US pledges continued support ...

...for Ghana's education & housing
Abuakwa, (Ash), Nov. 27, GNA- Mrs. Pamela E. Bridgewater, US Ambassador to Ghana, has said her country was committed to partnering Ghana to evolve pro-active programmes aimed at boosting the country's educational strides and aspirations.

She described as healthy, efforts being made by the government to uplift the standard of living of Ghanaians through the provision of quality education and said the US Embassy in Ghana would provide the needed support to enable the country to break new grounds in the educational sector.

Mrs. Bridgewater was speaking at the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Ghana Baptist Theological Seminary (GBTS) at Abuakwa in the Atwima-Nwabiagya district of Ashanti on Saturday.

The ceremony also coincided with the graduation of 18 people who were awarded with certificates after undergoing training in various programmes ranging from certificate to Bachelor of Theology as well as the launch of the Ghana Baptist University College.

Ambassador Bridgewater, who is a member of the Baptist Church, charged the private sector to explore avenues to establish educational institutions, especially vocational skills and technical institutes to address the manpower needs of the country whilst also enhancing the human resource base of the country.
She advised Ghanaian students studying abroad to strive to return home after completion of their academic programmes to contribute to the nations development.
She was of the conviction that by virtue of their expertise and knowledge acquired outside, they could bring their experience to bear on all facets of the nation's endeavours for the country's attainment of a middle-income status by 2015 as envisaged.
Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence and MP for Manhyia, in an address read for him, lauded the Baptist Church for their resolve to improve upon the lives of the people through the provision of basic social amenities to deprived areas in the country.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, Asantehene in a message delivered on his behalf, expressed the hope that the Ghana Baptist University College, when completed would help augment tertiary education in the country.
The Reverend George Mallet, Principal of the GBTS, announced that authorities of the Seminary were working feverishly to mount a diploma in Church music programme and six week sandwich programme in Master of Arts in Ministry and therefore called for support to enable them achieve these objectives.

US Government to assist Ghana with housing units

Accra, Nov. 27, GNA - Ghana and the US would on Tuesday sign a 30-million-dollar agreement to finance the housing sector. Mr Alphonso Jackson, Housing and Urban Development Secretary of the US, said on Monday during a courtesy call on Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
He said the US Government saw Ghana as the beacon of democracy in Africa and was willing to help to consolidate it through the provision of housing facilities for the people.
"We are determined to build a whole housing complex for the people of Ghana but this would need a lot of co-operation, with the enticement of developers and consultants to Ghana," he said.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said the Government's number one priority for the people was to ensure that every community had potable water and this priority was closely followed by the provision of shelter for the people.
"As a Government we are determined to meet the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and we believe we shall achieve them", he said.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said because of lack of investment in the housing sector, the majority of the citizens did not have houses of their own. He said where there were investments, the mortgage rates they were too high for the ordinary worker, with interest rates per annum, for instance, at about 56 per cent at the time the New Patriotic Party (NPP) came into power.
"It has now reduced to about 22 per cent. But that is still high for the majority of the people. We are hoping that sooner or later interest rates per annum would be at about eight per cent or lower", Mr Owusu-Agyemang said.
He said homelessness was a real problem in Africa because of the way the people lived. "But this does not mean that nothing should be done about the problem."
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said Government was tackling the problem through budgetary allocation; Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Funds and soliciting investments, adding that the construction of 4,000 houses were under way.
"Government has started selling off low cost houses built in the 1970s, but was having problems with land titles.
"We want to deal with the issue of land title by ensuring that the Government acquires its own land bank so that it would fall on it any time it was needed."
He said about 20,250 hectares (50,000 acres) had already been acquired by the Government.