Akufo-Addo: Agenda for Jobs on Course

The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the although his administration has only been in office for 15 months, the track record of Government, in the first year, indicates that the Agenda for Jobs, which formed the basis upon which he won the 2016 election, is on course.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “many of the identified flagship projects under the Agenda have already been launched, some are being effectively prepared, and others planned for their imminent take-off.

The President noted that the gloomy picture of the Ghanaian economy, inherited from the predecessor Mahama government, has been reversed, and it is on a defined road of revitalization.

“The defined actions include the effective management of the economy with assertive fiscal, monetary and debt controls; establishing a national digital addressing system; launching of the 10-point industrialization agenda, including the “One District one factory” initiative; establishing a national tax evasion hotline; creating the Development Authorities for the Northern, Middle Belt, Coastal zones of our country; instituting the Zongo Development Fund; and the facilitation of an electronic payments system, especially for salaries and utilities, he said.

President Akufo-Addo made this known on Wednesday, April 11, 2018, when he launched Government’s 7-year Co-ordinated Programme of Economic and Social Development Policies, at the Accra International Conference Centre, Accra.

“The revamping of our economic and social infrastructure is on course; “dumsor” has ended, through the improvement of financing, generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power; the renovation and expansion of the railway network to northern Ghana is being pursued vigorously; and the revival of the transportation systems for the Volta Lake and the Eastern Corridor road have been initiated,” he said.

The President told the gathering that the fight against illegal mining is on course, with some of the rivers showing visible signs of recovery.

Touching on agriculture, he noted that the sector has exhibited the initial signs of transformation, with the implementation of the programme for Planting for Food and Jobs.

The “one village, one dam” initiative, which, he said, will be launched momentarily to cover the northern parts of the country, would help bring farmers closer to sustainable, all-year-round agricultural production.

“The social sector of Ghana is working again, with the implementation of the free Senior High School policy, the strengthening and alignment of Technical and Vocational Education Institutions; the facilitation of the ICT Programme in schools, and the continuation of the rationalization and expansion of educational infrastructure,” he said.

President Akufo-Addo continued, “The restructuring of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has been initiated, with an intense stakeholder consultation process, whilst the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme has been expanded to cover more households. The Ghana School Feeding Programme has also been expanded to cover additional communities. The Affirmative Action Bill is under consideration by Cabinet, and the proportion of the Disability Fund of the District Common Fund has been increased.”

Under Governance, President Akufo-Addo noted that a programme for the amendment of the relevant articles of the Constitution to pave way for the direct election of MMDCEs, and bring full democracy to local government, has been defined; with the constitutional processes for the reorganization of our regional governance structure, the first in the history of the 4th Republic, to bring government closer to the people to accelerate development, currently underway.

“The Office of the Special Prosecutor, and the identity of its first occupant, have been effected; the Right to Information Bill has been presented to Parliament; the Public Sector Reform Strategy has been reviewed, and will be launched in a few weeks from now, whilst reforms of our system of public procurement are on-going,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo stated that actions have already begun on many of the flagship programmes under the Agenda for Jobs, and the remaining will witness inception shortly.

“It is my conviction that the effect and impact of these initiatives, and many others articulated in the document, will go a long way to ignite and sustain the transformation we are craving for our nation, and bring us close to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” he added.