PNC to make Ghana net exporter of food

Mr Bannerman Baah Ntim, presidential running mate of the People's National Convention (PNC) in Ghana’s general elections on December 7, on Sunday said his party would make the country a net exporter of food when voted into power.

He explained that the strategy to achieve this would be a combination of prudent state interventions, including the re-introduction of the workers brigade in a modified form, selective subsidies and competitive pricing of farm produce.

Ntim, who was interacting with journalists at Peki-Avetile during a campaign tour of the Volta Region, explained that the workers brigade approach would focus on preparation of agricultural fields, which would be allotted to individuals and groups to cultivate as economic ventures.

He said there would be guaranteed prices for agricultural produce at the farm gate to enable farmers to break even and therefore sustain production.

Ntim, whose tour has so far taken him to Kpeve, Jasikan, Kpetoe, Peki-Dzake and Wodume, said under a PNC government junior secondary school (JSS) students would be attached to factories and workshops during holidays to acquire practical skills and earn some income.

He said needy students who qualify for tertiary schools would be granted bursaries. He reiterated his party's commitment to the formation of a national government when voted into power.

Ntim said a PNC government would strengthen the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to fight corruption by giving them powers through Parliament to prosecute.

Additionally, he said, a PNC government would fight corruption by encouraging transparency in government, strengthen civic education and adopt punitive measures to discourage the practice.

On the Volta Region, Ntim, who is a businessman and a former employee of West African Timber and Plywood at Samreboi, said his party would activate abandoned silos, promote animal husbandry, food preservation, tourism and small-scale industries to give employment to the people.

He commended the NDC government for building major roads in the region, and said the PNC would connect small villages with such roads.