Government unveils national policy summit

The Ministry of Information has launched a national policy summit aimed at regularly informing the public on detailed government strategies on revamping the economy for sustained growth.The expectation of the maiden summit is to build partnerships and elicit feedback to government to enhance further policy development.

It would begin on May 2 and end on May 3, 2017 and would focus on the economy as part of series of policy initiatives and cross-cutting measures by government to restart growth.“The economy is the biggest challenge inherited by the Akufo-Addo government and also the sector that has received the biggest share of government’s policy attention in the first three months,” Information Minister Mr Mustapha Hamid told reporters at the launch on Tuesday.

He said the Ministry and its agencies had not been given the needed attention over the years and government communications of various policies and programmes were rarely disseminated from a centralised point.The Ministry of Information had been subsumed under the Ministry of Communications which supervised its programmes and activities.

“The strategic dissemination of information on government programmes and policies did not have much attention,” he said.Under the Akufo-Addo administration, he said, government has decided to revamp the ministry and its agencies and to re-launch efforts at centralising and coordinating information on government policies and programmes.

He said the policy launch marks the government’s first platform for the coordinated communication of programmes and policy details across Ministries, Departments and Agencies.He explained that the National Policy Summits which would be held monthly and are planned to provide government Ministries, Departments and Agencies a platform to deeply articulate policy and programmes to targeted stakeholders as well as the public.

“Each Month we shall narrow in on a selected Ministry or sector and bring together various actors therein to participate in this National Policy Summit dedicated to the said sector,” he said.Mr Mohammed Awal, Minister for Business Development said the session on economy and finance would focus on showing how banks, contractors, taxpayers, investors and workers would be affected by government’s macro-economic policies this year.

“The efforts at managing expenditure prudently will definitely have an impact on the private sector,” he added: “and it will thus be important for private sector players to programme their activities to avoid shocks to their business and alternatively to determine which areas of investment may be more lucrative in the medium term.”

The session would also show how private players can leverage the renewed business confidence following the tax cut and focus their activities towards government’s priority areas, he said.There would also be sessions on agriculture, trade and industry, energy, infrastructure for poverty eradication programmes.