Ghana Beyond Aid cannot happen with long talks, conferences - AGI Chairman

On the back of national debates about the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative spearheaded by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has reiterated the stance of many Ghanaians that, leaders must move beyond regular conferences and long speeches to actual implementation.

According to Tsonam Akpeloo, though the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative is commendable and must receive all the necessary support, government cannot achieve the objective of the initiative by only organizing conferences and reading long speeches.

He said, “The Ghana beyond Aid mantra is a great deal…however, if we don’t take time, it will remain as a talk thing where people meet in a room and have conversations and go home.” He maintained that “it will require a more pragmatic, systemic, a well thought through plan to be able to achieve it.”

He emphasized that, in order to achieve objectives under the Ghana Beyond Aid initiative, the private sector must play a major role, which must be facilitated by the government.

“...All these plans, at the center of it, should be the private sector, which in actual fact will be the people creating the businesses that are sustainable, supporting the ordinary man and creating jobs for everybody...otherwise, my fear is that we may have the danger of just having long conversations about Ghana Beyond Aid without seeing it materialize in terms of work and real action taken.”

Mr Akpeloo was speaking at the 7th National CSR and Partnership conference held at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra, Friday, July 12, 2019.

The Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, West Africa partnered Plan International to organize the 7th edition of the National CSR and Partnership conference.

The Conference focused on harnessing local partnership among stakeholders, for CSR and Sustainability projects and causes.

It engaged major stakeholders in the CSR enclave, including speakers and participants from academia, business associations, private sector, regulatory agencies, civil society and the media.

Some corporate bodies also updated Ghanaians on their ongoing Corporate Social Responsibilities in rural Ghana.