ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
I know we will get more engineers, doctors, architects, scientists, writers and poets out of the increased numbers of those attending Senior High School, who will go on to further education.
Even if they stop at Senior High School, imagine what a million more Secondary School educated young people will do to our self-confidence and the value of our workforce.
That, alone, makes Free SHS worthwhile.
I am proud that the NPP government, under my leadership, has been able to bring this transformative policy into our education system.
15 Mr Speaker, I believe the success of the Free SHS has answered its critics, and the arguments about it should cease, and we should simply concentrate on finding ways to improve it.
I am particularly glad that the fears about lowering of standards have been allayed.
Refreshingly, we witnessed, through the 2023 batch of Free SHS students, the best WASSCE results in a decade.
Mr Speaker, there is more to education than Free SHS, and Government has been paying equal attention to all the other sectors.
Kindergarten, Primary School and Junior High School must work together to give a solid foundation, and strengthen the Free SHS policy.
The implementation of various programmes such as Capitation Grant, Feeding Grants to Special Schools, BECE registration for pupils in public Junior High Schools, amongst others, have significantly increased access to education at the basic level.
The focus of the comprehensive reforms within the sector has been to improve learning outcomes and ensure every child that goes through our education system is equipped with literacy and numeracy skills by the time they exit primary six (6).
A National Standardized Test for numeracy and reading skills is now being conducted at primary four (4).
Unfortunately, quite a number of children still manage to slip out of the net, and miss going to school altogether or drop out at primary school.
The Ministry of Education partnered with key development allies to launch an innovative financing programme called the Ghana Educational Outcome Project (GEOP).
The goal of GEOP is to provide educational support to seventy-two thousand (72,000) out-of-school children, helping them access complementary education and transition into formal schools.
I am happy to report that seventeen thousand, three hundred and forty (17,340) out-of-school children have been taken through the programme and mainstreamed into formal schools in 2023.
This programme has worked so well it won the GOVTECH PRIZE award in February 2024, at the World Government Summit held in Dubai.
Government has remained committed to improving the teaching and learning of STEM education at the pre-tertiary level.
Key interventions have included increasing our ability to produce STEM professionals, and also meeting 21st century skills.
Accordingly, the curriculum has been overhauled to include STEM Career Pathways such as Aviation and 16 Aerospace Science, Biomedical Science, Engineering, Computer Science, Manufacturing, Robotics and Artificial Intelligence.
Government has also increased its investment in infrastructure for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education at the pre-tertiary level.
The construction of ten (10) STEM Schools and ten (10) STEM Centres has commenced across the country, with seven (7) STEM Model Schools having been operationalised.
These schools have been equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms, dormitories, assembly halls, dining halls and conducive environments to foster teaching and learning.
The operationalized schools have a total enrolment of two thousand, four hundred (2,400) students reading General Science and STEM.
Speaker, in recognizing the critical role of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the country’s industrialization agenda, the government continued implementing key reforms in the TVET space, including the expansion of the Free Senior High School programme to include students in public TVET institutes.
Mr Speaker, a lot of resources has gone into the provision of infrastructure at all levels of the education system.
But a lot remains to be done.
Many basic schools require more adequate classrooms and furniture, and the environment in some of these schools can be made more suitable for learning and teaching.
Some of the Senior High Schools, especially the community schools recently absorbed into the formal GES structure, lack the facilities that the established schools take for granted.
We must all express our gratitude to the teachers in such schools who manage, in spite of the difficulties, to bring out the best in their students and sometimes succeed in achieving great results.
They exemplify the best in the Ghanaian, and give us hope for the future.
Indeed, the one-tablet- per-student policy at the Senior High School level is being rolled out, and will formally be launched by me next month.
It is a great tool to help bridge the gap between disadvantaged and privileged students.
Mr Speaker, Free SHS and our "No Guarantor" policy, under the Student Loan Trust Fund, are breaking down financial barriers for students seeking higher education.
