President Akufo-Addo’s acknowledgment of the positive contributions of the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to the development of multi-party democracy in the Fourth Republic is one of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has hailed the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), for the positive contributions they have made to the development of multi-party democracy in the Fourth Republic.
“It is up to us to find a way to accommodate each other and our differences to make things work for the benefit of the Ghanaian people,” he said.
Delivering the message on the State of the Nation in Parliament on March 30, 2022, the President said there was still work to be done on building the institutions of the country, adding that Ghana’s democracy was worth fighting for.
Nevertheless, he decried attempts by certain elements to advocate coups d’état as the answer to the problems of the nation.
“Mr Speaker, it might also well be that coups d’état have re-entered our discourse because of the turmoil in our neighbourhood.
“The West African subregion is suddenly back in international headline news for all the wrong reasons — we are back again as the region of political instability and the place for coups,” he stated.
The President said Ghana knew the cost of instability, as it resulted in the exodus of its artisans and professionals and also depleted the classrooms of teachers.
“We do not want to be an island of peace and stability in a region of turmoil. We do not aspire to be prosperous in the midst of want and poverty. We want a stable and prosperous Ghana in a stable and prosperous region,” he told Parliament.
The newspaper says that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said that Ghana will start commercial vaccine production in January 2024.
Delivering a message on the State of the Nation in Parliament Wednesday morning [March 30, 2022], President Akufo-Addo said government has instituted a comprehensive strategy to produce vaccines domestically.
That, he noted, government was going to establish the National Vaccine Institute to implement government’s domestic vaccine production strategy.
He explained that the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute will help the country to start the first phase of its domestic vaccine production in January 2024.
President Akufo-Addo said a Bill will soon be sent to Parliament for approval to aid the establishment of the National Vaccine Institute.
Ghana and two sister African states, Senegal and Rwanda are working on building a pan African project where initially the fill and finish plant will be located in Ghana.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says his administration has built more roads than any government in Ghana’s history within a five-year period.
Delivering a message on the state of the nation to Parliament yesterday, the President said the road sector was where his government had recorded its greatest infrastructure achievement.
“In the five years of my government, so far, more roads have been built, improved and upgraded than at any other equivalent period under any government in the history of Ghana”
“Some 10,875 kilometres of new roads have been constructed in these 5 years,” he said and pledged “to continue with the building of roads round the country to accelerate the opening up of our country.”
On energy, the President noted that in spite of worldwide upheavals in the energy sector and the huge legacy debts he inherited from his predecessor, his government had managed to keep the lights on.
He said the government had almost completed the process of restructuring the legacy debts in the energy sector to reduce its effect on public expenditure.
“With the introduction of more Bulk Supply Points (BSPs) in areas such as Kasoa and Pokuase, power transmission has improved tremendously in the South-Western and North-Western parts of Greater Accra. Power lines are getting upgraded to reduce commercial and technical losses and increase transmission capacity,” he said.
Under the National Electrification Scheme, he said a total of 279 communities had been connected to the national grid.
The newspaper says that the European Union (EU) has announced a 44.7 million Euros financing agreement and officially launch the EU’s new programming priorities in Ghana for the next six years.
Consequently, the Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, and the EU are expected to sign the financing agreement.
This forms part of the visit of the EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, Ms Jutta Urpilainen two-day visit to the country to undertake some activities to reaffirm the EU’s ties with the country.
According to a statement issued by the European Union Delegation to Ghana and copied to the Ghanaian Times in Accra yesterday, the Commissioner paid a courtesy call on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, at the Jubilee House.
They are expected to discuss the Russian invasion of Ukraine and consequences for geopolitics and global commodity prices, as well as the regional security situation in West Africa and Sahel.
The Commissioner would also present the EU’s new Global Gateway strategy and several flagship programmes such as the Global Green Bond Initiative and the Africa-EU Green Energy Initiative.
Ms Urpilainen in her discussions with Mr Ofori-Atta would explore avenues for a stronger EU-Ghana partnership to sustain and stimulate green growth and job creation in Ghana.
She would also meet the Minister of Energy, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, to discuss the Global Gateway strategy and prospects for further cooperation under the Continental Power System Masterplan.
“Finally, the Commissioner will focus on health and vaccines as key shared priorities between EU and Ghana. She will visit the laboratories of the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), which regulates local manufacturing of vaccines and is supported by the EU and Germany,” the statement added.
GIK/APA