Ghana eligible for more assistance from MCA - Economist

Accra, June 28, GNA - Dr Kofi Amoako Marfo, an Economist at the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA), on Tuesday said Ghana was eligible to receive more assistance from the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) because of good governance.

He said Ghana could therefore submit proposals to the next phase of the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) programme aimed at reducing poverty in developing countries and providing aid for the successful completion of the first phase.

Dr Marfo made the observation at a day's workshop organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in Accra to educate the public on the operations of MiDA in reducing poverty through the Ghana Compact programme.

He noted that donor support could only be effective in an environment with good governance, because financial assistance offered to a corrupt government would never be well utilised for the intended beneficiaries.

"Governments must always be accountable not only to the donors but to the beneficiaries of such assistance," he said.

According to Dr Marfo, MiDA had been able to strengthen the capacity of both public and private institutions that were expected to sustain the achievements of the project through entity agreements.

He pointed out that the programme was developed to help to address poverty through economic growth led by transformation of agriculture, which had been addressed in integrated and a transparent manner.

Dr Marfo said agriculture production in the country was expected to increase through the selected activities for funding under the programme as well as an improvement in the quality of horticultural products that were exported.

He announced that a mechanism had been be put in place for the passage of Plant Regulatory and Seed Laws to meet international standards, while regulatory institutions were being assisted with the needed facilities to enhance their roles.

Dr Marfo said even though the programme was facing some challenges that had tended to delay the implementation of some of its activities, it was expected that all planned interventions would be completed before the end of the Compact programme.

Dr Kwabena Anaman, Director of Programmes, IDEG said the workshop was organised because of IDEG's commitment to poverty reduction in the country. He advocated that the second phase of the Compact programme should focus mainly on the three Northern Regions.

The five-year Millennium Challenge Compact aims at reducing poverty by raising farmer incomes through private sector-led, agribusiness development.

It also focuses on increasing the production and productivity of high-value cash, food and staple crops in certain areas of Ghana, as well as enhancing the competitiveness of Ghana's export base in horticultural and other traditional crops.