Document on 'Ghana Beyond Aid' to be laid before parliament – Akufo-Addo

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, says the strategic document prepared and presented to him by the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee which was constituted by him some eight months ago will be laid before Parliament to afford the House the opportunity to be formally served with the document as the main deliberating chamber of the nation.

Addressing the committee after they presented the strategic document as well as a two-paged Charter to him at the Jubilee House, President Akufo-Addo said, as quickly as possible he would want Parliament to have access to the document, discuss it thoroughly and approve it to give same a national appeal in order to make its content a guiding light for all state actors.

"I have had the opportunity to read the document and it provides also very clear guidelines and a roadmap for how we are to go about things in Ghana and to go about things in a collective sense," he said.

The President added that he was, "so happy that very important parts of the Ghanaian polity, trades unions, business groups, academia, young people, members of the Executive, have all come together to fashion this consensual document."

He further observed, "I don't know whether it will be appropriate for me on Thursday as I deliver the 'State of the Nation' message, to leave a copy with Mr. Speaker, but clearly if it is not done on Thursday, it will be done as soon as possible so that Parliament becomes formally seized of the document."

"It is important that Parliament, which is the main deliberating chamber of our country, is seized of it and also sees it as a document that is going to guide all the work of institutions of our State; Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, across board, social institutions as well as public ones," President Akufo-Addo said.

Motivation for Setting Up the Charter Committee

Amongst other things, the President indicated that there are two essential reasons behind the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda. The first is to institute the "consciousness that every Ghanaian needs to have, in that no one is going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for them other than Ghanaians themselves". Secondly, the President noted that, "The document is also going to be a guide as to how we go about applying the slogan [Ghana Beyond Aid] for it to become meaningful in the lives of the thirty million Ghanaians in Ghana and those outside Ghana".

Chairman of the Committee

The Senior Minister and Chairman of the Committee addressing the President before presenting the strategic document said, members of the committee have invested a great deal into the whole concept of the 'Ghana Beyond Aid' to develop the document as well as the Charter.

"We also decided, as a buy in of the whole country, this document must be presented before Parliament so that we discuss it in detail and seek the opinion and views of all the country's representatives in Parliament," the Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo said.

Members of the Committee

Yaw Osafo Marfo, the Senior Minister, is the Chairman of the Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee; Ken Ofori Atta, Minister for Finance; Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Employment and Labour Minister; Professor Gyan Baffour, Minister for Planning; Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development are amongst the Ministers of State who are on the Committee. Dr. Anthony Yaw Baah and Mrs Philomena Sampson, both of the Trade Unions Congress; David Ofori Acheampong, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT); Nana Osei Bonsu and Kwaku Agyemang Duah, both of the Private Enterprises Federation; Dr. Yaw Adu Gyamfi, Association of Ghana Industries are also members of the Committee from industry. The Secretary to the Committee is Dr. Eric Yeboah of the Office of the Senior Minister and a Senior Policy Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Yaw Ansu, is an alternative member of the Committee.