By eliminating the requirement for a guarantor, we have empowered students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to pursue their educational aspirations without undue financial burden.
This 17 has meant a substantial increase in the numbers of students seeking tertiary education, and it is in response to this increase that Government has decided to establish four (4) new universities in Mampong in Ashanti Region, Akrodie in Bono Region, Bunso in Eastern Region and Kintampo in Bono East Region, and expand the facilities in existing ones.
We are pursuing interventions towards achieving, by 2030, the forty percent (40%) Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio, up from the current level of 18.84%, as well as the sixty-forty (60:40) science to humanities ratio, from the current one of forty to sixty (40:60), as captured in the Education Strategic Plan of 2018 to 2030.
Mr Speaker, between 2012 and early 2017, there was nothing more demoralising than the phenomenon we called DUMSOR.
It was symptomatic of a dysfunctional system, and it caused widespread depression amongst businesses and households.
After that experience, my government was determined that DUMSOR would not be inflicted upon Ghana and Ghanaians under an NPP government, and I am glad to be able to say, SO FAR, SO GOOD, we have managed to keep the lights on these last seven (7) years, even in the midst of a financial crisis.
We have managed the energy sector with discipline and expertise, to avoid a repetition of the hardships inflicted on Ghanaians some years ago.
Furthermore, through determined, skilful negotiation, we have been able to reduce considerably the energy sector debt that we inherited.
Indeed, the Government Negotiating Team carried out a successful reconciliation exercise with the IPPs and ECG, which established that the IPP arrears position was not the one-point-six billion dollars (US$1.6 billion) that had been previously reported in the media, but was actually one-point-two billion dollars (US$1.2 billion), that is savings of some four hundred million dollars (US$400 million).
Additionally, the Government Negotiating Team has reached commercial agreements on headline terms for the restructuring of power purchase agreements and arrears with AKSA, Amandi, Cenpower, CENIT and Early Power, and is finalising remaining definitive documentation of such terms, which will result in total expected savings in excess of nine-point-one-billion dollars (US$9.1 billion) over the lifespan of the IPP projects.
In the meantime, ECG has been able to secure a fixed monthly energy purchase price with all the IPPs.
This has led to a monthly payment of forty-three million dollars (US$43 million), instead of seventy-seven million dollars (US$77 million), that is monthly savings of 18 thirty-four million dollars (US$34 million) or a forty-four percent (44%) reduction in monthly payments, a far better outcome than the “Take-Or- Pay” system we inherited.
Speaker, I am happy to report that we are making admirable progress in the provision of electricity to all parts of the country.
Last year, two hundred and seven (207) communities were connected to the grid, taking the current national electricity access rate to eighty-eight-point-eight-five percent (88.85%).
We are aiming to achieve universal access this year, by connecting an additional four hundred (400) communities to the national grid under the Self-Help Electrification Programme (SHEP) and other Turnkey Projects.
As part of efforts to improve power system reliability in the middle and northern parts of Ghana, Government took a decision to relocate the two hundred and fifty megawatt (250MW) Ameri Plant from Aboadze to Anwomaso in Kumasi.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) has successfully relocated six (6) Units of the Ameri Plant, with capacity of one hundred and fifty megawatts (150MW), which are currently being tested and commissioned in Kumasi.
The Authority is taking steps to relocate the remaining four (4) units before the end of the year.
Mr Speaker, we are also making steady progress in our commitment to increase the component of renewable energy to our energy generation mix.
A four-megawatt floating solar PV on the Bui Reservoir, as well as the fifteen megawatt (15MW) solar PV at Kaleo, have been completed and are both operational.
They have contributed to increasing our share of solar energy to the generation mix to three-point-two percent (3.2%).
A one hundred megawatt (100MW) solar PV under is under construction at Bui, as is the Mini-grid Electrification Programme ongoing in the Ada East District, all of which will help us attain our target of ten percent (10%) renewable energy in our generation mix by 2030.
