President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says following the release of seed capital, the various projects under government’s Agenda 111have commenced, including those in the Upper West Region.
He explained that the projects were of importance as they were intended to meet deficits in the health sector, hence there was the need to expedite actions on them.
The President made this known during a live radio discussion at Radio Upper West at Wa, on Monday, when he took time to update residents on issues of governance and development as part of a three-day working visit to the region.
In the Upper West Region, beneficiary districts of the Agenda 111 projects are the Wa West, Daffima-Bussie-Issah and Lambussie Districts.
The President expressed disappointment that although seed monies had been provided for the project, some were progressing at a rather slow pace and said his visit was therefore to monitor the progress of work on the projects.
“Agenda 111 is extremely important in terms of trying to address one of the major deficiencies that came to my notice during the COVID-19Pandemic period, which was that there were many districts in the country with no hospitals and I found that first of allunfair because others had the facilities, others did not,” he said.
He explained that in order to ensure some form of equity, there was the need to assess the situation and identify lasting solution to ensure that everyone benefitted, and said that led to the birth of the Agenda 111 projects.
“We are reviewing the projects and funds to identify those contractors who have misused their funds and to hold them accountable and that is why it is necessary to have first-hand information on the progress of work,” he said.
Touching on issues of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the President stated that his government had not failed in its bid to successfully manage the economy.
“Ghana’s economy is one of the fastest growing in the world given the two major factors that have affected economies across the world , which are the Ukraine-Russia War and the COVID-19 pandemic”, he said.
He added that the Planting for Food and Jobs Programme was not on hold, although it was faced with challenges and subsidies had had to be cut, and said measures were being put in place to address those challenges.
“There are 17 companies in Ghana producing inorganic fertiliser and the Ministry of Agriculture is making very strenuous effort to encourage the young companies to expand rapidly their production, and the ministry has also embarked on a campaign to sensitise farmers to the use of inorganic fertiliser as a way of filling the immediate gap,” he mentioned.