Addressing the Ghanaian community in Dakar last Tuesday as part of his three-day official visit to Senegal, President Akufo-Addo gave an assurance that all the critical commitments he made to the Ghanaian people would be upheld.

He stated that he did not make the promises to win votes, as his political opponents sought to portray, but made them “to save the future of the country.”

President Akufo-Addo said he was confident that “with correct and honest leadership, we can get to where all of us want to get to.’’

Jobs

The President indicated that majority of jobs in Ghana were created by the private sector, and added that, “if the private sector does not have the strength to be able to operate and grow, it becomes difficult to create jobs. So our attitude has been that, let us do whatever we can to strengthen the private sector in Ghana to work and create jobs, especially for our young people.”

To that end, President Akufo-Addo said the tax cuts and incentives introduced to stimulate the growth of the private sector had resulted in $1 billion of revenue taken away from the exchequer, to support private sector operators to grow their businesses and create jobs for the youth.

Other initiatives

The President said the free Senior High School (SHS) policy, which he described as “my obsession,” was on its way to being fulfilled, indicating that his government would fund the cost for all those who would qualify for entry from the 2017/2018 academic year onwards.

President Akufo-Addo said his government had found it necessary to find the money to save the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) from collapse.

“The NHIS was collapsing because it owed so much to the providers, and a lot of the providers were insisting on cash and carry. We don’t want to go back to cash and carry. We have begun to claw back the arrears and begun now to pay the service providers. So in the months ahead of us, we are going to see the full recovery of the NHIS,” he said.

Touching on the agricultural sector, President Akufo-Addo told the gathering that the “Planting for Food and Jobs” programme launched about a month ago, was the answer to the twin-problem of migration of the youth from the rural arrears to the cities in search of non-existent jobs and the disgraceful spectacle of Ghana importing foodstuffs from neighbouring countries. 

Planting for Food and Jobs, the President explained, would be anchored on the pillars that would transform the country’s agriculture such as the provision of improved seeds, the supply of fertilisers, and the provision of dedicated extension services.

Giving the assurance that all the necessary measures had been put in place to guarantee the success of the programme, President Akufo-Addo said the government had reduced the prices of fertiliser by 50 per cent and the product would readily be available on the market.

 Additionally, he revealed that his government had employed 1,200 agriculture extension graduates to help drive the programme.

He spoke on how the previous NDC administration decided not to employ any of the 3,200 graduates from the country’s five colleges of agriculture between 2011 and 2015, and assured the Ghanaian community that “in 2018, we will employ 2,000 more extension officers, with the solemn pledge of employing more graduates from our colleges of agriculture in the subsequent years.” 

Protecting public purse

Touching on the commitment he made to protect the public purse, the President stressed that his government was “bringing back competitive tendering for all transactions in the public sector.”

 He stated that “sole sourcing, with one or two people sitting in a room and agreeing on things, is over. We are not going to do that again in Ghana. We are going to make sure that the competitive basis for doing things is restored.”

“Ghana should not be a poor nation. We are not a poor nation. I refuse the description of Ghana as a poor country. We are a rich nation, and we will make sure that the wealth of the country is apparent in the lives of its people,” he told the gathering.