ghananlpcommunity/ghana-gov-speeches-sentences huggingface dataset:
With the assistance of the LEAP Programme, Awenemi procured a weaving machine and she is now able to afford the material in order to make kente, which she then sells to smock makers at Bolga.
Her children no longer have to abandon school to help earn money for the household.
Speaker, These are living testimonies of how people’s lives are changed.
15 YOUTH Mr.
Speaker, To ensure the smooth implementation of the National Youth Policy, in January 2015, I launched the National Youth Policy Implementation Plan.
The Plan provides an accelerated framework with specific timelines for the adoption of programmes and activities in the policy document.
The country’s Youth Leadership and Skills Training Institutes trained a total of 1,646 youth under a Vocational and Skills Training programme.
Speaker, The Youth Employment Act 2015 has been passed to create a solid foundation upon which the Youth Employment Agency can be structured and run.
Recruitment under the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) has also started, and it is targeted to recruit 100,000 young people over the next 12 months in 5 different modules.
The new Youth Employment Agency is implementing a purely cashless organisation where all financial transactions will be electronic or by cheque.
Speaker, The Youth Enterprise Support (YES) initiative made significant progress in the year under review.
A total of 2,048 applications were received in response to its first call, and 107 individuals were selected for financial and technical support.
Out of the 107 beneficiaries, 81 were earmarked to receive financial support and 26 to receive technical support.
The progress of all beneficiaries is closely monitored by the YES business support team and the YES monitoring and evaluation desk through mandatory reporting and regular business site visits and audits.
That first call under YES has created over 800 direct and indirect jobs for Ghanaian youths.
The second call for applications was made in January this year and so far about 4,000 applications have been received.
I urge our youth to take advantage of this initiative.
Speaker, One growing area of opportunity for our youth is in ICT services and applications.
In the last few years we have made significant progress in entrepreneurship support and the incubation of programmes.
These serve as foundations for a strong digital ICT market.
A number of interventions are being implemented, including mLabs, iHubs, Accra BPO Center, Kumasi Business Incubator, Regional Innovation Centers and the ICT Park in Tema to boost the innovation ecosystem and enhance digital opportunities and entrepreneurship.
16 SPORTS Mr.
Speaker, In addition to the construction of the Cape Coast Sports Stadium, which has been completed and which I shall have the privilege of commissioning soon, we have also completed the drawings and bills of quantities for the construction of the New Edubiase Sports Stadium.
Last September, Ghana participated in the 2015 All Africa Games held in Congo Brazzaville and won a total of 19 medals.
Our women’s football team must be particularly commended for winning the football trophy.
The Senior National Football Team, the Black Stars placed second in the African Nations Cup tournament held in Equatorial Guinea in January 2015, and the Black Satellites placed third in the Orange African U-20 Cup of Nations Tournament that was held in Senegal this year.
Speaker, Government commits to the implementation of the findings and recommendations of the World Cup Commission even as we confront the legal hurdles ahead.
A new boxing gym and sports complex being built by SSNIT near the Korle Lagoon, will be commissioned this year.
This will give opportunity to the young people in Bukom and other surrounding areas who have a talent for boxing to realise their dreams.
* * * 17 BUILDING A STRONG AND RESILIENT ECONOMY Mr.
Speaker, When I took office as President our economy was faced with severe challenges from both domestic policy misalignment and external shocks.
The resulting effect was a budget deficit of 11.5 % of GDP and a current account deficit of 11.7% of GDP.
Expenditure pressures emanating largely from the compensation of public sector employees, budgetary overruns, shortfalls in corporate income tax and low Development Partners’ inflow accounted for the high fiscal deficit.
On the other hand, developments in commodity prices and a tightening of financing for middle income countries jointly contributed to the high current account deficit.
At the time of our Independence, the Agriculture sector accounted for about 50% of GDP.
It currently accounts for about 21.5% of GDP.
The Services sector is, right now, the largest sector with slightly over 50% share of GDP.
