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Veep: Government will not sacrifice the
welfare of the people
Accra, Oct. 27, Ghanadot/GNA - Vice President John Mahama on
Tuesday assured Ghanaians that the Mills administration will not
renegade on the social compact it has with the electorate by
sacrificing their welfare on the basis of fiscal and monetary
expediency.
"As a responsible government, we will not shirk our social
compact with the people," he said, adding that as long as the
welfare of the people remained a human rights consideration, it
would be the outmost concern of the State.
Addressing delegates at the on-going Social Watch General
Assembly in Accra, the Vice President assured Ghanaians that
despite the severe impact of the global financial crisis and its
attendant distortions in government's economic agenda, it would
not reduce its investments in pro-poor programmes.
He said government had "its eyes wide open" to ensure that funds
taken from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to
stabilize the economy did not compromise its investments in
poverty alleviation such as the school feeding, school uniform
and agriculture programmes.
Mr Mahama appealed to Social Watch, a global human rights
campaigner and development advocate, to work in tandem with
other developing nations to challenge aspects of the
international financial arrangements that are not in Africa's
interest.
He said African countries were among the hardest hit by the
financial downturn although they contributed little or nothing
to the factors that precipitated it.
"We did not cause the crisis. We have no sub-prime mortgage
problem. We own our property from mud houses to magnificent
concrete edifices. Yet we face some of the harshest effects of
the financial crisis."
Mr Mahama said it would take years of painful measures to
recover from the crisis and urged advocacy institutions like the
Social Watch to serve as moral conscience in the global policy
making, by advancing ideas that would be useful in refining the
system.
He said it was against this backdrop that Ghana welcomed the
broadening of the global policy dialogue by the role of the
Group of 20 developing nations as against that of the eight most
advanced countries and at the United Nations to bring some
leverage in the global decision making arena.
Mr Mahama also asked the delegates to engage in neglected issues
that have fallen off the radar of the international advocacy
groups, such as price fluctuation, which he said was a
"dangerous Achilles heel" for African economies.
"I believe this issue deserves to be given more visibility in
the laudable campaign work of groups such as Social Watch to
ensure a more equitable global trading regime."
Mr Roberto Bissio, President of the Watch, said the conference,
which is being held on the theme: "People First," was aimed at
galvanising the people to demand accountability and transparency
from their leaders in the management of national resources.
He said those in leadership positions should be accountable to
the people and not use their positions as conduit to enrich
themselves.
Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, Convenor of NETRIGHT, a non-governmental
organisation, asked African governments to prudently manage
their resources to ensure that the vulnerable, who were still
reeling from the financial crisis, were well-catered for.
GNA
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