Speaker defends Ghana Beyond Aid policy
The Speaker of Parliament, Professor Mike Aaron Oquaye, has defended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s policy of a Ghana beyond aid, saying the concept was the best for the country and the whole of Africa.
Prof. Oquaye contended that the present World Economic Order made Africans out as continuing drawers of water and hewers of wood.
“We produce raw materials such as gold, diamond, bauxite, cocoa, fruits, vegetables, timber and others without corresponding end-product benefits,” he stressed.
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“President Akufo-Addo simply wants a new partnership, not dependency and donor support of budget deficits from time to time. His call is also a paradigm shift for a partnership which will allow promotion and protection for our new industries from the dumping of cheap products from other developed nations, as dictated by current World Trade Organisation (WTO) arrangements,” he pointed out.
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4th Africa conference
The Speaker of Parliament was delivering his remarks at the 4th Africa Network of Parliamentary Budget Officers held at the Conference Room of Ghana’s Parliament in Accra last Monday.
In the process, he took a serious swipe at the remarks recently made by the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana as ill-informed, misplaced and woefully unbefitting a diplomat of a friendly nation for essentially attempting to “ridicule unmeritoriously our President’s concept of Ghana beyond aid”.
He echoed: “No nation in the world industrialised without protectionist strategies. Now Africa is being asked to do so. Our President wants genuine partnership to wean us off this dilemma. And of course, it is clear that certain colonial powers are against this. Period!”
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He, therefore, charged the Africans assembled to re-think deeply on those issues.
Achievements
The Speaker emphasised that a Ghana beyond aid was coterminous with a Ghana against corruption.
He pointed out several policy measures, including the Procurement Act, Abolition of the Criminal Libel Law and others initiated by the President when he was once Attorney-General.
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“Currently, the Law on Public Prosecutor, the Right to Information and others which the President has led in passing impose sanctions against corrupt officials.
“These are ongoing and are worthy of commendation and encouragement to do more. But this ridicule must seriously be eschewed by all right-thinking members of society,” he urged.