Following it is the industrial sector, which accounts for about 26.6% of GDP.
Despite, this significant shift in the structure of the economy, the nature of our exports has virtually remained the same.
We have a narrow base of export commodities and a high dependence on imports.
This situation has subjected our economy to shocks in the face of global price volatilities.
In fact, we have witnessed a simultaneous fall in crude oil, cocoa and gold prices.
The price of a barrel of crude oil has fallen by more than 70% since June 2014, and as it stands today, Brent crude oil is selling at around US$33 per barrel from a high of US$ 100 per barrel.
This is the lowest since 2004.
Even though cocoa and gold prices have had a significant effect on the balance of payments and tax revenue, the oil decline is a mixed bag that favourably supports crude oil import bill but affects negatively the Annual Budget Funding Amount (ABFA) of the budget.
This explains the revision of the 2015 original budget by the supplementary budget that was presented to this august House on 21st July 2015.
Over the last few years, we have taken significant measures to address the real sector of the economy.
As a first step, we started to diversify our economy by intensifying value- addition to our exports.
For example, in August 2015, the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources inaugurated a US$7 million gold refinery at Adjiriganor in Accra, the second of its kind in Ghana.
Sahara Royal Gold Refinery Limited has the capacity to refine between 200-300 kilos of gold daily, and the expectation is that the growing number of licensed gold buyers who have traditionally purchased raw minerals from Ghana and have exported them to other countries will seek to refine the gold right here in Ghana, creating jobs and therefore aiding inclusive growth.
Assistance to the KNUST Jewellery School is also aimed at training a core of craftsmen to kick-start the jewellery industry in Ghana.
18 Additionally as part of our agenda to achieve a value-added and export-led economy, the Ghana Export and Import Bank (EXIM) Bill has been laid before Parliament.
The primary purpose is to finance exports (notably light industrial and agricultural products); guarantee loans; provide export insurance; support SMEs and other businesses; and, strengthen our access to markets under economic cooperation programmes such as the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
The operations of the Bank will support the nurturing and growth of the private sector in Ghana and address the longstanding problem of access to credit for expanding value-added exports.
I intend to sign this bill into law as soon as this House passes it because I believe it will underscore Ghana’s story of transformation.
Our second strategy has been to invest heavily in building a transformative infrastructure.
As an emerging middle-income country, with a growing middle-class, this will form the basis of a new growth trajectory in the economy, generating jobs and increasing incomes.
In furtherance to this, it was decided to create strong institutions that would help us achieve our goal.
As with the Exim Bank, the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) was established for similar purpose.
These institutions will serve as buffers for managing the economy, whilst providing the space for spending on socio-economic infrastructure.
The Ghana Exim Bank and the Ghana Infrastructure Fund are some of the more enduring and independent mechanisms for addressing the root causes of our particular macro-economic challenges.
Government has additionally deployed a new debt management strategy that includes making commercial projects pay for the loans that are procured to complete such projects.
Government benefited tremendously from the outcome of the ‘Senchi Consensus’; suggestions from enthusiastic stakeholders led to the validation of a Home Grown Fiscal Consolidation Plan which was eventually presented to this august House for consideration.
Specific interventions included major public financial management reforms in the areas of budgeting, accounting, revenue administration, wage management, debt management and other structural reforms.
The primary goals of this coordinated policy were to stabilise the economy, facilitate inclusive growth, protect social spending and create decent jobs.
On the basis of this plan, I took the decision to enter into the IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme to give credibility to our policies.
Our commitment to the implementation of the programme has led to two successful reviews under the IMF Programme in 2015, and a third review due in April of this year.
This year, Ghana is expected to achieve a budget deficit of 5.3% of GDP under the IMF Extended Credit Facility (ECF) programme, which provides a tighter fiscal space than anticipated in the original programme.
It is within this context that we must practice an even greater degree of fiscal prudence in 2016.
19 The bane of our economic management has been the cyclical huge election year budget deficits.
It is an unfavourable narrative for which Ghana has become famous.
