The MP for Krachie West, Helen Adwoa Ntoso, has said although Ghana has been able to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving poverty, the nation must adopt new sustainable strategies to completely wipe out poverty.
“Yes we have achieved that but is that a true reflection in our rural communities. I doubt that so the country must look beyond current policies in order to adequately wipe out poverty,” Ntoso stressed.
The NDC MP, who is a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender, Children and Social Protection, is on a government delegation attending the 56th session of the Commission on Social Development at the United Nations, New York City.
The delegation is led by the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ms Afisa Otiko Djaba, who touted the achievements of Ghana in the implementation of various social interventions.
Ms Ntoso, a former Volta Regional Minister, speaking on the sidelines of the session, noted that there cannot be any better strategy of eliminating poverty than equipping the youth with skills and resourcing them with the required tools. “By so doing they can set up their own businesses and even employ others”, she observed.
She therefore encouraged MASLOC, especially, to focus on assisting the youth in purchasing basic equipment and tools to assist them in their craftsmanship. She further called on the government to provide tractors to the youth so they can join the new policy of ‘Planting for Food and Jobs’.
Among the many interventions she mentioned were the National Health Insurance Scheme, the School Feeding Programme, the Livelihood and Empowerment Programme (LEAP), Capitation Grant, and Free Senior High School Education.
She explained that all those strategic social interventions have helped Ghana to be one of the few countries to “meet the Millennium Development Goal of halving extreme poverty by the year 2015”
She also mentioned how the free SHS policy had helped over 90,000, students enrolled in secondary school who hitherto would have stayed home because of financial constraints.
Madam Otiko Djaba further harped on the importance of the policy of Planting for Food and Jobs in the nation’s quest to eradicate poverty by the year 2030.
The Minister is leading a high powered Ghanaian delegation from Parliament and Civil Society to attend the session which is on the theme “Strategies for eradicating poverty to achieve sustainable development for all”.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
