Ghana must be first to achieve SDGs in Africa – Bawumia

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has stated that Ghana must work hard to earn the enviable title of being the first country on the African continent to have achieved all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030.

Addressing the Second Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) Breakfast Meeting on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), organized by the SDGs Advisory Unit of the Office of the President, at the Banquet Hall of the Jubilee House, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said “Ghana has a history of being first when it matters most in Africa”.

The Vice President said “we are the first in Sub Saharan African country to achieve independence, the first Sub Saharan African country to achieve MDG goal one (1) of halving extreme poverty, the first country in WHO Africa Region to eliminate trachoma, and now we are the first country in Africa where the private sector is leading the establishment of an SDG Delivery Fund and a Green Fund to support achievement of the SDGs”.

“Let us strengthen our commitment to work together to achieve the enviable accolade as the first country on the African continent to achieve the SDGs” Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia said.

As part of measures to foster a stronger strategic partnership with the private sector to accelerate the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the President held the first Breakfast Meeting on the SDGs with select Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the private sector in June 2018. At the maiden meeting, the President expressed a strong desire to scale up engagement with the private sector and requested that such meetings be held on a regular basis.

Following the initial meeting, a CEOs Advisory Group was formed, which has met regularly to think through how best the private sector could support the implementation of the Goals, through a core set of bankable initiatives, and in the context of the Consolidated Programme for Economic and Social Development Policies. The Advisory Group has proposed and committed itself to the establishment of an SDGs Delivery Fund and a Green Fund as tangible vehicles to complement government’s efforts in the implementation of the SDGs in the country.

At today’s meeting, the Vice President who sat in for President Akufo Addo, together with the larger group of CEOs were briefed on the work of the CEOs Advisory Group. They also unveil the SDGs Delivery Fund and the Green Fund to the larger group of CEOs. The SDG Delivery Fund is expected to generate approximately 500 million Cedis a year through the contribution of 5% Corporate Ghana’s CSR/Sustainability budgets. The Green Fund on the other hand is expected to generate some 1 billion Cedis to support efforts aimed at achieving the SDGs.

The Vice President called the CEOs to Action to secure the buy-in of the broader private sector into the two transformational initiatives (the SDGs Delivery Fund and the Green Fund) that has been unveiled.

“His Excellency the President is fully convinced that these two innovative funds could be a game changer in our quest to achieve the SDGs” the Vice President said.

Some 40 CEOs from across the private sector, ranging from those in Banking and Finance, Industry, Oil and Gas, Telecommunications and Pharmaceuticals participated in the meeting. The Chief of Staff Akosua Frema Osei Opare, the Ministers of Planning, Gender and Social Protection, the CEO of GIPC, and the Director-General of NDPC, were also in attendance.