I have assured the nation and our partners that my administration will exercise strict fiscal discipline even in this election year in order that we can also transform this negative narrative of our country.
This has not been an easy road to travel.
As President, I swore an oath to act in the best interest of our nation.
Acting in a nation’s best interest is not synonymous with taking only decisions that make one popular.
I thank the good people of Ghana for your understanding and patience during these challenging times that we have endured.
The sacrifices we have made, place our economy back on a path of growth, and make it more resilient even in a volatile global financial environment.
Working together we have chalked major achievements in our economic management journey so far.
We have contained the unsustainable utility and fuel subsidy overruns by implementing the automatic price adjustments of petroleum and utility prices that took effect in July and December 2015, respectively.
The implication has been a minimal budgeted amount of about GH¢50 million for the 2015 budget and provisional outturn relatively lower than provided for.
Considering that in the past, Government has had cause to spend over GH¢1.0 billion for overruns in subsidies, it makes this an uneasy feat for any Government to achieve at this time.
For the first time in many years, negotiation with our Trade Unions within budget constraint before the 2016 budget has been achieved.
We acknowledge the enormous support from Organized Labour and our Trade Union Partners who have shown understanding on the need to achieve fiscal consolidation.
In the same vein, we have had human resource and payroll system upgrades and audits with a major policy of a net freeze on employment in some public sectors excluding health and education.
The effect has been a reduction in the wage to GDP ratio from 8.9 % in 2012 to 7.9% in 2015; and as a percentage of tax revenue, a reduction from 53.3% in 2012 to 43.6 % in 2015 as well as success in migrating staff onto the Single Spine Salary Structure.
It is expected that with the stability achieved negotiations for base pay for next year will commence in April this year.
Our investment in the energy sector has started bearing fruit.
With the support of Honourable Members of Parliament, we have amended the Petroleum Revenue Management Act to reflect our current policy stance.
We are witnessing increased inward investment into Ghana’s oil and gas sector despite the current low price on global markets.
We intend to clean up the financial challenges that have affected the viability of the SOEs in the energy sector.
20 MICRO FINANCE COMPANIES Mr.
Speaker, Over the past 5 years there has been a proliferation of microfinance companies.
Unfortunately, lack of effective supervision has resulted in many cases in which micro finance companies licensed by Bank of Ghana have breached the rules and created supposed pyramid schemes that have eventually come crashing down.
One such case is DKM.
DKM, with the super high interest rates of between 50 and 55% promised, is believed to have caused a loss to its clients in excess of GH¢77 million.
Many depositors have lost their livelihood.
While our laws place this matter squarely in Bank of Ghana’s ambit, Government has a concern for the poor unsuspecting Ghanaian clients who deserve to have been protected by a more robust inspection and supervisory regime by the Central Bank.
I am aware that the Bank of Ghana has commenced liquidation proceedings in respect of DKM.
I believe that this process should be part of a comprehensive package that looks at protection of the livelihoods of especially small depositors without rewarding the reckless conduct of the microfinance institution, in this case DKM.
The object of this would be to look at reimbursing legitimate customers their original deposit amounts, and not the Alice- in-Wonderland prospects they were expecting.
This initiative should be conceived in the context of a broader solution that will permanently sanitise and restore credibility to the microfinance industry and strengthen Bank of Ghana’s supervision.
Speaker, This august House has a role to play.
We must fast track the Ghana Deposit Protection Bill, which will protect small depositors funds in similar situations like this in future.
Speaker, In the Energy Sector, Government in 2013 formulated the Local Content and Local Participation Policy.
Approximately 7,000 people have been employed in the upstream sector of the Oil and Gas Industry - 5,590 Ghanaians and 1,350 expatriates.
Out of the 474 companies registered with the Petroleum Commission, 321 are indigenous companies and 46 are joint ventures.
Out of the total value of US$6.3 billion contracts awarded from 2010 to 2015, over US$1 billion went to indigenous companies.
