General News of Friday, 11 January 2002

Source: .

We abhor one party state - Minister

Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government abhorred one-party state and would, therefore, do nothing to dismantle the other parties.

Mr Boafo told a Peoples' Assembly held at Ejura to mark the one-year anniversary of the NPP administration and ninth year of the Fourth Republic that the increasing provision of infrastructure and services in the health, education and social sectors in the years ahead would give cause for the electorate to vote massively for the NPP in the 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary elections.

Mr Boafo announced that steps to build more cribs at Ejura to solve the protracted problem of post-harvest losses was far-advanced. Collapsed agro-based industries would be revamped so as to stem the tide of rural-urban migration.

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy, stated that the NPP government thought it wise to adopt the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative because the nation's per capital income was 390 dollars as compared to the standard per capital income of 690 dollars.

The Energy Minister said, even though, Ghana abounded in wealth, its citizens were poverty-stricken due to the immediate past government's administrative malfeasance.

Mr Kan-Dapaah stressed that benefits accruing from the HIPC initiative would be translated into a significant improvement in the lot of Ghanaians in the few months ahead.

Touching on agricultural inputs, the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Hajia Alima Mahama said 50 tractors and 72 power tillers had been assembled for distribution and that Ejura was to benefit from it. Madam Elizabeth Owusu, District Chief Executive, enumerated the number of projects that had been executed in the district.