Accra, Jan. 23, GNA - The Council of State, on Wednesday publicly endorsed the government's proposed Mobile Phone Talk Time tax to be used to support the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP).

"We fully support it as a relatively painless way of raising funds to finance this worthy cause", Professor Daniel Adzei-Bekoe, Chairman, said in introductory remarks before going into closed session at their first quarterly meeting with President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu.

He said they had taken the decision to suggest this tax to the President even before it was announced and also gave the Council's approval to the recently initiated practice to have the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament to sit in public, saying, this would certainly help to improve the management of public funds.

Professor Adzei-Bekoe recalled the abundant blessings God continues to shower on the nation, citing the peaceful and successful holding of political party congresses to elect flag bearers and the second discovery of oil and said "the future of our national development is indeed bright."

The other cheering news, to the Council, was the launch of the prestigious Confederation of African Nations (CAN) football tournament dubbed "Ghana 2008" and the national team, the Black Stars, hard fought victory against their well drilled Guinean opponents in the opening match.

While congratulating the Stars, over the feat and the government for the state-of-the-art stadiums provided he said the Council was hopeful that the slogan "Host and Win" was not going to be an empty one. Professor Adzei-Bekoe raised concern about the non-functioning of street lights in many parts of Accra and called on the responsible state institutions to be more devoted to their work.

Responding, President Kufuor acknowledged the support and co-operation the government was receiving from the Council and said it would not have gone ahead with the Talk tax if it was not convinced that it was painless and an efficient way of raising revenue for development. The tax, he said, should be appreciated as a cheap price to pay to reap more benefits from the government's heavy investment in Information Communication Technology (ICT).

President Kufuor also used the occasion to re-affirm the government's determination to give to the Electoral Commission (EC) every support to enable it to efficiently manage "Election 2008" so that, the outcome would not generate confusion and chaos. He said it was the government's desire that the election would be peaceful, free, fair and transparent.

"This way, Ghanaians will give to themselves the type of government they want", he added. 23 Jan. 08