Govt's Agenda To Ensure Better Life For Ghanaians On Course - Mills

President John Evans Atta Mills says the government�s obligation to ensure that Ghanaians enjoy the fruit of their labour and are equally rated high in the eyes of the international community is on course. The President gave the assurance in a speech read on his behalf by his Special Advisor on policies, Dr Christina Amoako Nuamah, at the opening of the Third Ghana Policy Fair in Accra. The one-week fair, on the theme: �Building Together in a Better Ghana�, will feature discussions on issues such as the economic transformation of the country, energy needs, promotion of the creative arts industry and the 2012 general election. It will also afford participants the opportunity to explain and deliberate on how far Ghana has gone with regard to the provision of the necessary infrastructure in support of the economic take-off, especially with specific reference to education, roads, health and the transportation sectors. The fair is also expected to promote dialogue among stakeholders and encourage debate on policy alternatives. �It is our strongest conviction that one of the surest ways of developing a nation is to develop it with the people. It is, therefore, based on this premise that we resolved to run a transparent and accountable government,� he said. President Mills said since assuming office, the government had adopted several measures to ensure that Ghanaians were adequately informed about the opportunities created and continue to provide �so that our people could easily take advantage of these great avenues as a tool for improving upon their lot and thus raise their standard of living.� He said the government had put in various interventions to expand the country�s infrastructural and economic base as a catalyst for development and transformation. He mentioned the construction of new roads and the rehabilitation of poor roads, building of additional classroom blocks and dormitories for senior high schools, elimination of schools under trees, construction of clinics and health posts, extension of electricity supply to rural areas, and increased production of staple food items. On education, the President said the government had embarked on massive investment in the education sector that had not only resulted in the provision of additional classroom blocks and dormitories for almost all senior high schools, but also contributed towards eliminating schools under trees to a large extent. �As we endeavour to meet the challenges posed to the health sector, we have invested massively in the construction of clinics and health posts and have rehabilitated and expanded several hospitals,� he said. Commenting on the achievement in the agriculture sector, President Mills said agriculture, which has been the mainstay of the economy for decades now, had witnessed massive improvement under his administration due to total commitment to the sector. That, he said, had resulted in increased production of the major staple food items, while cocoa, the country�s flagship foreign exchange earner, had attained a record one million tonnes in production. That, President Mills said, would create job opportunities and make life easier, particularly for those in the rural areas and decrease the rural-urban migration in the country. He, however, urged stakeholders, especially the youth, to take advantage to patronise the fair and its activities that the policy would bring to achieve the needed development in the country. The Chairman of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Mr P. V. Obeng, said the government had committed substantial amount towards achieving the medium-term development planning agenda. He observed that all the government agencies were committed to executing government projects to ensure that the well-being of the citizens, which is the government�s major focus, was achieved. Mr Obeng said sectors such as transportation, agriculture, energy, and education had received major infrastructural development as a result of government initiatives and policies to improve the standard of living and achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in 2015. The Minister of Information, Mr Fritz Baffour, called on government agencies in the country to be mindful of the fact that transparency and accountability were significant means to better the living conditions of the people. He said the purpose of the policy was to make the populace informed and empowered to make concrete decisions and raise concerns about the issues bothering the lives of the citizens. The Chairman of the Council of State, Prof Kofi Awoonor, urged Ghanaians to address development issues dispassionately and devoid of partisanship. He said Ghana stood to gain more by ensuring that each individual contributed his or her quota to the socio-economic development of the country.