President Akufo-Addo

  • Funding Free SHS with oil money not sustainable – Research Consultant

    Management and Research Consultant Laud Freeman has appealed to President Akufo Addo to reconsider his decision to fund the free SHS policy with proceeds from natural resources if he wants to sustain the policy.

    President Akufo-Addo has stated that his government will resort to proceeds from and other natural resources to fund the free Senior High School policy. The policy is to ensure that every student eligible to enter second cycle institution gains admission with free meals and tuition.

    “To ensure that no child is denied access to secondary education, we are removing one of the biggest obstacles that currently stand in their way, the cost of providing free secondary school education will be cheaper than the cost of the alternative of an uneducated and unskilled workforce that has the capacity to retard our development” The President stated at the launch of the policy.

    In justifying the decision, Nana Akufo Addo said Instead of the revenues from our mineral and oil resources ending up in the hands of a few people, the most equitable and progressive way of using these revenues is to educate and empower our population to strengthen our nation.

    But speaking at the Mfantsipim Old Boys Association’s (MOBA) Annual Engagement Series II on the theme, Delivering Quality Secondary Education in Ghana: A Paradigm Shift Needed, Management Consultant Laud E. Freeman noted that the natural commodities are subject to fluctuations in the world market prices and also they are finite exhaustible resources and therefore should not be the source of funding to the Free SHS policy if it must be sustained.

    He stated that if Ghana wants to sustain the much hyped free SHS policy with a dependable source of funding, then the Agriculture sector has the potential to provide the fund to sustain the policy for posterity to benefit.

    In explaining his recommendation, he said Ghana’s import bill on eight (8) basic food commodities stances at USD 2.2 billion per year. Apart from wheat all the remaining seven (7) basic food commodities can be produced locally in Ghana and even exported.

    This he said when considered will help generate sustainable and dependable funding for the SHS policy and even benefit generation yet on born.

    Mr Laud E. Freeman also added that, in as much as the government mostly depends on Private Public Partnership for a sustainable funding and quality delivery of a project to develop Ghana, the government must also consider the same procedure to fund the Free SHS policy.

    Source: primenewsghana.com

  • You are the salt of the earth – Akufo-Addo to Armed forces

    The President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says Ghanaians are looking up to the Ghana Armed Forces to be at the forefront in the fight against illegal mining, otherwise referred to as ‘galamsey’.

    According to President Akufo-Addo, as his government intensifies its efforts to curb ‘galamsey’, which is polluting the country’s waters, destroying farmlands and forests, and threatening the very survival of the country, “Ghanaians would continue to rely on the efforts of our security services, with the Armed Forces in the forefront, to help deal with the problem.”

    The President was confident that “as always, the Armed Forces will rise to the occasion.”

    President Akufo-Addo made this known on Friday, May 26, when he delivered a speech at the Presentation of Colours to the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment, at a ceremony at the Gondar Barracks, Burma Camp, in Accra.

    Describing the current challenges confronting the officers, men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces as “numerous, complex and sometimes quite unpredictable”, the President noted that in the face of all these threats, the armed forces continue to discharge their duties equably and professionally.

    “All of us owe a great debt of gratitude to you, the men and women of the Armed Forces, for being prepared to put your lives on the line to keep our nation safe, safeguard our sovereignty and protect our territorial integrity. As the saying goes, you are the salt of the earth,” he said.

    In terms of military preparedness to address the new threats to the country’s security, President Akufo-Addo stated that his government will actively support contemporary training methods that will not only keep the military abreast with international military trends, but will also ensure that they remain the beacon of Armed Forces across the continent.

    “We are committed to providing you with modern military equipment, which would complement the training you would receive. Government is also committed to enriching the human resource base of the Armed Forces by supporting initiatives that will provide further education for soldiers, sailors and airmen to enhance further their skills at protecting our territorial integrity,” he added.

    History in the making

    With Friday’s Presentation of Colours ceremony his first as Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, President Akufo-Addo stated that this was also the very first time in the history of the Ghana Armed Forces that the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment is being presented with colours.

    “So you can see, it is an auspicious day for me. It means that the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment is now joined to me in a special way, for my future recollections of this day will always feature you,” he added.

    The ceremony for the Presentation of Colours, in tune with longstanding military traditions across the world, has been the sole preserve for units in the infantry. However, in line with the decision taken to present Colours to deserving combat support units of the Ghana Armed Forces, the Armoured Recce Regiment was presented with its own Colours. The only other combat support units who have ever been presented with their own colours are the 48 Engineer Regiment and the 66 Artillery Regiment.

    The “Colours” of a regiment represent its honour and devotion to duty, as well as the fighting spirit of military units, and are symbols of bravery and unity.

