Claim ownership of government’s flagship programmes - Veep tells chief directors of ministries

Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has entreated chief directors of the various ministries to claim ownership of all the government’s flagship programmes by incorporating them into their activities.

He said the flagship policies were not the responsibility of any particular state agency but that agencies of state owed it a duty to build synergies to ensure the successful implementation of those policies.

Dr Bawumia, who opened a five-day macroeconomic policy dialogue for chief directors of ministries in Accra yesterday, urged them to synergise among themselves and factor key government policies into their activities.

“The success of government’s key flagship programmes, such as one-district, one-factory, one-village, one-dam and Planting for Food and Jobs, largely depends on diligent effort of collaboration from all sectors of the economy,” he remarked.

The purpose of the event was for the chief directors and other key stakeholders to dialogue on issues pertinent to the advancement of the economy through deeper discussions and address the question of how the country could design and implement effective strategies and policies to support the growth of the economy.

The policy dialogue was organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, with support from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Ghana Beyond Aid

The Vice-President stated that the dialogue could not have happened at a better time than now, in view of the steps the government was taking to secure the country’s economic future.

He told the chief directors to be part of the President’s vision to build a country without over-reliance on donor handouts, adding: “Hence we need to put in place an engine to get us there.”

“Our ministries, departments and agencies are the vehicles that transport government’s hopes and aspirations to attain success and you are indispensable in the unravelling of Ghana’s economic success story,” Dr Bawumia told the chief directors.

He said initiatives such as the development of a digital address system, a national identification system and the promotion of paperless ports were part of processes to transform the economy.

He further mentioned the establishment of an integrated bauxite and aluminium industry as part of the transformational effort.

Socio-economic transformation

Earlier in his welcoming remarks, a Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Alhaji Mohammed Habibu Tijani, said the policy dialogue would offer the chief directors the opportunity to deepen and sharpen their knowledge in macro-economic issues and deliberate on effective strategies and policies that would support the promotion of rapid and inclusive economic growth of Ghana.

“Given the collective mandates of your various ministries, I am confident that this platform will provide you with the opportunity to brainstorm on strategic, credible and sustainable policies to ensure that the accelerated socio-economic transformation and the policy on ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’, as envisioned by the President, become a reality,” he said.

Lead the way

The Head of the Civil Service, Nana Agyekum Dwamena, urged the chief directors to lead the Civil Service to initiate innovations based on the government’s priority areas.

Attitudinal change at the workplace should be one key area that should be factored into the selection of their strategies, he added.