Accra Governance Dialogue
ends
Accra, Nov. 15, GNA - The two-day Accra
Governance Dialogue ended on Wednesday with
participants calling for increased financial
resources and logistics to governance
institutions to enable them to serve as checks
on abuse of executive power and to ensure
accountability.
They held that the future of Africa lay in the
renewal of good governance practices but argued
that the power currently wielded by the
executive at all levels of the political ladder
posed a major threat to democratic governance.
The participants, therefore, called for the
exercise of political will at the topmost level
of political decision-making to allow the
governance institutions to work to improve on
the situation in the country.
The Governance Dialogue initiated by “Daily
Graphic”, a mass circulation newspaper, was to
create a socio-political platform for
international and local experts, academia and
journalists to dialogue on governance issues in
Africa.
"Consolidating Political Stability in Africa for
Accelerated Growth" was the general theme of the
dialogue, which also sought to contribute to the
development and entrenchment of democracy and
good governance in Ghana, West Africa and Africa
as a whole.
Participants from Sierra Leone, Liberia and
Nigeria took part in the forum.
Addressing the closing session, Mr Stephen
Asamoah-Boateng, Minister of Local Government,
Rural Development and Environment, said
democracy was gradually being entrenched because
the nation was building on its past experiences.
He said it was necessary for Ghanaians
irrespective of their political affiliations to
set a common agenda as to how the country needed
to progress.
This, he said, was important to allow any
political party in power to pursue the goals set
by the people.
Mr Asamoah-Boateng also called for the deepening
of the decentralisation process by pursuing
vigorously an agenda that would economically
empower the rural areas with viable enterprises
to fight poverty.
Mr Kwame Gyekye, Chairman of the Board of
Graphic Communications Ghana Limited, said the
Dialogue would be an annual affair to instil
good practices of governance across the African
Continent.
GNA
