We need strong public institutions to achieve a better Ghana - Veep

Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, says it is prudent to strengthen the public institutions to protect the public purse, enhance good governance and create equal opportunities for all to break the vicious cycle of poverty and corruption.

He said, all stakeholders must work collectively to achieve the country’s vision of industrial transformation and economic growth as witnessed in East Asian nations like Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand, which had similar per capita income as Ghana in the 1960s.

In that regard, he said, the Akufo-Addo’s Government had been implementing various digital-oriented policies to enhance accountability and transparency as well as improve the delivery of public services.

Some of the programmes included the unveiling of e-Procurement platform, e-business registration, e-smart driver’s licensing regime, online passport acquisition, the ongoing national identification system (Ghana Card), mobile money interoperability platform and many other technology-driven interventions that would minimise human interface in accessing information and public services.

Vice President Bawumia said this when he delivered a keynote address at “The Ghana We Want” Business Roundtable, organised by the Ishmael Yamson and Associates in Accra on Wednesday.

The forum brought together captains of industry, policy-makers and business operators to deliberate on the country’s business environment, share ideas, network and chart the way forward towards ensuring conducive business environment.

He expressed delight over the passage of the Right to Information Law after almost two decades on the shelves and believed the new law would improve public accessibility of vital information, which would go a long way to minimise corruption.

Additionally, the new Company’s Act would ensure robust regulatory regime and improve the ease of doing business, and cited the paperless port system as a classic example, which had enhanced the clearance of goods and services and the turnaround time at the country’s entry points.

Apart from the 1,000 cameras provided to the Ghana Police Service to monitor criminal activities on the country’s streets and highways; the Vice President said additional 8,000 CCTV cameras would be given to the Police to fight crime and indiscipline.

Touching on agricultural modernisation, Vice President Bawumia said government was putting measures in place to diversify the sector through value addition, citing the flagship programmes like the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) and Planting for Food and Export (PERD) adding that the sector was expected to grow from 2.9 to 7.4 per cent, this year.

He was of the conviction that the aforementioned programmes would provide the requisite raw materials for the One-District, One Factory (1D1F) initiative for sustenance of the programme, noting that 180 small, medium and large scale factories would be at the various stages of completion by December, this year.

The Vice President gave the assurance that government would explore local research innovations in its development drive and revealed plans to leverage on the Ghana Institute of Engineers’ research outcome for the construction of concrete roads in the country.

He also mentioned another research conducted by one Professor Dankwa of the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa, who discovered that bauxite ore could be refined to improve its value from 45 to 90 per cent.

“We’re on the right path and if we stick together as a people, we’ll surely get the Ghana we want,” Vice President Bawumia added.