Specifically, as at the third quarter of 2015, $201,072,785.62 representing 41% of the total of $792,623,122.73 worth of investment for the year was awarded to indigenous companies.
On the downstream, our vision is to create Ghana as a hub for petroleum distribution in the sub-region.
Already BOST has begun supplying petroleum products to the land-locked countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali from their Bolgatanga Depot.
21 TOR, I am pleased to announce, is operational and is poised to resume its strategic role in petroleum production in Ghana.
Speaker, I salute the Acting.
MD and the staff of the refinery for the hard work and sacrifice they have made to bring the refinery back on stream.
The staff voluntarily took an unprecedented 20% pay cut as their contribution to putting TOR back on its feet.
The Chairman of the workers’ union and some of his staff are here with us today.
ENDING ‘DUMSOR’ Mr.
Speaker, A year ago, I stood before this august House and promised to fix the power sector deficit that, at the time, had become a significant constraint to economic growth and was a major disruption in the lives of Ghanaians, both at home and at work.
This was a time of considerable national anxiety.
A huge deficit in power generation had resulted in prolonged rationing.
I was painfully aware of the difficulties this situation was posing.
Ghanaians had to put up with long hours of darkness or spend money on expensive fuel to run their generators.
Businesses faced serious disruption or saw their cost go up if they had to operate on generators.
I expressed my deep regret to the nation over the situation and took responsibility as President, leader of this nation and Commander in Chief.
It has been a year of hard work and negotiations.
We have achieved the fastest mobilisation of power in the history of Ghana.
About 800MW of power has been added to our generation within the shortest period of time.
Finalising and commissioning KTPP 220MW, Commissioning TICO combined cycle 110MW, mobilising Karpower 220MW and Ameri 250MW have added extra power to our transmission grid.
180 MW of Asogli phase II is also available as soon as we can get extra gas for it.
Much work still needs to be done to give us the comfort of sustainable generation.
I salute the former Minister of Power Dr.
Kwabena Donkor, Deputy Minister John Jinapor and their team of technical people.
Minister Emmanuel Armah Buah and his team at the Ministry of Petroleum, and I acknowledge the Chief Executive and Staff of the PURC, Energy Commission, VRA, GRIDCO, ECG, GNPC, Ghana Gas Co.
Ltd, Ministry of Finance, and the Attorney General’s Department.
It has taken teamwork and cooperation of many people to achieve this.
Much of our power is based on thermal generation now.
Akosombo is currently producing at about 40% capacity.
All our hydro resources are strained because of the low level of the Volta Lake caused by a changing climate.
More thermal generation means we have had to pay more in tariffs to maintain sustainable power.
I wish to thank Ghanaians for your patience and understanding.
I pledge to Ghanaians that I will continue to work to ensure that we never find ourselves in such a dreadful situation ever again.
22 Mr.
Speaker, To ensure we never end up there again, we must add even more generation to keep ahead of a robust growth of almost 12% increase in demand per annum.
Planned power based on MOUs and Power Purchase Agreements signed, project an addition to generation of about 3,500MW by 2010.
This will ensure Ghana’s power security and position Ghana as the power hub of West Africa.
Speaker, In this term, and my next term, I intend to work hard to achieve this objective.
Additional power into the grid will aim at diversifying fuel sources, from gas to crude oil, LPG and LNG.
Additionally, there will be an injection of renewable energy.
Currently Ghana has about 25MW of solar power being transmitted into the national grid.
This is set to increase to about 200MW over the next 4 years.
Already several small and medium enterprises have been provided with rooftop solar following my announcement of a target of 200,000 rooftop solar projects for small businesses and residential users.
Some of the micro enterprises connected include: !
Young Dollar Barbering shop (Maamobi), !
Alice Skills Training Center for Hairdressers (Trade Fair), !
Dara Beauty Parlor (South Labadi), !
Renee Designs (Nima), !
Emmacansey Tailoring (Alajo), and !
Mercy Fashion (Lashibi).
The Ministry of Power, working with the PURC and Energy Commission, will intensify implementation nationwide in order to achieve the target of 200,000.
