Public reacts to President Kufuor's Address

Accra, Feb. 3, GNA - Mr Gordon Wetherell, British High Commissioner in Ghana, on Thursday said Britain was looking forward to working with the Government on the priorities President John Agyekum Kufuor listed under "The Positive Change Chapter Two".

He said Britain was already working with the Government on the three key areas of Good Governance, Human Resource and Private Sector Development.

"We are encouraged by what President Kufuor said," Mr Wetherell told the GNA in an interview at Parliament House in Accra.

He said the Government had laid the macro-economic foundation that would help in the prosecution of the three priority areas. The British High Commissioner was giving his reaction after President Kufuor had delivered his State of the Nation Address to Parliament.

The Address highlighted Human Resource Development, Good Governance and Private Sector Development, as the focus of "Positive Change Chapter Two".

Maulvi Wahab Adams, Head of the Ahmadiyya Mission in Ghana, said President Kufuor's speech touched on all sectors of society and the emphasis on good governance was in the right direction because "nothing can be achieved without good governance."

He said the focus on education, especially early childhood development, was essential since it formed the "basis for a proper take off" of the Government's programme for the second term Nii Kojo Ababio, James Town Mantse, said the Government needed the support of all Ghanaians to implement its agenda and urged the communities to unite to ensure positive development.

On education, Nii Ababio said the emphasis on human resource development was a step in the right direction and urged the Government to provide the necessary financial support for the programme on early childhood development.

Mr Samuel Darkwa, Former Clerk to Parliament, said good governance was fundamental to any progress that the country could make. He said the Government's areas of priority for the second term was a sound track on which to move the development agenda forward. Madam Ama Busia, Member of the Council of State, said it was important that Ghanaians saw themselves first as Ghanaians and united to push the country's development forward.

Madam Busia said it was important that society rose above ethnicity by not seeing themselves as Ashantis or Ewes first but rather as Ghanaians all the time to ensure the unity of the country and, therefore, therefore lauded President Kufuor's decision to "promote the concept of Ghana Incorporated to inculcate a business-like approach to all spheres of activity and emphasise the inter-dependence and common destiny among all stakeholders".