Tamale, Nov. 7, GNA- Mr Freddie Blay, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament on Friday noted that Africans have lost faith in the leadership of their countries because they have failed to perform well. He said: "As a matter of fact, quite a number of our people have lost faith in our ability to deliver as leaders and have therefore thrown their arms in despair that nothing good can come out from our part of the world."

Mr Blay was addressing a two-day workshop on: "African Parliamentary Network on Poverty Reduction" in Tamale.

About 50 participants including 40 Members of Parliament from Ghana and 12 other African countries are taking part in the workshop, which seeks to identify the problems leading to poverty in Africa and how best to address them.

The Institute for Policy Alternatives (IPA), a Tamale-based private thin tank, is organizing the workshop with sponsorship from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Mr Blay said the situation had compelled some people to conclude that the several initiatives, packages, programmes and strategies intended to salvage the seemingly hopelessness of the African poverty situation had proved futile.

He said: "Even though the people's criticism is understandable, it is without justification and I challenge all African leaders to have a firm conviction of working towards improving the aspiration of the people". He said the poverty situation in Africa is alarming and expressed the hope that the launch of the network would promote a lasting partnership among African MPs to work collectively towards improving the lives of the people.

Mr Blay called on the participants particularly the MPs, to strive hard to ensure the success of the network to improve the quality of lives of the people.

Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, the Senior Minister, noted that poverty is the structural inability of the people to sustain high levels of productivity and income saying, "instead of giving the poor people food, we must teach them how to produce food in abundance."

He said it was important for African governments to measure poverty through self-empowerment instead of their dependence on external investments.

He expressed regret that governments had not paid much attention to the poor over the years and urged that something concrete must be done to reverse the trend.

Ms. Louise Corbin of the Political and Public Affairs Section of the Canadian High Commission commended African MPs for the initiative to establish a network for poverty reduction.

She said the Canadian government would continue to support programmes such as the network to facilitate Africa's development.

Mr Charles Bintim, Deputy Northern Regional Minister said organizing the workshop in Tamale was timely since 70 per cent of the people in the three northern regions live below the poverty line.

He urged the MPs to help tackle the poverty situation on the continent to ensure a brighter future for the people. 07 Nov 03