President Declares 2007 Year Of Action

President J.A. Kufuor has declared that 2007 will be a year of action.He, therefore, asked Ghanaians to change their attitudes and rise up to meet the challenges and the programmes lined up for the year.

The President was responding to remarks made by the Chairman of the Council of State, Professor Daniel Adzei-Bekoe, at the last quarterly meeting between him and the Council of State at the Castle, Osu, yesterday.

After the opening remarks by the President and Professor Adzei-Bekoe, the meeting retired into a closed-door session.The President said 2007 would begin with Ghana playing host to the President of Germany, other African leaders and representatives of youth groups from all over the world at a forum intended to discuss the vision and arrangements for the emerging global village.

The forum, he said, would be followed almost immediately with a lecture by the outgoing United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, to kick-start the country’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.

He said Mr Annan, who had had a distinguished diplomatic career and also brought honour to the country, needed to be given a hero’s welcome to Ghana when he retired home next year.Besides the celebration of the country’s Golden Jubilee, the country would also be the venue for the African Union Summit and Conference on the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) to be attended by all beneficiary countries of the facility to map out strategies to maximise benefits under the facility.

The year 2007, he said, would be the period for the country to complete its preparations towards hosting the African Cup of Nations (CAN) in 2008.Again, he said, the year would witness the earnest implementation of the programme drawn up to utilise the $547 million facility given to the country under the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) of the US.

The President said all those events, as well as other engagements, had been lined up at a time when the sanitation situation was not the best, while crimes such as cocaine trafficking posed a threat to the international image of the country.

He said such challenges could be best overcome with the active participation of all Ghanaians and, therefore, called for co-operation from all citizens to contribute their quota towards dealing with those difficulties for a successful year.As part of efforts to deal with the cocaine menace, the President said, the security agencies had busted another group of people suspected to be dealing in cocaine.

Reports submitted to his office, he said, indicated that some officials of a reputable company on the Spintex Road in Accra noted for rice importation had been busted for allegedly dealing in cocaine.Earlier, Professor Adzei-Bekoe commended the President for the progress that the country had made in the year 2006.

“We have maintained our economic stability, in spite of the frightening hike in oil prices and the impact that this has had on the cost of transportation and electric power for industrial and for domestic use,” he stated.“Fortunately, prices have come down significantly and the trend continues, though the downward trend has not been as dramatic as the increases months ago,” he added.

Professor Adzei-Bekoe said by the participation of the President in various forums and negotiations which had gone on with the host countries, he had secured for Ghana positive indications of support which could bring much needed relief in the short and medium terms.

He, however, expressed concern about some issues, including Dagbon and cocaine trafficking, and appealed to the parties involved in the Dagbon case to follow the road map which they had already signed for peace to prevail.
Source:Graphic