President Mills Appeals To Ghanaians To Cherish Peace

President John Evans Atta Mills, has reiterated the need for Ghanaians to always appreciate and cherish the current peace that the country is enjoying. �As we approach the December Presidential and Parliamentary elections, it is my prayer and hope that we shall continue to preserve and maintain the peace, remain united and focused as people with one destiny�. President Mills said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Fritz Baffour, Minister of Information, at the opening of the Eastern Regional Policy Fair in Koforidua on Monday. The four-day Fair is on the theme: �Building Together in a Better Ghana�. President Mills pledged that Government through the use of agencies and institutions, especially those entrusted with the conduct of elections and the security of the nation, would live up to their responsibilities of ensuring that there would be fair elections and peace before, during and after the general elections. He said the Policy Fair aimed to inform the people of the Eastern Region in particular and the country in general about government policies, projects, programmes and activities. President Mills noted also that the Fair presented opportunities for effective networking, collaboration and partnership between the public and the private sector to effectively harness the economic potential of the region. He, therefore, entreated the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities that the Fair was offering to maximize their business and investment opportunities so as to create the desired employment avenues for the youth. Again the President Mills said the Fair aimed to explain to the people why Government had chosen to commit its resources in particular areas of the economy. �We can hardly achieve meaningful development if the citizenry on whose behalf we are managing the country do not support and cooperate with us,� he said. The President said as a people centred government, his government would always be guided by the fact that the people of Ghana matter so far as every decision of the government was concerned. �We made a promise to expand our country�s infrastructural base in support of our economy take-off. We also decided to invest in the people of our country so as to make them competitive both locally and abroad," he added. President Mills said in meeting those obligations and considering the importance of education, the government had and still continued to support the School Feeding Programme, provide free school uniforms and exercise books and made strenuous effort to remove schools under trees. He said it had also provided additional classroom blocks and dormitories for Senior High Schools (SHS) in the country to ensure quality and universal education. President Mills said the government had also proved its determination to add unto the number of public universities in the country by establishing two more universities in the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions. �We have ensured food security by adopting measures that have contributed enormously towards increased food production. As we strive to reduce post harvest losses by improving upon our road networks, especially the feeder roads. We have also endeavoured to provide ready market for our farmers through the establishment of the National Buffer Stock Company,� he said. He indicated that great initiatives in the cocoa sector also enabled cocoa production to hit an unprecedented one million metric tons in 2011, adding that all those developments had helped to increase the income of farmers. President Mills said the government�s resolve to invest in the people of Ghana had been adequately matched with the provision of quality health care that had ensured a healthy labour force in support of the development of a strong nation.