The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has underscored the need for Marketers to play a key role in realizing the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA) agenda.

He said marketing will provide room for the national roadshows that follow the adoption of the GBA by Parliament while capturing the entire nation’s attention and engaging citizens and other stakeholders for them to discover their various roles in making the GBA dream come true.

Oppong Nkrumah was delivering the key note address at the 2018 CIMG Strategic Marketing Conference in Accra, on the theme “Marketing: A Catalyst for Driving Ghana Beyond Aid”

He said “we expect of you, the leaders in Marketing, to lead the exercise of letting this new mindset capture the thoughts and sentiments of your block so that they too can play their parts in getting us there”.

“GHANA BEYOND AID”

The Information Minister Designate said it was an opportune time for the Marketers to focus their energies and figure out how the marketing space can play a catalyst role for the GBA agenda to succeed.

“Ghana beyond Aid is the single strongest call to action that I have seen this nation have in its recent history. It is a poignant vision and a compelling paradigm which President Akufo-Addo has challenged us with; which if we imbibe and fulfill, will enable us fully achieve the aspirations for which our founding fathers fought for our independence” he said.

“This in my opinion was to be the true test of our independence, our ability to manage our own affairs, our ability to determine our own priorities, to fund them, to execute them and in the end leave a significant improved quality of life for our people. Sixty years on, am not sure that any of us here will boldly say that this black man has been successful in managing his own affairs. Sixty years on after experimenting with coups, Parliamentary democracy, Presidential democracy, Hybrid systems, the black man still get dictated to on which policy to pursue, where funds are available, what strings are attached to those funds and what he can or cannot achieve” he told the Marketers.



Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that the Senior Minister Hon Osafo-Marfo who is leading the task and engaging all relevant stakeholders to make an input into the product will soon present the GBA Charter to Parliament. He said the Charter is expected to receive the backing of the legislature to assume national legitimacy and insulation from Partisanship to enable stakeholders rally round, play their roles and execute.

MARKETING THE CATALYST

Oppong Nkrumah said in a major national endeavor of this nature, Marketing will obviously play an equally critical if not a larger role.

He said ”We need to succeed at these various steps to ensure that the building pillars such as the change in mindset, the improvement of domestic revenues, improved efficiency in public services and eventually the improved quality of life of our people, see the light of day”.

According to him the Ghana beyond Aid agenda also affords government an opportunity to pay higher attention to some major national growth poles which includes deepening Trade and Productivity, boosting tourism dividends and providing higher demand for Ghana made products.

He commended the leadership of the CIMG for consistently organizing thought leadership activities for its members and other stakeholders with the opportunity to examine deep matters of national and industry importance with the view to shaping conduct in the near future.