correct this. There are ongoing road projects to open up very rich areas of this region which, hitherto, had been inaccessible, in order to promote agriculture, business and commerce,” he noted.
He said under the Cocoa Roads Improvement Project (CRIP), the government had provided US$100 million for the implementation of a programme to tar or surface-dress some selected roads in six selected cocoa-growing regions of the country.
“Out of this, an amount of US$19 million has been allocated to the Western Region, the biggest cocoa producing region, for the upgrading of 223 kilometres of gravel roads to bituminous surface this year," he said.
President Kufuor said the Takoradi Port had been undergoing modernisation and physical expansion to improve its capacity to handle larger volumes of local and foreign businesses, especially those from the neighbouring landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“Other happy developments are coming together to make the Western Region an even more attractive destination for both local and foreign investors. One of them is the final completion of the West African Gas Pipeline Project which has a major terminal in Sekondi-Takoradi, which I will visit immediately after this assembly,” he said.
“With all these developments, the future is bright and the Western Region should soon come into its own again,” he pointed out.
He said the government would be pleased to see Sekondi-Takoradi, Prestea, Tarkwa, Aboso, Asankragwa, Enchi, Bibiani, Wiawso, Awaso and other towns and villages of the region restored to their previous status as “busy hives of the economy and melting pots of ideas, as I believe was the case at independence over 50 years ago”.
“Currently, opportunities are coming up, not only in the Western Region but all over the country, which are potential sources of employment generation and job creation,” he added.
He dismissed any notion that employment was only in terms of being on the government’s payroll and working from 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.
He explained that as a matter of fact, part-time work, apprenticeship, internship and small-scale self-employment were some of the forms of employment.
In that regard, he said, it must be generally admitted that this country had never seen construction work on a scale as massive as what was taking place now on roads and real estate development sites, all of which engaged Ghanaian labour.
He spoke about the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), the Micro and Small Loan Scheme (MASLOC) and the Venture Capital Fund and said “every objective assessment acknowledges that this government has touched the lives of the people of this country as never before in many positive ways. The evidence can be seen across the length and breadth of the nation”.
He used the platform to reiterate his commitment to fight corruption within the Ghanaian society.
In 2001, he said, when he assumed office, he made a promise to ensure “zero-tolerance” for corruption, saying that fight against corruption had been fought primarily through the establishment of new institutions and the strengthening of existing ones in Ghana.
"The traditional institutions, such as the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), the police, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the courts are all being progressively improved and strengthened," he said.
He pointed to new legislation such as the Public Procurement Act, the Public Audit Act, the Whistleblowers Act, the establishment of the Revenue Agencies Board, as well as the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law, among others, and added that “the media have free rein, while independent NGOs which deal with corruption function freely without fear from any quarter”.
But he said it was crucial that allegations of corruption were backed by proof to make them meaningful and, therefore, urged individuals to boldly put forward information about corruption to enable the institutions concerned to investigate them and prosecute culprits, where possible.
On the upcoming Ghana 2008 tournament, the President urged the whole nation, particularly the four host cities and regions, to receive the visitors that the tournament would attract in a manner that would let them want to come again. He also wished the national team, the Black Stars well.