Former US President Bill Clinton says it is unquestionably wrong for Ghana to be saddled with huge economic problems after 45 years of independence and called on Ghanaians to transform their fortunes if they supported their leadership to pursue the right economic policies.

Speaking as the Guest of Honour at a ceremony, at which President Kufuor launched the Foundation for Building the Capital of the Poor, the charismatic speaker called on Ghanaians to use their cultural differences to facilitate their advancement. Mr Clinton said: "You have a good President and a government that understands the direction the world is going, if you support this initiative (Foundation) the future can be better than the past."

The Foundation, modelled on the ideology of Peruvian Economist Hernando de Soto, aims at mobilising the assets held by the poor to facilitate their economic development. Dr. De Soto promotes the registration and titling of the assets, such as land, real estates and businesses of the poor, for their use as collateral to secure funds for investments. The idea was being implemented successfully in his native Peru, Egypt and elsewhere.

Describing Dr. De Soto's idea as the single most important economic idea on the planet today, Mr. Clinton said poverty could be transformed into prosperity if Ghanaians embrace the change and unleash the individual's capacity to develop. Mr Clinton explained that when the poor have clear title to assets or business, it would enable them to borrow money and assist them to create their own banks and lending systems with the propensity to repay the loans.

He said this would complement other socio-economic programmes to be pursued by government. Explaining why he was in Ghana, Mr Clinton, a Patron of the Foundation said: "I cannot have the world America wants unless Ghanaians and Africans are a part of a genuine global community, where everybody has a real chance to reap its benefits’. While acknowledging that the creation of such a world would be difficult, Mr Clinton stressed that significant progress would however be made if people dwelt not on their differences, but celebrated them in a common humanity to their advantage.

He said "Our common humanity should matter to us the most. Interdependency is good when you are in good shape, but not beneficial where one survives and the other becomes the loser or dies’ . Citing the potential of the bees, ants and termites because of the strength in their unity of purpose, Mr Clinton said individually such creatures are helpless, but together termites are capable of pulling down huge buildings.

The former US President said he has planned to visit 33 developing countries throughout the world this year to contribute his quota to their development efforts. He spoke about some of the socio-economic packages his government assisted Africa with, including the formulation of the African Growth and Opportunities Act, which is being implemented by his successor, President George W. Bush.

Mr Clinton said: "When I left office I had the time to think about the things I care about and to pursue them. When you are in office as a President you try to do what you believe in but you are often over taken by events because different things happen all the time."

Dr. De Soto encouraged the government to be firm in the pursuance of the programme and not to be deterred by the problems that would be created by cultural differences. Referring to Mr Clinton's participation in the programme, he said ‘should the late American President William Jefferson who initiated property reforms two centuries ago in America look up from his grave, he would be pleased that his name sake, Mr Clinton is championing that cause in Africa’.