Tema, Sep 8, GNA - The Rotary Club of Tema has held its President's Ball, consisting of a fund-raising and dinner dance, during which new officers and Board of Directors of the Club were inducted into office for a two-year term.

Nana Yaw Gyane is the new President and he took over from Mr John Bisiw.

The other officers are Nii Nikoi Amasa, Vice President, Mr Obed Agbovordi, Secretary, Mr Robert Adomako, Treasurer, and Mr Stephen Hattor, Sergeant-at-Arms.

Speaking on the theme: 93Building Communities, Bridging Continents" Mr Frank Adu, the Managing Director of Cal Bank, who was the Guest Speaker, said it was important to grow local investors in order to develop communities.

"We must give the domestic investor more incentives than we give the foreign investor. We must give him more of a chance to succeed, we must not discriminate against the domestic investor," he said.

Mr Adu proposed that as a country 93we must devise a deliberate policy to develop local entrepreneurs if we want to develop our communities a step at a time."

He called for the development of a cathedral mentality, saying, "It epitomizes teamwork, requires continuity, demands you think long term and avoid short termism, requires that you think like the Chinese whose idea of short term planning is 50 years and long term 100 years."

Mr Adu called for a National Development Plan which should be protected by the Constitution, so that whichever government was in power, would have to work with the plan.

"It is my conviction and belief that we can achieve so much more mileage in developing our communities and country if we adopt this long-term non-partisan approach to development."

When this happens, he said, 93then continuity in national development will be assured and manifestoes and their sometimes wild electoral promises which has led to the commercialization of votes will be minimized."

He said politics would be more realistic and aim to achieve a national goal and not just a personal or parochial view of only a handful of people.

Nana Gyane assured members that his administration would focus on basic education and literacy, water and sanitation, disease prevention and control, economic and community development, maternal and child health alongside peace and conflict prevention.