The promise by President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the people of Ashanti Region of the government’s determination to fixing the deplorable roads in the region and the projection that the cedi will record relative stability to the dollar for the last quarter of this year are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Tuesday.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has re-assured the people of Ashanti Region of the government’s determination to fixing the deplorable roads in the Region.
He said all was set for the construction of the Ejisu to Kodie ring road and the four- tier Suame interchange to begin in 2022.
President Akufo-Addo indicated that the design of the project and all agreements on it were ready, hoping that by December the interchange would be completed.
According to the President, he was aware that the residents of Kumasi were not pleased with the terrible road networks in the city, and were eager to see the roads constructed, saying there were more to come as he asked the people to have faith in his government.
He discounted that road contractors were not performing and urged all to appreciate their work, “because some of them are hugely owed by the government with sums running into millions of Ghana cedis”.
The President said he had never seen before the kind of road development ongoing in the Ashanti Region, which was the biggest investment.
He was speaking on a local radio station here, yesterday, as part of his four-day working tour to inspect ongoing projects in some parts of the Ashanti Region.
The President noted some of the talks about road construction being handled by road contractors in the Ashanti Region and other parts of the country were mere exaggerations “because the contractors are working, other than that there would not be the development that we see.”
He said he would make sure all the bad roads were given a facelift to help in the movement of people and goods in the Region.
The newspaper says that the Public Affairs Counsellor and Acting Deputy United States (US) Ambassador to Ghana, Virginia Elliot, has urged Ghanaian youth to work hard to sustain the peace and democracy of the country.
Speaking at the opening session of a two-day capacity building workshop on peace, democracy and good governance for youth, she said good governance and transparency were the antidote to corruption.
Organised by the West Africa Centre for Counter-Extremism (WACCE) in Tamale in the Northern Region, with support from the US Embassy, the workshop was aimed at promoting and sharing best practices in good governance, peace, human rights and democratic principles between Ghana and the US.
It is part of a series of workshops and forums to be held in Accra, Bolga and Tamale to build the capacity of 300 young people to serve as effective agents for democracy, and to help deepen and sustain democratic values and principles.
Ms Elliot said corruption could fuel inequality and insecurity where people’s needs were not being met, and established the relationship between good governance and security.
She said it was important to protect the peace and democratic gains of Ghana, as a regional leader, saying ‘‘Ghana is a leader for peace, stability and democracy in the West African sub-region.”
“Our hope is that you continue to choose peace and follow the best interest of your community and country. Your efforts today will make a difference in Ghana’s future.”
The Ghanaian Times also reports that the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) has pledged its support to the National Paralympic Committee of Ghana (NPC-Ghana) to host the 2023 African Paralympic Games.
A statement from the MoYS said: “The Ministry and government commit to offering all necessary support, logistics that will make hosting the African Para Games in 2023 possible as we believe under your able leadership, we would be able to ensure a smooth and successful games experience if implemented.”
The statement said, the MoYS has also endorsed the candidacy of Mr. Sampson Deen, President of the NPC-Ghana, in contesting the Presidency of the African Paralympic Committee (APC).
According to the MoYS, Mr. Deen holds the key to positively changing the fortunes of African nations at the international games, as the continent witnessed a decline at the last Paralympic Games in Japan.
The newspaper says that Ghana cedi will record relative stability to the dollar for the last quarter of this year, despite expected pressures during the Christmas period whereby traders will be importing goods to sell, Senior Economic Analyst at Databank Research, Courage Martey, has said.
He said the $1.5 billion Cocoa Syndication loan out of which $750 million was expected to hit the account of the Bank of Ghana this week would help in the stability of the local currency.
The cedi ended the third quarter of this year with a modest deprecation of 1.81 percent to the dollar, lower than the 2.96 percent depreciation recorded during the same period in 2020.
The 1.81 percent depreciation is the best performance achieved in about 20 years.
He said “As we move into the final quarter of 2021, we are quiet assured of continued relative stability but with a depreciation that will occur at a controlled or modest pace because already we have a strong reserve buffer in excess of five months of import cover.
“And from October, we should start to see the tranche disbursement of the $1.5 billion Cocoa Syndicated facility which will strengthen the cedi to see out the rest of this year. So generally, we are very positive about the cedi.”
“We do not expect that these inflows will translate into appreciation in the fourth quarter of this year. However, we think it will likely mitigate any potential shocks on the currency,” he said.
GIK/APA