General News of 2013-03-08

I'll deal with corruption in the public sector - Mahama

President John Mahama on Thursday inaugurated the Government-Development Partner Group (G-DPG), with a pledge to deal with the poor fiscal performance last year and corruption in the public sector.

Mr Mahama, who was responding to issues raised by the head of the European Union (EU) Delegation in Ghana, Mr Claude Maeten, at the inauguration of the G-DPG, reiterated his commitment to supervise Ghana's transition from a lower middle-income status to a fully fledged middle-income economy.

The group will also monitor the effective implementation of a 10-year compact which reflects the government and the development partners’ medium-to-long-term aspiration.

It is also mandated to strengthen the private sector, re-energise small and medium-scale enterprises and help leverage private investment to address the nation’s infrastructural shortfalls.

Additionally, it will work to strengthen public sector institutions to enable those institutions to perform optimally.

The G-DPG consists of 45 government representatives, chaired by the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Tekper, and 45 from the development partners, headed by Mr Maerten.

Inaugurating the G-DPG at the Flagstaff House, President Mahama said the country carried out a rebasing of the economy in 2010 which indicated that the economy was much bigger.

He said there was, therefore, the need to initiate development strategies that would be relevant to the country's lower middle-income status.

The President affirmed the government’s resolve to put in place a priority investment programme to raise investment capital.