Ministers to hold press conferences at regional levels

Tamale, July 7, GNA- Regional Ministers would henceforth hold press conference in their respective regions to account for their stewardship to the people instead of holding such forums in Accra, Mr Andrews Awuni, Deputy Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, has announced. He said this new development was to enable the people to ask the ministers questions pertaining to the development of their regions and also bring them to book when found wanting. Mr Awuni was talking on "Diamond FM", a local radio station in Tamale on Monday, as part of his familiarization tour of media houses in the region. He said: "For this time round, the media will be taken round to inspect development projects being executed in the regions before the press conferences are conducted to give the journalists the correct picture of what is happening on the ground" "We want the media to see the projects physically and expose them to the public for them to see what the government is doing because majority of the people are not aware of the numerous development projects taking place in their communities".

On Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative, Mr. Awuni said there were no special conditionalities attached to it adding, "it is similar to the Structural Adjustment Programme". He said it was unfortunate that people had subjected the HIPC initiative to different interpretations. "It is neither our resting place nor a panacea for our economic problems", he said, adding, "conditions that are inimical to our economic growth can be reviewed to meet our specific needs"

On indiscipline, the Deputy Minister said religious bodies and NGOs had contributed immensely to instil discipline in the society and urged the Police, Municipal and District Assemblies to enforce the existing laws to stem indiscipline. He announced that very soon the Vice-President, who has initiated the campaign against indiscipline, would bring pressure to bear on the police and other relevant agencies to enforce the laws, especially traffic regulations. Mr Awuni said he had no knowledge about the proposed 40 per cent cut in intake of students at the University of Ghana, Legon but expressed regret that inadequate infrastructure was a problem at the university. He said, "what I saw in Legon during a recent visit was a pity, describing the crowding of students at lecture halls as a "bee hive". "Some of the students stood on the verandah to take down notes on the backs of their colleagues, while their lecturers had no public address systems to communicate to the students".