The Senior Minister Yaw Osafo Maafo has emphasized the need to achieve the objectives of the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ agenda through harnessing the resources of the nation for development.
Speaking at a Ghana Beyond Aid Media engagement in Accra, the Senior Minister said the country had to find efficient ways to apply its resources.
“To get to Ghana Beyond Aid we will have to effectively harness our own resources and deploy them creatively and efficiently for rapid economic and social transformation. This will require hard work and the price [for it] is creativity and a consistent fight against corruption in public life.”
“It will also require that we break from a mentality of dependency and adopt a confident can-do spirit fuelled by love for our dear country Ghana. We can not subordinate the common good to build a prosperous nation for the self-interest of a few.”
Also speaking at the ceremony, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cape Coast Archdiocese, Most Rev. Charles Palmer-Buckle charged Ghanaians to eschew cynicism and politicisation of issues.
He called on the government to support the private sector as well as develop the moral being of citizens.
According to him, this will serve as a catalyst for attaining Ghana’s self-reliance quest to be beyond aid.
Speaking at the “Virtual Forum on COVID-19 and the Vision of Ghana Beyond Aid”, he advised Ghanaians to eschew practices and behaviour which will cripple the society and accept Ghana as their home.
“There is a canker that I think we need to combat. It is a disvalue which is more insidious than corruption and that evil is caused by cynicism, mistrust, and the notorious Ghanaian Pull Him/Her Down syndrome. This canker for me is too deep-rooted in our present-day culture especially in the political arena and it is breeding seeds of low self-esteem, disaffection for our country and disaffection for service to the nation.”
“The worse aspect of this vice, unfortunately, is its propagation, advertently or inadvertently by social media which turns to glamorize vice and advertise disvalue at the cost of values and virtues. Therefore we need to combat disvalue head-on through specifically focused education to values and virtues and by presenting role models who are truly icons of nobility and civility.”
The forum was held under the chairmanship of the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo and addressed by the Archbishop Charles Palmer-Buckle; Mr. Kwame Pianim, a renowned economist; the President of Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi; the Chief Executive Officer of EXIM Ghana, Mr Lawrence Agyinsam and the President of the National Union of Ghana Students, Isaac Jay Hyde.
‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ is a government initiative that seeks to harness the country’s resources and deploy them in a creative and effective manner for rapid economic and social transformation.