Akufo-Addo receives roadmap on ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda

President Akufo-Addo has received a strategy document and Charter that outlines the roadmap for Ghana to achieve self-reliance and the vision of a ‘Ghana beyond aid’.

The strategic document was prepared and presented to the president by the 13-member Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee, which the president constituted in June 2018.

The document is expected to be laid before Parliament and will be a national policy document that will guide the actions of the government, its agencies and other stakeholders.

Speaking at the presentation ceremony at the Jubilee House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the document was necessary for the country’s next phase of development and will help the government and its agencies work strongly together to achieve the ‘Ghana beyond aid’ agenda.

Read also: Prez. Akufo-Addo clarifies "Ghana Beyond Aid" agenda

He said the agenda of a Ghana Beyond Aid, primarily was a mobilizing strategy to conscientize Ghanaians “that no one was going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for them other than Ghanaians themselves”.

“The document is also going to be a guide as to how we go about applying the slogan [Ghana Beyond Aid] for it to become meaningful in the lives of the thirty million Ghanaians in Ghana and those outside Ghana,” Akufo-Addo said.

“Africa ought to utilize its own resources and rely more on appropriate home-grown policies to unlock the economic potential of the continent. Progress would be made when we accept responsibility for our own actions and thereby conduct ourselves in a manner that would be fruitful,” he added.

President Akufo-Addo said it is important for Parliament to access the document and deliberate upon it as it will guide the government’s work and that of the judiciary and social institutions.

The President has continually stated that after sixty years of independence, Ghana cannot depend on external assistance to plan its yearly budgets.

Thus, “for the sake of dignity and pride, as a country, as a people,” the President said, “We should be in a position to fund our own activities, then, we will have control of ourselves.”

“This is important for our self-esteem,” he reiterated.

Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Marfo, who chairs the Charter Committee told the President that the strategy document was a reflection of the collective inputs of 30 institutions.

He said a lot had gone into the preparation of the manuscript and was hopeful that it (document) would give direction to the vision of a Ghana Beyond Aid.

The members of Committee drawn from various sectors of the governance structure also included the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta; Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Planning, Prof. Gyan Baffour, and the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, MP.

The rest were drawn from the Trades Union Congress, the Private Enterprise Foundation, the Ghana National Association of Teachers, as well as the Association of Ghana industries.