Government holds People's Assembly

Opposition political parties boycott...
The two-year-old government of President John Kufuor Tuesday submitted itself for public scrutiny in the capital Accra.

The programme dubbed “People’s Assembly”; the second since the New Patriotic Party administration took office January 7, 2001 is aimed at brining government closer to the people.

The People's Assembly was a novelty initiated by the Kufuor administration a year ago to create a platform for people to interact with the executive on national matters as part of the celebration of one decade of the Fourth Republic and two years of “Positive Change.” It was under the theme; “Consolidating Ghana’s democracy through peace, unity and development.”

Speaking at the assembly, President Kufuor announced government's resolve to replace the cash and-carry and system with health insurance schemes by 2004.

The President who made reference to the electoral promise by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to scrap the cash and carry system at a Peoples Assembly in Accra said pro-type schemes have already started in 42 out of the 110 districts.

"As not all the districts are equally endowed, government is resolved to raise the resources to extend the scheme to cover the entire country by next year," he told the cross-section of the people who attended the People's Assembly.

President Kufuor said government overstretched last year's budget to improve on the working conditions of doctors and other health workers to stem the mass exodus of personnel.

"I hope the doctors and nurses and indeed all other workers will appreciate the desperate situation that the country faces and not hold the nation to ransom. "I have said it and bears repeating, nobody will come from anywhere to develop this country for us. We must all accept it as our duty to sacrifice to rehabilitate the economy and then we can demand and receive our commensurate reward," he explained.

President Kufuor announced measures to improve on infrastructural development, saying work has started on the rehabilitation of all major arterial roads leading out of Accra. "There is at least one selected strategic road in each region that is being improved. In all the regions, the feeder roads programme is being pursued vigorously."

The President said the expansion programme in telecommunications was on course, whilst new telephone exchanges were being commissioned. "The Information Communication Training centre is under construction and will be opened in the middle of the year", he said.

On the energy sector, President Kufuor said the Akosombo Hydro- Electricity Dam was being augmented with power supply from thermal plants. He however, asked Ghanaians to express cautious optimism about news of offshore oil exploration whilst they wait for the outcome.

Efforts to revamp health and agriculture

President Kufuor expressed confident about his government's track record to augment the health and agriculture sectors to boost national development. He said the Ministry of Food and Agriculture was concentrating on mechanization of agriculture, food marketing, storage and processing to save the country from " a year of plenty, only to be followed by lean years."

The rehabilitation and expansion of irrigation schemes around the country will also continue steadily, he assured the assembly. President Kufuor said his administration had embarked on a programme aimed at boosting the morale of teachers and their conditions of service.

He said training facilities were being expanded to upgrade the skills of teachers to enable them keep up with the new trends around the world. The President said the provision of desks and basic textbooks to primary schools would soon be completed. "We will then be able to say truly that every school child has a desk to sit on and material to study." Work, he said, has started on the project to upgrade at least one second-cycle school in every region.

Yendi crisis

The president urged all factions in the Yendi skin dispute to exercise self-restraint and allow the rule of law to facilitate peace, justice and stability. He described the crisis as "an awful tragedy that befell the nation and Dagbon" leading to loss of lives and the regicide of the Dagbon King Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II.

"Government has worked hard since the tragedy and is doing all it can to find a long-term solution to the problem," he said. The President said the Attorney General has been instructed to expedite action on the White Paper issued on the Wuaku Commission's Report. The Ya-Na and some 30 people died last March in fighting between the Andani and Abudu Gates in the Yendi Skin affair.

The People's Assembly is on the theme: "Consolidating Ghana's Democracy Through Peace, Unity and Development."

The forum, which would be organized nation-wide, would offer the public the opportunity to interact with the executive on pertinent national issues. President Kufuor said good governance, national security and the protection of individual liberties has remained top of the government's agenda. "I believe it is fair to commend the security agencies for their work so far. With the injection of a few working tools, they are getting on top of the law and order situation and there has been a marked improvement.

"The police are more visible and thus inducing more confidence among the people. The military is also reverting to professionalism and their proper constitutional role. They are bringing honour to the nation."

President Kufuor called on the citizenry to support the security agencies in the fight against social misfits.