“Hopefully, very soon, the government’s take on how we go forward will be out and our interest is making sure that this compact is successfully implemented and the people of Ghana will benefit from it,” the President said.

At a swearing-in ceremony of the reconstituted board the compact’s local implementing agency, the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), in Accra yesterday, the President said after taking office, it was necessary for the government to look at what was on the table and the various challenges to the full progress of the compact as it related to, especially, the ECG.

He expressed confidence in the capacity of members of the board to handle the challenge, saying at the end of the compact, the people of Ghana would applaud him for choosing those assigns.

Members of the board

The reconstituted MiDA board  chaired by Professor Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu, is made up of the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta; the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Alan Kyerematen; the Minister of Energy, Mr Boakye Agyarko; and the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection; Ms Otiko Afisa Djaba.

Others are the Minister of Business Development, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Awal; the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Ms Gloria Afua Akuffo; and the Chief Executive Officer of MiDA, Mr Owura Kwaku Sarfo.

The rest are Dr Samuel Kobina De-Souza, representing the Private Enterprises Foundation (PEF), Mr Humphrey Ayim Darko Dake, representing the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), and a representative from the Association of Ghana Private Voluntary Organisations in Development whose name is yet to be presented by the association.

The three non-voting members are the Chairman of ECG Board, Chairman of NEDCo Board and Ms Deidra Fair-James, Resident Country, Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

Core mandate of MiDA

The President said the core mandate of MiDA was to ensure that the objectives of the compact were achieved and explained that the current compact had the specific goal of enabling the country to overcome the challenge that the energy situation posed to its development.

The first compact

The first compact, which was contracted under the tenure of former President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2006, he said, was around $547 million which was slightly higher than the second.

Also, he added, the first one had to do with efforts to restructure and transform the agricultural sector of the economy, as well as the development of road infrastructure.

“We are very happy to see that the compact was successfully carried out and that has given the confidence for the government of the United States to enter into the second one with us,” he said with smiles.

Huge but doable task

 Prof. Baidu described the assignment as a huge task, but assured the President and the people of Ghana that “whatever it takes to deliver, we will do that to ensure that MiDA achieves its objectives.”

She said the compact came at a very crucial time where there were challenges that needed to be addressed in a much more focused way.