'Ghana Beyond Aid' is not refusing to accept aid - Senior Minister

The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, has disclosed that 'Ghana Beyond Aid' which has been his government mantra is not refusing nor rejecting aid.

According to him, 'Ghana Beyond Aid' is Ghana accepting aid, and using the aid to tackle the developmental needs of the country.

He noted that even though his government has been preaching 'Ghana Beyond Aid', the NPP government will be ready and will gladly accept the aid and support when it comes with open arms.

"Ghana beyond aid is not Ghana refusing to accept aid, is not Ghana rejecting aid. Aid and support will always come but Ghana will determine the priority when such aid and support comes," he spoke at the grand opening of an ultra-modern laboratory for Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

Mr Osafo Maafo explained that when the aid and support comes, it will not be left to the giver but rather Ghana as a country and the receiver of the aid must determine its priority at all times.

Background

President Akufo-Addo during his inauguration stated that for Ghana to succeed as a country it has to move beyond the aid that it receives from foreign partners.

The President recently received a charter which outlines a roadmap for Ghana’s determination to be a self-reliant country from a 13-member Ghana Beyond Aid Charter Committee that he constituted and it is expected to become the mobilising force for Ghana's development.

Receiving the charter at the Jubilee House in Accra, President Akufo-Addo said the work done on "Ghana beyond Aid", the slogan, mobilising force, as well as the detailed content of the document, would provide clear guidelines and roadmap to the government on how it conducts business in the country.”

President Akufo-Addo said the document reinforces that orientation, and, will also, "give guidance to the work of all institutions of state; the Executive, Legislature, Judiciary, across the board and social institutions."

The agenda of a Ghana Beyond Aid, essentially is to mobilise and conscientize Ghanaians "that no one was going to come from anywhere to develop Ghana for them other than Ghanaians themselves," he pointed out.

Arrangements made with people outside the country are meant to assist "us get the fundamental objectives of the development of our Country. Progress will be made when we accept responsibility for our own actions and thereby, conduct ourselves in a manner that will be fruitful,” the President explained.

He indicated 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 30 million Ghanaians in Ghana and those outside Ghana".

The President said, as soon as practicable, he would want Parliament to have access to the document, to enable the House deliberate on and approve the strategy to give it a national character, that would guide all interventions aimed at making the country self-reliant.

The document is to be laid before Parliament for deliberations that would lead to it becoming a national policy document that would guide the actions of government, as well as that of the various stakeholders in the country.

Not only will it be a slogan, but also, "be a guide to the country's development process, as it goes about applying the slogan for it to be meaningful in the lives of the 30 million Ghanaians and that outside country...” he said.

He observed that the awareness created on the continent over the past four decades had shown clearly that Africa could only address its developmental challenges when it frees itself from the dependence on aid.

The President stated that Africa ought to utilise its own resources and rely more on appropriate home-grown policies to unlock the economic potentials of the continent.