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Gov't Committed To Building A New Ghana

By Daily Guide
General News Gov't Committed To Building A New Ghana
SEP 22, 2017 LISTEN

President Akufo-Addo had the opportunity to address his colleague world leaders at the ongoing United Nations (UN) General Assembly meeting in New York yesterday.

Happening on a day that has been set aside to celebrate the birth of Ghana's first president, the late Dr Kwame Nkrumah, back home, he could not but pay glowing tribute to his (Nkrumah's) memory.

Measures
President Akufo-Addo then seized the opportunity to brief the world body on what he and his government have been doing over the last eight months since they took over the affairs of the state in their quest to build a new and better Ghana beyond aid.

Apart from being a beacon of democracy and stability on the African continent as Ghana has always been touted to be, he indicated that “our institutions of state are growing stronger, and we have made more progress with our economy than at any time since independence.”

Even though he admitted the fact that “we are nowhere near where we want to be,” he noted with emphasis, “We are determined to realise our potential and make Ghana a prosperous nation.”

Nana Addo told his colleague presidents that “we are working to grow our economy and open up opportunities for all our citizens. No longer should Ghanaians feel they have to subject themselves to the intolerable and inhumane conditions of crossing the Sahara, and drowning in the Mediterranean, in the hope of making a living in Europe.”

This, he said, is part of reasons his government has started the Free Senior High School programme, which aims at guaranteeing secondary education for all Ghanaian children.

“The programme will ensure that all our children will be educated to at least secondary level, and money, or the lack of it, will no longer mean a denial of education. This has already led to an increase of over 90,000 children, who have entered secondary school this academic year, who would otherwise have dropped out at this stage,” he noted.

President Akufo-Addo was therefore confident that the UN's Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 – which aims at ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all – would be within the reach of Ghana by the target date.

According to the president, “We do not want to be a scar on anybody's conscience.”

The Ghanaian leader, whose speech drew intermittent applause from his colleague presidents, indicated, “We want to build an economy that is not dependent on charity and handouts.”

That, he said, was because “long and bitter experience has taught us no matter how generous the charity, we would remain poor.”

Aside that, the president said, that “we want to build a Ghana, which looks to the use of its own resources and their proper management as the way to engineer social and economic growth in our country. We want to build an economy that looks past commodities to position our country in the global marketplace.

“We are not disclaiming aid, but we do want to discard a mind-set of dependency and living on handouts; we want to build a Ghana beyond aid. It is an easier platform on which to build sustainable relationships.”

Issues
Even though he pledged Ghana's commitment to maintaining friendly and cordial relations with all the countries and peoples of the world, “we want to build a Ghana that will enable our people deal with the rest of the world on an equal basis.”

He was concerned about the existing structure of the UN, especially with the Security Council.

“It has been talked about and scheduled for a long time, but somehow, we have never found the courage and the will to reform the United Nations. Ghana supports the process of UN Reform, especially of the UN Security Council, as set out in Africa's Common Position on UN Reform, based on the Ezulwini Consensus,” he gently protested.

According to President Akufo-Addo, “The time is long overdue to correct the long-standing injustice that the current structure and composition of the UN Security Council represent for the nations of Africa.”

“We cannot continue to preach democracy and fairness around the world; we cannot insist on peace and justice around the world when our global organisation is not seen by the majority of its members, as having a structure that is just and fair.”

That, he said, is seen by many as helping to perpetrate an unfair world order.

Considering the fact that the UN provides the best vehicle for the world to manage its many varied problems, Nana Addo insisted, “we will undermine its credibility and fail in our duty if we do not reform the United Nations.”

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