Accra, July 17, GNA- Vice President John Mahama on Friday described as legendary, the level of support Ghana had received from the UK Department for International Development (DFID). He said the DFID support over the years had enabled Ghana to develop a number of strategies that could lead to poverty reduction. The Vice President made these remarks when the out-going Country Director of the DFID, Mr Mike Hammond called on him at the Osu Castle, on Friday to bid him farewell.

The UK is Ghana's largest bilateral donor, directly providing more than A385 million a year as aid, second to the World Bank in terms of total aid.

The DFID announced a new country assistance plan for Ghana in 2008, totalling 250 million pounds over a three year period. The aid is in the form of poverty reduction budget support, including about A3150 million as multi-donor budget support for Ghana, to achieve greater levels of growth to reduce poverty. The Vice President requested for more assistance in view of the global financial turbulence Ghana was grappling with.

He said new policy measures, including an anti-graft legislation were being crafted to ensure that the public purse is protected from corruption and to ensure transparency and give the bilateral donor community greater confidence in President Mills administration. Vice President Mahama called on the department to support the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) which he said aimed at tackling high levels of poverty in the three northern regions and the neighbouring regions of Volta and the Brong Ahafo. He said in view of the critical importance government attached to the SADA project, efforts were being to ensure that all bureaucratic bottlenecks were removed.

Vice President Mahama said any support for the SADA project would enable government to scale-up development and health programmes to underserved communities.

He said to ensure greater confidence of development partners in government's fidelity to scrupulously use the aid granted it solely for the benefit of the intended targets, the Mills administration had decided to put in place a code of ethics to guide government officials. Mr Mike Hammond congratulated the government for the prudent policies being adopted to consolidate the country's economic gains, despite the adverse world economic conditions. He said in spite of the difficult times, if such measures continued, the people would be the ultimate beneficiaries. 17 July 09