[ 2019-03-06 ]

Cut down resources spent on Independence day — 3 Political parties
Three political parties and one independent
presidential candidate have called on the
government to cut down on resources spent to
celebrate the country’s Independence Day
and rather channel the money into addressing
economic issues that affect the livelihood of the
citizens.

The parties — the Progressive
People’s Party (PPP), the National
Democratic Party (NDP), the Great Consolidated
Popular Party (GCPP) and an Independent
presidential candidate in the 2016 election, Mr
Jacob Osei Yeboah — also stressed the need
for the leadership of the country to use
technology as the tool to reach the height of the
developed nations.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic ahead of
the country’s 62nd Independence Day
celebration, the three political parties and the
independent presidential candidate said although
Ghana had come a long way since independence,
little had been achieved in the area of economic
gain.

Ghana will be 62 years today after the country
gained independence from British colonial rule on
March 6, 1957.

There will be a national ceremony in Tamale in the
Northern Region to celebrate the day. President
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is expected to address
the nation at the event ground.



PPP

Reacting on Ghana’s achievements since
independence, the National Secretary of the PPP,
Mr Murtala Mohammed, said much had not been done,
especially, in the area of the fight against
corruption and education.

He said instead of the government channelling more
resources into the celebration of the
independence, it should rather commemorate the
Independence Day and put those resources into
addressing the development challenges derailing
the country’s quest to attain its
development goals.

“The government should make sure that every
child benefit from free education not only at the
senior high school level but from the
Kindergarten. This should be one of the major
priorities as we commemorate our Independence
Day,” Mr Mohammed said.

GCPP

On the country’s economy, the Chairman and
leader of GCPP, Dr Henry Herbert Lartey, stressed
the need for the government to turn its attention
to the economic issues affecting the livelihood of
the citizens.

He mentioned unemployment and high importation of
goods as major issues that ought to be dealt with
immediately by the government since it continued
to slow down Ghana’s growth.

“As country, our focus right now must be
exporting more products to generate more revenue
in addressing the pressure on our currency. That
is why I am happy the government is taking the
Planting for Food and Jobs more seriously,”
Dr Lartey said.

NDP

Touching on technology, the General Secretary of
the NDP, Mr Mohammed Frimpong, said one of the
reasons why the country was lagging behind had to
do with the inability to use technology to address
our development challenges.

He said although Ghana used to encounter the same
development challenges, the Asian countries faced
some years back, the country was not able to apply
technology to climb the development ladder
compared to their counterparts.

“We need to learn from these countries and
also find better ways of improving the
country’s use of technology to enjoy the
benefits most developed nations are currently
enjoying,” Mr Frimpong said.

JOY

Mr Osei Yeboah, said Ghana, after independence,
had not yet experienced the liberty that civilised
nations boast about, saying that the country had
only gained its political independence but not
economic independence.

He said Ghana needed more economic freedom to
support the people since most of the challenges
confronting the nation centered on growth and job
creation.

Mr Yeboah said it was unfair that after all these
years, the country continued to encounter simple
economic issues that hampered growth and
development, adding that “Ghana’s
economic fundamentals must be strong to support
businesses to expand”.

Source - Graphic

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