Poverty reduction would fail unless, .. -Nduom

Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation on Thursday said government's poverty reduction programme would fail unless there was equitable distribution of resources to all regions.

"Uneven distribution of government spending in the past has hiked thepercentage ratio of the poverty levels in Upper West, Upper East and Northern Region to 90, 85 and 70 per cent respectively."


"This means that people living in those areas live below 900,000 cedis a year, which is below the poverty line. We are not just talking of statistics, but real human existence," he said.


Dr Nduom, who was speaking at a day's Regional consultative seminar on a national vision for Ghana said less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians live on a little over one dollar a day which clearly means that majority of Ghanaians were poor, given the United Nation standard.


The seminar, organised by Greater Accra Region Coordinating Council in collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission and the Ministry of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation was to sensitise the public, seek opinions, ideas and inputs on the vision.


It was under the theme, "From Poverty Reduction to Wealth Creation - Building a Consensus on National Vision and Programme of Action."

Dr. Nduom noted that the increasing rate of migration into the Greater Accra Region stemmed from the fact that some areas have been neglected with regard to government spending, adding that, "Most industries in the Central and other areas in the three northern regions that provided jobs for the people had to be closed down."


He described as serious, Ghana's current capita income, which stood at 280 dollars saying, "If in 1999 the figure stood at 400 dollars, why should it drop drastically to 280 in 2000."


Dr. Nduom said the thrust of Ghana's new vision, which would be put before Parliament in December must increase the per capita income to eight million cedis a year in today's terms in five years.


He said the vision was seeking views from Ghanaians both within and outside to contribute their quota towards drawing up a plan, which would be formidable, dispassionate, and non-partisan to supersede previous development plans.