New Year should bring progress

Another year has come to an end and, as is usual, many people have made resolutions which they intend to follow to make life better and more comfortable for them in the new year, although in many cases such resolutions are forgotten within a few weeks of the year.

The year 2017 was eventful. It was the year in which Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, after three attempts, was sworn in as the fifth President of the Fourth Republic, with its accompanying excitement and challenges.

After nearly one year in office, President Akufo-Addo’s government has taken a number of steps to make the Ghanaian economy more resilient.

It has also introduced a number of social interventions and it is the hope of many Ghanaians that the measures so far taken will yield the desired positive results.

In a Christmas message to Ghanaians, the President said: “Over the last 11 months, the period of stay of my government in office, we have taken concrete steps towards stabilising and growing our economy, providing incentives for the private sector to flourish and ensuring that the basic elements of social justice, that is, access to quality education and health care, are met. I believe that the measures that we will put in place will lead to greater employment for all Ghanaians.”

As the world enters 2018, the Daily Graphic advises Ghanaians to eschew negative tendencies that tend to draw the nation’s development back. This is important to set us on the path to position ourselves properly among the comity of nations.

Many are expectant that interventions such as the free senior high school policy will be consolidated for the benefit of students and parents. In the same vein, they expect that unemployment that has been an albatross around the neck of successive governments will be reduced to bring some relief to the teeming unemployed youth.

Need we say that to become a prosperous nation, we the citizens need to put our shoulders to the wheel and do away with practices that tend to draw the nation’s development back?

At many workplaces, there are many employees and supervisors who do not live up to the tasks of their jobs, such that (as pointed out by former President J.A. Kufuor) many pretend to work, with the government also pretending to be paying them. Such an attitude has very negative effects on the social and economic life of the country and it needs to be stemmed in order to ensure the rapid development of the country.

We reiterate the President’s advice, in his inaugural speech last year, that we should all resolve to be active citizens and not spectators by involving ourselves deeply in the affairs of the nation. This is also a year in which Ghanaians should start looking seriously at indiscipline and corruption — so that a year by this time we can all applaud ourselves and say proudly that together we have made it thus far.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!