REDUCING POVERTY (SEPT 18, 2010)

GHANA’S development effort seems to be catching the attention of the international community and is being advertised by development agencies as a star performer in development activities.
One area that has been lauded is our march towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to substantially reduce poverty and improve the health of the people.
Probably, our unprecedented economic opportunities, which have resulted in enhanced development activities in the country, is predicated on the country’s smooth path in her democratic dispensation.
Ghana seems to be on track but the stark reality is that the majority of our people are yet to experience the benefits of what seems very perfect on paper. This is because of the persistent cry of the people that there is no cash in their pockets.
The majority of our people still belong to the poverty bracket and, thus, are unable to meet most of the basic necessities of life — the cost of goods and services keeps soaring and even though food seems to be in abundance with stability in food prices, high rent for accommodation is prevalent and majority of Ghanaian workers are unable to cope with it.
It is our hope that the STX deal comes to improve the housing situation not only for our security services but also the generality of Ghanaian workers.
This demands that progress towards the MDGs needs to be speeded up if we are to make significant strides towards the achievement of the goals.
A new report from a British think tank Overseas Development Institute (ODI) says Ghana has reduced hunger by nearly three quarters — from 34 per cent to nine per cent between 1990 and 2004 — an area in which it has outperformed many countries around the world.
According to the report, Ghana is on course to be the first African country to achieve the millennium goal of halving the rates of poverty and hunger by 2015.
In order to get out of the shackles of poverty, there has to be more investment in the area of education, especially at the basic level, coupled with expanded enrolment by strengthening the school feeding and capitation grant programmes.
Another critical area that needs the government’s attention is negotiating better deals for our agricultural produce by first adding value to some of our natural resources for which we have comparative advantage.
We should continue to promote growth and channel resources into poverty alleviation and other key areas of the national economy. Our interest should not be about expanding the frontiers but also providing the incentives that will enable children to complete basic education and proceed to post-primary education to acquire skills.
Quite apart from these, we should step up investment in the healthcare delivery system, especially in the area of reproductive health, so that there will be progress in efforts to reduce child and maternal mortality.
The country cannot do this alone, we still need partnership from friendly countries and other development partners to raise our expenditure in key sectors such as health, education, transport and agriculture in order to really achieve a better development agenda to fulfil the people’s aspirations and expectations.
Every Ghanaian should also be proud about his or her contribution in whatever way towards the feat so far achieved and continue to contribute his or her quota towards realising the better Ghana agenda of the government.