President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said he is determined to develop Ghana beyond aid.
Delivering a Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung presidential lecture in Germany Tuesday, he said the fundamentals of the Ghanaian economy is being fixed.
“We’re determined,” he told his audience “to wean ourselves off aid” and that can be achieved after comprehensively fighting corruption and plugging all the loopholes in the country’s finances.
Beyond that, he said his government is committed to upholding the country’s constitution amidst reports of unrestrained lawlessness in the country.
He said his government is in the process of creating a special prosecutor’s officer to deal with issues of corruption.
Bemoaning the challenges facing the country’s agricultural sector, Mr. Akufo-Addo said the sector has been “seriously neglected” and that no single graduate from the country’s colleges of agriculture was employed in the public sector.
“There is rapid decline in public investment in Agric and that has to change,” he announced.
In a lecture which touched on almost every facet of the country’s governance structure, Mr. Akufo-Addo called for the amendment of the constitution to afford the legislature full and total control of public finances.
Also among other things, he touched on the judiciary praising the former Chief Justice, Georgina Wood’s handling of Anas’ “Ghana in the Eyes of God” documentary that exposes deep rooted corruption in the country’s judicial system.
Acknowledging the media’s contribution in strengthening Ghana’s democracy, he pointed out that he will have a loud and vibrant media than a meek and praise-singing media.
On sports, he feared that the Black Stars will not qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Nonetheless, he expects them to give off their best.
He concluded his delivery with a call on more regional integration, saying the development of ECOWAS agenda is “extremely important to Ghana’s economy.”