Mr Speaker, furthermore, we have committed ourselves to the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
As I indicated at the US-Africa Nuclear Energy Summit and the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Co-operation (IFNEC) Ministerial Conference, held in Accra in November last year, the first of its kind in Africa, our energy transition plan envisages thirty percent (30%) of our electricity production to be from nuclear energy by 2070, which is the core mandate of the 19 Ghana Nuclear Power Programme Organisation (GNPPO), an entity under the Office of the President.
This strong commitment and position are geared towards the provision of clean and affordable electricity to drive our industralisation agenda.
It is also meant to position Ghana as a net power exporter in the ECOWAS region through the West African Power Pool.
Mr Speaker, we have also succeeded in having the Secretariat of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an inter-governmental forum of fifty-eight (58) of the most climate vulnerable countries, representing some 1.4 billion people, located in Accra.
Mr Speaker, we have all heard about the Gold for Oil Programme.
It has been explained, debated and talked about.
At this moment, all I want to say about it is that the Gold for Oil Programme has worked well, and reduced significantly forex pressures on bulk energy storage, transportation and bulk imports, distribution and export companies, and enabled them to negotiate more competitive premiums with suppliers.
Premiums dropped from one hundred and eighty to two hundred dollars per metric tonnes ($180-200/MT) to seventy dollars per metric tonnes ($70/MT) or less.
This also resulted in reduced and stabilized prices at the pumps of between twelve to thirteen cedis (GH¢12-13) per litre for the whole of 2023.
We are taking steps to rectify some of the handicaps that have limited the full participation of Ghanaians in the oil and gas industry.
For years, the well-paid jobs in the industry were taken exclusively by foreign nationals, because we did not have people qualified in those fields.
Last year, one hundred and fifty (150) young Ghanaians were trained and certified as mechanical maintenance technicians, electrical technicians, instrumentation technicians and production process technicians up to the industry standards.
Additionally, five young Ghanaians underwent a ten- month welding inspector training programme at the North Alberta Institute of Technology, Canada.
They have since been placed in various technical institutions in Ghana as instructors.
Ghanaians will soon fill the well-paid positions on our oil fields, because we have the trained and qualified personnel.
Mr Speaker, it is quite likely that the most talked about subject in our country is roads and highways.
When I appeared in the House last year, 20 as I said earlier, I took the extraordinary step of coming with a fat book that detailed all the works that the Government had done, and was doing on roads since coming into office in 2017.
I believe it was generally agreed that it was impressive, but it was not enough to satisfy everyone.
Well, the work continues, even though some of the major road works have been temporarily interrupted as a result of the debt negotiations.
As I have said earlier, all the details will be available on the Performance Tracker.
Other modes of movement around the country are being built and upgraded to open up the country, and make travel easier.
Mr Speaker, the new standard gauge railway line from the Port of Tema to Mpakadan in the Asuogyaman District of the Eastern Region, covering a distance of some one hundred kilometres (100kms), is at the final stage of completion.
By the middle of the year, the line will be commissioned for operations to commence with brand new standard gauge diesel multiple unit trains, the first of their kind to be used in our country.
It is worth mentioning a rail bridge has been built across the Volta, as part of this railway line.
I have no doubt it will attract a lot of interest.
I am a great believer in the importance of aesthetics, as much as the practical, and that is why I encouraged the contractors to construct the rail bridge, which was not part of the original contract, across the Volta to make the journey more scenic.
The development is on course of a new standard gauge Western Railway Line to serve passengers, the mining sector, as well as support industrialisation to boost the development and growth of this nation.
The plans for the extension of the railway line to Paga might not materialise during my administration, but I am sure they will not be abandoned.
Mr Speaker, there is no argument that food self-sufficiency is the basic requirement for national security and the foundation for building a prosperous nation.
Last year, Government reviewed the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) Programme, which had been implemented since 2017.
