<<Print>>

Ghana's Development Partners have welcomed government's decision to reduce fuel subsidies and to commitment to increase domestic tax revenue. Head of the European Union Delegation in Ghana, Claude Marten, on behalf of the development partners, appealed to government to build stronger ties with the development partners, re-invigorate the economy to make it robust to create more jobs and tackle gender inequality in the country. Mr. Maerten, was speaking at the launch of the Government Development partners Group at the Flagstaff House in Accra. He said Ghana has a good investment environment that could be transformed into gains only if government intensified supervision, monitoring, transparency and built the capacity of businesses to compete favourably with international competitors. President John Mahama who inaugurated the group, urged the members to consider seriously government priority investment programmes in their deliberations. The Group is made up the Minister of Finance, Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, and Cabinet Secretary on the side of government, while the Development Partners are made up of ambassadors, bilateral and multi-lateral development groups and the Bretton Woods Institutions. They have the responsibility to monitor government development projects and provide constructive pieces of advice that could expedite the acceleration of the economy and other developmental sectors. President Mahama said apart from the strengthening of the procurement law, government will also put up effective supervisory and monitoring measures that will help cut down high and frivolous expenditure, reduce waste in the ministries, departments and agencies and ensure that all efforts are moved towards effective delivery. The President also condemned the delays in dispatching official documents that ensures speedy execution of government projects and gave the assurance that his administration will hold people accountable for unnecessarily delaying such processes. On gender equity, President Mahama said one of the main reasons for streamlining some ministries, especially that of the Women and Children Affairs into the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, was to ensure that all challenges among women and children are identified and synchronised for action to be taken. Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission, Mr Paul Victor Obeng, and a member of the Group, attributed the massive development of the country over the years to fortified partnership and expressed the hope that the launch would further raise the cooperation to greater heights.