PSI is not a political project - Kyeremanten

Tamale, April 7, GNA - Mr. Alan Kyeremanten, Minister of Trade, Industry and Presidential Special Initiatives have urged Ghanaians, irrespective of their political leanings, to embrace the projects under the Presidential Special Initiatives (PSI).

He said: "The PSI has nothing to do with politics and people should not see poverty issues and relate them with political issues." Mr Kyeremanten was speaking at the Northern Easter School in Tamale on Sunday to throw more light on the PSI projects, especially those earmarked for Northern Ghana.

He said under the PSI the government had adopted a strategy to produce, process and add value to crops for exports and appealed to the people to identify areas in the regions that have the potential for oil palm production for assistance.

The Minister announced that the breweries were now using sorghum in beer production and urged farmers in the three Northern Regions to take advantage of this and embark on large-scale production of the crop to feed the factories and improve their income levels.

Mr. Kyeremanten said the government would establish groundnut extraction factories in Northern Ghana and appealed to the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) and extension officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to assist the farmers to increase production.

On salt, the Minister said feasibility studies were going on at Daboya in the West Gonja District to ascertain the quality and quantity of salt deposits in the area before the government could find a strategic investor for the project.

During an open forum, some of the participants called for the reactivation of all abandoned factories that were established in the three Northern Regions to create jobs for the people.

Some of them were of the opinion that the PSI was favouring businessmen and women to the detriment of the youth and urged the government to ensure that attention was also given to the youth under the PSI projects.