Based on lessons learnt, Government developed and launched, under the dynamic leadership of the new Minister for Food and Agriculture, the second phase of the PFJ.
The second phase of the PFJ sets out a 5-year agenda to ensure food self- sufficiency and resilience.
Strategic targets have been set for eleven (11) 21 priority products in the immediate term (September to December 2023), short term (year 2024), medium term (2025 -2026), and the long term (2027-2028).
The selected products are maize, rice, soybean, sorghum, tomato, pepper, onion, cassava, yam, plantain and poultry.
Speaker, I am happy to report that production estimates for these priority products revealed that the planned targets for the year have been exceeded for all the products, except poultry.
Poultry, obviously, requires extra attention, and that is exactly what we are doing.
We have every intention of meeting the domestic production targets for poultry this year, 2024, and moving onto production levels that will lead to reduction in poultry imports.
We envisage a vigorous co-operation between government and the private sector to achieve the set target.
Mr Speaker, the surest way of making agriculture attractive to young people is to take the drudgery out of farming, and Government is continuing to make agricultural machinery and equipment easily available.
Under the third and final tranche of the Brazilian More Food Programme, tractors with accompanying implements, power tillers with accessories, maize shellers, units of combine harvesters, and rice millers have been distributed to farmers, processors and mechanisation service providers on hire purchase arrangement.
This year, under the Indian Exim Facility, tractors with matching implements, planters, boom sprayers, combine harvesters and corn pickers will also be made available.
Mr Speaker, having determined that large scale commercial farming is the easiest way to achieve our set goal of food self-sufficiency, Government, under the second phase of the PFJ, will establish Agricultural Zones as a complementary initiative to address the issue of access to large tracts of agriculture land, to drive sustainable and commercially oriented agriculture.
This will significantly expand Ghana’s productive capacity in products such as rice, soybean, maize and tomato.
Indeed, between 2021 and 2023, rice imports fell by some forty-five percent (45%).
In 2021, rice imports amounted to eight hundred and five thousand metric tonnes (805,000MT); in 2022, six hundred and fifty thousand metric tonnes (650,000MT); and, in 2023, four hundred and forty thousand metric tonnes (440,000MT).
This healthy trajectory will continue until we achieve full self-sufficiency in rice production.
For each Agricultural Zone, Government will partner with the private sector to provide the necessary irrigation infrastructure, develop access 22 roads, extend power (solar/hydro) and provide mechanization services.
Various locations across the country with potential to be food baskets have been identified for the establishment of the Agricultural Zones.
They include Afram Plains, Tsopoli, Kumawu, Krachi and Nkoranza, amongst others.
Mr Speaker, we all witnessed the spectacular increment of the cocoa price from eight hundred cedis per bag (GH¢800) to one thousand, three hundred cedis (GH¢1,300) per bag in the current cocoa season, the highest increase in fifty (50) years.
With the current trend of the world cocoa price, cocoa farmers can be sure that I will do right by them in the next cocoa season.
Mr Speaker, Government has begun the development of seven thousand, one hundred hectares (7,100Ha) irrigation infrastructure in five (5) identified economic enclaves within the Afram Plains Agricultural Zone.
Work is also continuing towards the completion of the Tamne Phase III Extension and Vea Irrigation Schemes.
This will make additional one thousand, two hundred and fifty hectares (1,250Ha) of irrigable land available for cultivation of rice and vegetables.
The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority will continue with the development of small earth dams in the Northern, Upper East, Upper West, North East and Savannah Regions to support the “One- Village One- Dam” (1V1D) Initiative.
Whilst at it, Mr Speaker, we have not forgotten about the welfare and wellbeing of our fisherfolk.
My government has completed the construction of twelve (12) coastal fish landing sites at Axim and Dixcove in the Western Region, Moree, Mumford, Winneba, Senya Beraku, Gomoa Feteh, Otuam and Mfantseman in the Central Region, Teshie and Osu in the Greater Accra Region, and Keta in the Volta Region.
