We should take control of our natural resources – Bawumia
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has underlined the need to for new thinking to enable the nation to take control of its natural resources to propel it into economic prosperity.
He said it should not be business as usual and that it was time to think outside the box.
This required building the skills, capacity and expertise to become better managers of the gold, bauxite, cocoa and other resources the country had been blessed with.
Dr. Bawumia was addressing the opening of a two-day meeting of Regional Ministers in Kumasi on Friday.
Facilitated by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD), it provided the platform to discuss ways of ensuring the successful implementation of the government’s development agenda.
The Vice President repeated their unwavering determination to build a robust and resilient economy to overcome the over-reliance on foreign aid for development.
He added that the various programmes, it had rolled out were meant just to achieve that goal – create jobs for the people to enhance their ability to contribute meaningfully to revenue generation and promote economic growth.
He reminded the Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to deepen stakeholder engagement in the execution of development programmes.
Dr. Bawumia indicated that the one district, one factory, planting for food and jobs and the infrastructure for poverty eradication, were all private sector driven, and it was important to help the people to own them.
He noted that it would be difficult to achieve any meaningful development without the active participation of the people.
“As key representatives of government at the local level, Regional Ministers and District Chief Executives, are expected to always engage and build consensus with the people in respect of their development needs and how these could be addressed.”
Dr. Bawumia said the overall economic development strategy of government was based on inclusion, adding that, the citizenry should become participants and not passive observers in the implementation of development policies.
He spoke of the need to make sure that the local governance structure and systems worked for efficient and effective service delivery to bring prosperity to the people.
Nana Adu Gyamfi II, Adontehene of Kumasi, said effective local governance was the basis for improving the living conditions of the people and called for the assemblies to be more development-oriented.
Source: GNA