Ghana takes steps to create common border posts

Accra, Nov.14 GNA - Ghana has designed a framework for the creation of common border posts with its neighbours to boost economic integration and other objectives of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

Dr Francis Appiah of the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and NEPAD, who made this known at a youth forum in Accra on Friday, told the Ghana News Agency that the sector Minister, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku had already signed a memorandum of understanding with his counterpart in La Cote d'Ivoire to facilitate the process.

"The conflict in that country is an obstacle to the quick implementation of the project. To say the project will start next year is to sound too optimistic; but the drawings have been done and the Ministry has taken the first step."

Dr Appiah, who spelt out the numerous advantages of NEPAD, such as the Peer Review Mechanism meant to promote good governance amongst member states, said the Initiative would also remove self-inflicted barriers to trade on the continent.

He told the over 30 participants at the forum organized by the National Youth Platform, an umbrella youth organization, that while the rest of the world were breaking down barriers Africans were perpetuating their disunity through constant conflicts.

There was also lack of good economic governance, he said, and explained that the phenomenon had led to the situation where the personal fortunes of Bill Gates, the Founder and Chairman of Microsoft Company alone was more than the Gross Domestic Product of the entire West Africa. He said the estimated 600 billion dollars Africans were capable of investing in the continent have also been stifled due to inappropriate investment climate.

Dr Appiah, who linked the development problems of the continent to over 400 years of slavery, colonization and neo-colonialism, said the NEPAD initiative was a panacea to resolve those problems.

He said the common ECOWAS currency proposed for July 2005 and inter-trade among Africans would lead to the integration of the economies and to bigger markets.

Dr Appiah expressed the need for the continent to promote science and technology to increase its pace of development.

He called on the youth to be proactive in resolving the development malice of Africa by striving to educate and sensitise the estimated 120 million illiterates on the continent about the comparative advantages of NEPAD.

Mr Andy Appiah Kubi, Executive Director of the Ghana Free Zones Board, cautioned student leaders against street demonstrations and other protests to back demands such as the payment of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Students Loan Scheme.

Mr Kubi, a former President of the Student Representative Council of the University of Ghana, Legon said dialogue rather than confrontation with authority was always necessary, adding, " I may sound too controversial but that is the truth".

He explained that the frequent antagonisms over the loans could prompt civil society groups that contribute to the SSNIT Pension scheme to question the rationale of granting the loan when there was the problem of recovery.

Mr Adam Mohammed Amin, member of the National Youth Platform, called on the youth to avail themselves of opportunities available to them under the NEPAD initiative to facilitate the development of the country.