Additionally, I had the pleasure, in May last year, of commissioning the newly constructed Elmina Fishing Harbour in the Central Region, much against the hopes of the naysayers, and, God willing, soon this year, I will also commission the Jamestown Fishing Harbour, which currently stands at eighty-eight percent (88%) complete, and is expected to be ready by August 2024.
Mr Speaker, to help address the incidence of premix fuel diversion and hoarding, Government, last year, completed the installation of fifty (50) 23 out of the three hundred (300) premix fuel automated dispensers.
My expectation is that the remaining automated dispensers will be installed by September this year, to help optimise the distribution of premix fuel.
Government will continue to take decisive actions, such as the close season, to help safeguard the ocean’s capacity to regenerate and to continue to deliver substantial economic, environmental, and social value for our development.
Speaker, last year, Ghana regained her position as the leading producer of gold in Africa, having overtaken South Africa.
Our gold production reached an unprecedented four million ounces (4 million oz), according to preliminary reports.
This is as a result of the progressive policies we have been implementing, which have led to the revival of dormant mines like the Obuasi and Bibiani Mines, and the expansion of existing ones.
The reduction in withholding tax on unprocessed gold by small scale miners, from three percent (3%) to one and a half percent (1.5%), has resulted in some nine hundred percent (900%) increment in gold export from the small-scale sector, over the last two (2) years.
Leveraging on these resources, we introduced the innovative Gold for Oil Policy, which accounts for some thirty percent (30%) of our total crude oil consumption.
Currently, three (3) large scale mines are under construction in Ahafo, Upper East and Upper West Regions, with Cardinal Namdini set to pour its first gold in the Upper East Region in the last quarter of this year.
With these new mines, our gold production is expected to increase to some four point five million ounces (4.5 million oz) annually.
Speaker, to add value to these volumes of production, we have constructed, through a public private partnership, a four hundred kilogramme (400kg) capacity gold refinery, and we are in the final stages of negotiations for a London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) Certificate.
For our green minerals, including lithium, we have put in place a policy for their exploitation and management, to ensure beneficiation across the value chain of these critical minerals.
Speaker, as it has been widely reported, Newmont Corporation, the world’s largest gold producing company, which operates two huge mines in our country, and is constructing a third, has announced its intention to sell its Akyem Mine in the Eastern Region, the third largest mine in the 24 country, which produced some four hundred and twenty thousand (420,000) ounces of gold in 2022.
As part of Government’s policy to indigenize the mining sector, we will engage with Newmont to give priority to Ghanaian investors who will want to acquire this mine, to ensure that our mineral resources better benefit the Ghanaian people.
Speaker, we continue to work to ensure the protection of our forest and wildlife resources, while reclaiming degraded forests.
Some forty-two million (42 million) trees have been planted over the last three years, under the Green Ghana Project, and some six hundred and ninety thousand hectares (690,000 ha) of degraded forest have been cultivated between 2017 and 2022, under the Ghana Forest Plantation Strategy.
Speaker, the main cornerstone of our move towards the industrial transformation of Ghana is the “One-District-One Factory” policy, this Government’s iconic flagship initiative.
It demonstrates how government can stimulate and incentivize the private sector to expand and diversify manufacturing across the country by harnessing locally available raw materials.
It is significant to note that, within the relatively short span of six (6) years, Government has directly intervened to stimulate interest in, and support many private sector business promoters to make significant investments in manufacturing under the One-District-One-Factory Programme.
Speaker, this has led to the development of three hundred and twenty-one (321) 1D1F projects, consisting of two hundred and eleven (211) new, medium to large scale factories, and the conscious enabling of one hundred and ten (110) existing companies, to inject significant capital investments into the expansion of production facilities, and diversification of products.
These business promoters have so far invested in one hundred and forty-two (142) districts across the country, across all sixteen (16) regions, and achieving fifty-four percent (54%) district coverage.
The aspiration is to bring a 1D1F project to every district.