Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia has noted that the Akufo-Addo government’s ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ concept has helped the country to practically manage and cope with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
According to Dr Bawumia, the programme has inspired individuals and private sector developers to manufacture and supply goods that are needed in the fight against the virus.
He added that through ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’, people have understood that they can do something on their own that will boost the economy of the country.
‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ sets out plans and strategies of making the country self-reliant.
It has a roadmap to achieve the vision of building an economically independent country competitive enough to engage the world through trade and investment. It also contains strategies on how the country’s resources can be harnessed effectively and deployed creatively and efficiently for rapid economic and social transformation.
“The President has been talking about Ghana Beyond Aid, and when Covid struck, it gave us a practical implementation of Ghana Beyond Aid,” said the Vice-Preaident.
“We realised we didn’t have PPEs in our hospitals and we decided not to import these critical equipment but to produce them locally ourselves. Domestic production is very important and we are looking at that, producing things internally.
“As we have in our manifesto, we are focusing on a lot of Made in Ghana products in terms of government procurement,” he stated.
Delayed, not derailed
Speaking on Accra based Peace FM yesterday, the Vice-President further noted that the Akufo-Addo government has been able to move the economy from taxation to production, making way to support the people in this health crisis.
He admitted that although the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed what the government wanted to do, it has not derailed it.
“We inherited a very bad economy, but in just three years we had turned it around before Covid-19 hit us earlier this year, and this helped us to respond. It also shows we have what it takes to move the country forward beyond the pandemic,” Dr Bawumia indicated.
He expressed optimism that the strong economic fundamentals produced by the Akufo-Addo government will propel the country to overcome the devastating effects of coronavirus on the economy.
Support
Dr Bawumia explained that tax reliefs and allowances given at this time to the citizenry are to cushion them to be on their feet during the pandemic, just as good policies implemented by the NPP government have tangibly reduced hardships on the people.
The Vice-President said the government has provided consistent and forward-looking leadership in the fight against the global pandemic.
“Our debt stock is the lowest in the decade. We’re using the resources to protect lives and livelihoods, and we can bounce back after the pandemic is over. As the President always says ‘we know how to bring the economy back to life, what we do not know is how to bring people back to life’,” he stated.
