Nduom declares: Fiscal indiscipline is cause of economic problems

The Minister for Economic Planning and Regional Integration, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, has said that Ghana's debt burden and fiscal indiscipline contributed to the country's inability to address her economic problems.

The minister added that the nation's domestic and external debts and payment of salaries alone could take up the whole national budget.

He was speaking at a workshop on "Strengthening civil society organisations on the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy and education on the HIPC Initiative" in Tamale, organised by the Ghana Association of Private Voluntary Organisations in Developmet (GAPVOD).

Dr Nduom said what needs to be done to resuscitate the economy was fiscal discipline and the restructuring of the domestic and external debts.

"That is where HIPC comes in handy. At the moment the external debt is $6 billion and the domestic 9 million cedis. Ghana will also gain between $150 million and $200 milion every year,” he said.

It's a smear campaign- says Ghana UN association

The National Executive of the Ghana United Nations Association (GUNA) has expressed dismay at a recent publication in an Accra daily alluding to an alleged closure of the activities of the Association and that GUNA is no longer recognised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At an emergency meeting held on Tuesday, October 2, 2001, at the new national secretariat of the association, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of GUNA stated that after careful investigation, research and analysis of the said publication, it has deduced that the said publication was only an interview granted to a "Graphic" reporter by an officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was expressing his personal opinion and therefore, position of the ministry.

The NEC categorically stated that the coup d' etat-style announcement of one Kojo Acquah of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and another colleague are unacceptable in Ghana's democratic dispensation. They negate natural justice, rule of law and undermine the spirit and letter of the 1992 constitution of Ghana, the meeting ruled.

They said the claim that there is a mandate from the World Federation of United Nations Association (WFUNA) to someone to re-organise GUNA is also false.

The meeting, which was chaired by the National President, Nana Takui Ameyaw II, and attended by all the representatives of the Southern Executives of GUNA's network, was in reaction to the publications.

It was also to plan for the forthcoming National Congress of the Association scheduled for mid-November this year.