    “As we present you, the Armoured Recce Regiment, with your own Colours, I urge you to revere it and be guided always by its undying principles of perseverance, unity and bravery in the protection of lives and property, and the defence of the territorial sovereignty of our beloved Ghana,” the President stated.

    President Akufo-Addo commended the Armoured Recce Regiment for their commitment to duty, and their overall contribution to the Ghana Armed Forces, since its establishment in 1963. The President cited the support given by the recce units of the Gold Coast Regiments in World War 1 and also in Burma, honours which have been inscribed on the colours, as well of honours chalked in international peacekeeping operations in Lebanon, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire.

     

  • Increase sale of Ghanaian goods at malls – Akufo-Addo

    President Akufo-Addo, has expressed hope that the newly commissioned Kumasi City Mall will not be a place only for the sale of imported goods, but also for the sale of locally produced ones.

    He said “It would be truly commendable if, by the end of the first year of its operation, at least 20% of the goods that are sold here should be of Ghanaian origin, and the percentages increase as Ghanaian industrial production rapidly expands.”

    Delivering a speech at a ceremony Wednesday to official launch the Kumasi City Mall, the President bemoaned the fact that Ghana continues to be a retailer of cheap imported goods, whilst the capacity of local producers remains weak and their products suffer low patronage.

    “I know very well that, in some of our malls and supermarkets across the country, carrots sold, for example, are imported from Holland. Some of the dressed chickens on sale have also come from Brazil. Indeed, the items originating from Ghana and from our local entrepreneurs constitute barely a paltry 5% of goods on sale,” he lamented.

    He noted, however, that all over the world, new enterprises, such as the Kumasi City Mall, have spawned the creation of jobs and investments, and triggered increased local spending.

    “Supermarkets and many shopping malls in several parts of the world, particularly in the advanced economies, have become magnets for production. It is my hope that the Kumasi City Mall will not only be a place for the sale of imported goods, but also Ghanaian goods,” he stressed.

    To this end, he encouraged shop owners and supermarkets, like Shoprite, to increase the proportion of Ghanaian goods sold at the shop, by getting more local farmers and entrepreneurs to produce for them.

    “We want Kumasi to be a place of work again, not just a place where people come for funerals. We want to bring jobs back to this city, and restore Kumasi to its position, once again, of being The Garden City. The support government gives to the private sector is intended to translate into greater economic activities of our entrepreneurs, producers and farmers. Kumasi City Mall should bear witness of this increased activity,” he said.

    President Akufo-Addo at the Woodin shop at KCM

    Whilst acknowledging the challenges confronting the country’s economy, the President pledged that his government would liberate the energies of the youth by harnessing talent and building skills, inspiring innovation and risk taking, connecting to global value chains and, most importantly, nurturing a deep sense of patriotism.

    “Last month, I launched the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs in Goaso, in the Brong Ahafo Region. Organise yourselves and get involved in this initiative. I am certain that my admonition to shop owners of this mall will not go unheard. They will surely buy from you, if your produce meets the standard, which I am confident it can,” he urged.

    Take advantage of gov’t’s new focus

    Akufo-Addo continued that the belief of his government is that “given an enabling environment, the creativity and sense of enterprise of the Ghanaian will enable us to build a strong, powerful economy which can deliver a good, dignified standard of living to our people.”

    The President explained that since Governor Guggisberg left the country some 90 years ago, the basic structure of Ghana’s economy has remained largely unchanged.

    He added that Ghana’s economy cannot grow if it remains, primarily, a raw material producing and exporting country, explaining that “we cannot create the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of jobs for the masses of our young people if the sustenance of our economy is import dependent and import driven, as well as being dependent on raw material exports.”

    President Akufo-Addo at the Woodin shop at KCM

    As has been made evident in the first Budget of his presidency, the Asempa Budget, Akufo-Addo stressed that the economic programme of his government is hinged on the addition of value to the country’s raw materials in a process of rapid industrialization, as agricultural production and productivity is enhanced.

    “Our priority is to do all we can to give our entrepreneurs the certainty of a positive business environment, devoid of arbitrary and irrational policy initiatives, so that they can do what they should do best – INVEST IN THE NUMEROUS OPPORTUNITIES TO CREATE JOBS AND PROPSPERITY,” he said.

    He assured that “the initiatives introduced in the Budget are aimed at stimulating private sector activity, and shifting the focus of our economy from taxation to production. To this end, I urge the private sector to take advantage of this new focus, which is offering opportunities to local ingenuity and production.”

     

    Source:

    Ghana/StarrFMonline.com/103.5FM

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