General News of Tuesday, 18 July 2006

Source: GNA

Poverty is number one enemy of Africa -Veep

Accra, July 18, GNA- Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Tuesday identified poverty as the worse enemy of Africa and called on Political Leaders to seek immediate solution to the bloody conflicts that fuelled the predicament.

He said the political will from African Leaders to throw their weight behind the African Union to ensure peace and security was the surest means to fight the grips of poverty on the people. Vice President Alhaji Mahama made the call during a meeting with the newly posted Zimbabwean High Commissioner to Ghana, Mrs Pavelyn Tendai Musaka at the Osu Castle.

He expressed the need for Ghana and Zimbabwe to go beyond bilateral relations and cooperate in all spheres to meet the aspirations of their citizens.

The Vice President hailed the relations between Ghana and Zimbabwe, which he said was nurtured by the penchant of the First President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah to support the war against colonialism.

"President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was in Ghana as a freedom fighter and even got married to a Ghanaian wife, Sally," he said. Mrs Musaka said her Government had initiated an economic recovery programme with the drive to woo African investors into the mining; manufacturing, electricity and infrastructure and asked Ghanaians to grab the opportunity.