Democracy not just about presiding over people-Minister

Kumasi, April 14, GNA - Mr Dan Botwe, the Minister of Information, has said democracy is not just about being elected President but the capacity to bring good governance to the doorsteps of the people and make them part of it.

He said this is why the government had introduced the People's Assembly at the national, regional and even the district levels and had translated the President's State of the Nation Address into vernacular. Mr Botwe said this when he launched the Akan version of the "President's State of the Nation's Address", in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The occasion coincided with the Peoples Assembly, organised by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), to shed more light on programmes of the KMA and create an avenue for suggestions and criticisms on national policies and programmes.

He said the practice of confining the President's State of the Nation's Address to only English did not augur well for democracy since a large segment of the people do not understand English.

In response to a suggestion for re-locating the railway station at Kaase and the Kumasi Central Prisons to enable those premises be used as lorry parks, Mr. S.K. Boafo, the Ashanti Regional Minister, said a programme was underway to convert the site opposite the Centre for National Culture (CNC) into a lorry park for private cars.

"The Atasemanso station has also been earmarked for a lorry park", he said.