According to the EU Ambassador to Ghana, Mr William Hanna, the government ought to take it upon itself to ensure that at the end of every four years, it committed enough funds and resources towards the organisation of national elections without any financial assistance from the EU.

Instead of its continuous support to Ghana’s national election in terms of aid, Mr Hanna stated that the EU would like to focus more on committing a lot of resources towards trade and investment between Ghana and the EU bloc.

That, he said, was one of the key measures the nation could put in place towards achieving a vision of going beyond aid as espoused by the current New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration.

During the 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections, the EU released a grant of €5 million to support the Electoral Commission (EC), the National Media Commission (NMC) and the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) assist their preparation towards the elections.

While lauding the position taken by the government to wean itself of foreign aid at a press conference in Accra last Tuesday, Mr Hanna stated that the EU had also put measures in place to gradually phase out aid given to middle-income countries such as Ghana in the not-too-distant future.

“The EU welcomes and shares the position taken by the government to end foreign aid. We would like our relations with Ghana to develop into partnership and not one that focuses much on foreign aid,” he said.

EU and Ghana @60

Mr Hanna reiterated the fact that Ghana and the EU shared a lot of things in common, noting that March 6, 1957 was not only about Ghana’s independence but peculiar to the EU.

He said it was during that month and period that the Treaty of Rome was signed—the treaty which laid the basis for the Common Market and later the EU.

“Ghana’s 60th anniversary has been used to reflect on key development in the country. It is the same thing with the EU while celebrating our 60 years.

“On March 25, 2017, EU leaders will travel to Rome to reflect on the European project, to consider its achievements and strengths, as well as areas for improvement, and to show common resolve to shape a stronger future together,” he said.

He further commended Ghana for its numerous achievements over the last 60 years, saying the nation truly had something to celebrate. 

Youth employment programme

Going forward, the ambassador stated that the EU would focus more on using its funds and resources as a catalyst to leverage change in various areas of Ghana’s development.

He said the EU was preparing a new youth employment programme for which an amount of €43 million had been committed to create jobs for the teeming unemployed youth in the country.