The 4th Ghana Policy Fair which seeks to create a platform for Ghanaians to ask for the right information and interact with policy makers and implementers has been launched in Accra.

The Policy Fair is expected to engage Ghanaians in a constructive deliberation on various government policies with a view to enhancing policy formulation and review, to boost development.

Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, speaking at the media launch of the Policy Fair stated that the main objective of the fair is to open up the government and allow for the active participant of the people.

The three-day fair, which is scheduled for October 15-17, 2013, is on the theme: “Partnership and Innovation for Development”.

The Policy Fair concept, which was conceived in collaboration with the country’s development partners such as the World Bank, UNDP, among others, was first carried out in 2010

Some of the topics to be treated during this year’s dialogue session include “Rationalization of wages for improved performance and sustainable economic development: The case of the Single Spine Pay Policy”, “Promoting the petro-chemical industry for accelerated economic development” and “promoting the creative arts to accelerate national development”.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu also noted that the decision of government to regularly reach out to the people with information on government policies and programmes is not an act of benevolence, but mandatory and obligatory for any democratic government.

He said it was important for government to constantly inform the people about how their resources were being utilized by virtue of the social contract it has with them.

He said transparency and accountability are important prerequisites for democracy, and so any democratic government that aims to survive and to bring progress and development to its people must necessarily give practical meaning to these principles in all its dealings.

Transparency and accountability are both germane to the effective functioning of any democratic governance, and they are unavoidable in order to sustain and entrench democratic gains, he added.

Mr Kwakye Ofosu further stated that the discussions that would emanate from the fair would make a clear distinction between policies that were conducive to the promotion of the well-being of the people and the ones that are obsolete and, therefore, not doing well in the advancement of the people.

He said since governments owe their existence to the will and sovereign power of the people, it is important that the concerns of the people are taken into consideration in the administration of any country, adding that, their views must be expressly manifested in the formulation of policies and their implementation.

He called for the active participation of the private organizations to enable the country to achieve its development aspirations.