Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister and Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, has in a Christmas message to Ghanaians, conveyed congratulations to the Government of President Atta-Mills for publishing a booklet in which 50 concrete achievements of the Mills government are highlighted.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah, who is also the Chairman of the NDC’s Communications Committee, said “it is a great initiative on the part of the Ministry of Information to produce an informative and illustrated booklet of the achievements of the government even before the two-year milestone has been fully reached.”

This was contained in his Christmas message to the President, the NDC government and Ghanaians.

He said quite clearly, there are many policy initiatives, legislative successes, and projects that have been implemented by this NDC government that some amongst the general public are not aware of, or which opposition commentators tend to belittle.

“The publication of this booklet should therefore go a long way to help to throw some light on the many achievements of the government,” he said.
He noted that if each achievement of the government were to be counted singularly rather than bunched together, there would have been several hundreds of achievements, as in the roads, health, housing, transport, agriculture and educational sectors among others.

“The booklet did not count each specific project as an individual achievement, but bunched many of these together,” he noted.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah noted that in an era of a multiplicity of local and international media channels—radio, TV, newspapers and magazines and websites—that the government does not control, it was not easy for any government to fully explain and promote all its achievements and efforts.
He said booklets such as the one produced by the Ministry, if discussed on radio programmes, especially in local languages, and converted into some audiovisuals and broadcast nationwide, could go a long way to satisfy the majority of the citizenry, and to enable them to understand that notwithstanding any occasional short-comings, the NDC government is really on track on many fronts.
Citing some examples of the government’s achievements, he stated that the government’s success in bringing down inflation significantly while stabilising the cedi were amongst the most important actions that have renewed domestic and foreign investor confidence in the economy.

“The introduction of the single-spine salary structure to bring some sanity into the compensation levels in the public sector, the record increases in the prices of cocoa paid to Ghanaian farmers, and the passing of a Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) law to provide a framework for the faster growth of the northern half of the country are all commendable,” Dr. Spio-Garbrah said.
Referring to his earlier role as the first Board Chairman of the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service, Dr Spio-Garbrah stated that the merger of the three main revenue collection agencies, VAT, IRS and CEPS, into a Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA)—if that new body worked with some bite—could again lead to considerable growth in the country’s capacity to more effectively fund its development projects.
On the educational front, the former Minister of Education commended the government for quickly reversing the 4-year SHS/SSS to a three-year duration.
He stated that the previous government’s decision to change that system had not been properly thought through and budgeted for, and there was no realistic implementation plan by the NPP that would have served the nation, parents, teachers and students well.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah hailed the government’s increase in the Capitation Grant by 50%, from GHC3.00 to GHC4.50 per child.
“The 75% milestone achieved by the government in its efforts to provide free school uniforms to basic schools in target communities and the expansions and improvements in the school feeding programme, and the elimination of more than 1,000 schools under trees are all remarkable achievements,” he said.
As a strong advocate of the use of ICTs to advance rapid access to education, Dr. Spio-Garbrah, who is also the Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, hailed the government’s decision to pay the full tuition fees for all teachers who are pursuing further studies through distance learning.
“That is a fantastic decision”, Dr. Spio-Garbrah said, and enjoined all eligible teachers to take advantage of the incentive.
He said “we are in a Knowledge Age, and knowledge these days runs on fibre-optic cables or through various wireless and mobile technologies, rather than on black boards.”
Dr. Spio-Garbrah said the era of ‘brick-and-mortar’ education will soon come to an end, even in Africa, and teachers and students must all get ready for the Internet age, the era of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Netlog, and other social networking sites.
He also congratulated President Atta Mills on the recent ceremony on 15th December to commemorate the commercial production of oil in Ghana.
He stated that it was a great day for the political advancement of Ghana that former President’s Kufuor and former President Rawlings were also on hand to witness the ceremony, and to take some satisfaction in the efforts and contributions of the governments that they led in making that common national vision a reality.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah also congratulated all the various ministers and public servants whose respective efforts had made it possible for the list of 50 achievements to be compiled.
He remarked “a lot of private businessmen and contractors had also worked hard to make it possible for the government to chalk these successes, and they should not be forgotten. Equally, Parliament had to pass many laws to enable government to proceed with its plans so MPs, too must be commended”, he said.
“Essentially, when we work as a United Ghana, we can achieve even more,” he added.
Dr. Spio-Garbrah however noted that no government is perfect, saying that when a government does well, it must be commended, and when things could be done better, patriotic citizens should also be encouraged to say so, hence my previous occasional criticisms of the government.
“The President has declared 2011 as the Year of Action, and judging by the booklet on the 50 main achievements of the government under the Better Ghana Agenda, it is clear that a lot of work has been done, and much more is underway,” he observed.
He therefore called on Ghanaians to pray for God’s blessing and peace in Ghana as well as in our neighbouring countries, so that more Ghanaians will see even greater prosperity in 2011 than was possible in 2010.
ENDS