African Plantations for Sustainable Development (APSD) is also poised to pump 60MW of biomass energy into the transmission, following the signing of a PPA with ECG.
Government is also initiating this year, a programme to substitute incandescent and CFL bulbs with LED bulbs.
The Ministries of Finance and Power are finalising processes for the implementation of the Private Sector Participation (PSP) programme for the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) Limited.
Speaker, In anticipation of tariffs being paid by all, the Electricity Company of Ghana, is undergoing corporate re-organisation to make its operations more responsive to customers’ desires.
The strategic focus is to improve general customer service delivery, response time when attending to faults and customer complaints, staff attitudes and professional competence.
ECG is on course to increase pre-payment metering coverage by which time a total of 400,000 prepayment meters should be installed.
23 Cabinet has approved the Millennium Challenge Compact II’s US$498m grant, which will provide a major boost in addressing energy efficiency problems as well as improving access to energy.
Speaker, In 2015, several major power distribution network projects were completed while others reached an advanced stage of work.
Even as we worked round the clock to bring load shedding to an end, we were also vigorously working to bring electricity to as many of our people as possible.
When I appeared before you last year, 76% of our people had access to electricity.
As I speak, 80.5% of our people now enjoy access to electricity.
This compares significantly with the 58% of coverage in 2009.
And the difference this has made in the lives of the people in these communities is monumental.
Shirazu Issaku is a vulcaniser.
He operates at the Fufulso-Junction, located in the Central Gonja District of the Northern Region.
It is on the main Kintampo-Tamale road.
Shirazu, realising the strategic location of the Fufulso-Junction, as an intersection between the Northern, Upper West and Brong Ahafo Regions, as well as the heavy vehicular traffic on the route from landlocked countries like Burkina Faso and Niger, established a small vulcanising shop there in the early 90s.
Until the extension of electricity to Fufulso-Junction in 2015, Shirazu had to depend on diesel to run his generator enduring the hazardous effects of the smoke.
The extension of electricity to the town has changed his life drastically.
Today, not only does he have dependable, reliable and sustainable energy for his business, he is also able to work in the night.
Other traders in the village are also benefiting from his enterprise.
Kenkey seller, Afishata, also takes advantage of the presence of drivers there to sell the now-popular Fufulso kenkey and fish to drivers and passengers who stop to make use of the vulcanising services.
Today, trading is booming in the town, both day and night, as a result of the installation of streetlights.
With this massive expansion in coverage, I wish to urge the Energy Commission and the general public to work together to implement energy conservation programmes with the view to reducing our tariffs and also ensuring judicious use of power.
FINANCIAL VIABILITY OF POWER COMPANIES FOR EFFECTIVE SERVICE Mr.
Speaker, All these gains will be undermined if the issue of financial viability of our utility companies is not addressed.
For nearly two decades, our power sector companies have piled on astronomical debts that have severely impeded their ability to perform at optimum level.
It is a mark of their resilience and commitment to the national cause that they have survived till date.
24 Together, Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) owe colossal amounts of billions of cedis.
These debts are referred to as “legacy debts” because they have not recently been accumulated; they have been building up for close to two decades.
While it is true that there have been periodic upward adjustments in tariffs over the years, the amount of tariffs paid have not been adequate to meet the operational expenditures of these utilities.
For example, the VRA produces electricity at an average rate of 32cents per kilowatt-hour and sells same to ECG at 21cents per kilowatt-hour.
The shortfall in revenue has traditionally been paid through the payment of subsidies by Government.
Speaker, The reality is that while some subsidies have been paid over the years, perennial budgetary constraints and numerous competing demands have made it virtually impossible for successive Governments to meet this obligation.
It is therefore obvious that the operations of these power utilities cannot be sustained if nothing is done to arrest the situation.
The situation that we are faced with requires very difficult but necessary measures to sustain these vital utility companies.
The alternative to not acting would be a total collapse of the power sector, and the consequences would be too catastrophic to imagine.