Appreciate achievements of government — Hadzide
The Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Pius Enam Hadzide, has called on citizens, especially those in opposition, to appreciate achievements of the ruling government within its short time in office.
He said they should expect more deliveries when the government was able to clear the bad economy inherited from the previous regime.
According to him, the National Democratic Congress(NDC) had lost policy credibility contributing to high unemployment levels of over five million graduates and that the debt to Gross Domestic Product(GDP) ratio was 73.1 per cent when the government came to power against 9.1 per cent achieved in the Kufuor regime.
He said Ghanaians should be honest with themselves and admit that their votes were not in vain.
Read Also: Education system lacks equity -- Dep Education Minister
Town hall meeting
Mr Hadzide was addressing the sixth town hall meeting of the Ho Municipal Assembly in Ho last Wednesday.
According to him, 18 factories had started operation under the One district, One factory programme and that the private sector had been empowered to play the front role in the process with special incentives designed to attract them into the IDIF project.
These, he said, included a five-year tax holiday, extension of water and electricity to sites and the construction of access roads.
He also said 570 dams were earmarked for construction under the One village, One dam in the three northern regions.
Mr Hadzide said there had been a reduction in the cost of electricity to consumers at various levels to domestic, commercial and mining sectors.
Touching on the creation of new regions, Mr Hadzide called on Ghanaians to allow the process to undergo due process as designed under the 1992 Constitution.
In his address, the Ho Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Nelson John Akorli, said town hall meetings offered the opportunity for the government and the governed to exchange ideas on policies leading to better policy formulation and implementation.
He said the municipal assembly had embarked on several projects to improve the living conditions of the people adding that there were One million dollar, One constituency projects and IDIF projects at various stages of completion.
MOFA
The Municipal Director of Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), Mr William Afari, disclosed that there was a stock balance of seed maize, seed rice and fertiliser allocated to the municipality under the Planting for Food and Jobs programme.
He said good crop harvest was expected this year due to favourable rainfall adding that the low number of staff had been beefed up by personnel posted by the National Service Scheme(NSS) and NaBCo .
During the open forum, a participant told the gathering to stop demanding money from politicians in order not to sell their conscience during voting time adding that politicians should stop vote buying from the electorate.