71st New Year School to focus on Ghana Beyond Aid
The 71st Annual New Year School and Conference (ANYSC) slated for January 13-16, 2020, on the theme “Ghana Beyond Aid: Challenges and Prospects”, has been launched in Accra.
The ANYSC, which is being organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education (SCDE), University of Ghana, would be officially opened by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on January 14, 2020.
The launch of the 71st ANSC was performed on behalf of the Senior Minister Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo by Madam Catherine Afeku, a Minister of State at the Office of the President, assigned to the Office of the Senior Minister.
In a speech read on his behalf the senior minister said: “There is no ambiguity about the fact that Ghana is a resource-rich nation in a connected ecosystem to easily facilitate any high profile development agenda.”
“Added to this is the considerable endowment of human capital with the education, training, skills and techniques to frontally drive our development agenda.”
He noted that yet the best had so far not been achieved as far as development was concerned, hence, a huge development gap compared to other societies with absolutely less resources with whom Ghanaians started their respective nation building processes.
“When we as Ghanaians apply this abundant human capital to effective use, harness these resources well and deploy them creatively in a transparent manner, we all stand the chance to catalyse Ghana’s economic development rapidly,” he said.
“The sad story is that after 62 years of independence, Ghana is still seen as having great potential to advance economically and yet not managed to do so with the speed and the resolve expected.”
He said aid had played an important role in the nation’s development; however, as a country, they need more than aid to expedite economic transformation to the desired level.
He said through Ghana Beyond Aid, they were seeking to find collectively, practical ways of unleashing the embedded potential of the people of Ghana, so that they could together become a “prosperous and self-reliant nation that is in-charge of her economic destiny; a transformed Ghana that is prosperous enough to be beyond needing aid, and engages competitively with the rest of the world through trade and investment”.
“Ghana Beyond Aid is, therefore, a national and non-partisan call to harness effectively our own resources and deploy them efficiently for rapid economic and social transformation,” the Senior Minister stated.
“We should vigorously maximize revenue generation from domestic sources and marshal forces to clamp down on all forms of corruption. There is the need for a renewed mindset and resolve to break the cycle of dependency, especially, through modernization of agriculture and accelerated industrialisation.”
He said Ghana Beyond Aid was not anti-aid or aid rejection; “it is rather about being more efficient and effective in how we mobilise and use our resources”.
Professor Michael Tagoe, Acting Provost of the College of Education, University of Ghana, said: “As a nation, Ghana Beyond Aid will be meaningless or a mirage if we do not change our attitude towards work, corruption, protection of the environment and maintenance and preservation of national assets.”
“We need to inculcate in our children and the youth the spirit of patriotism and high values and aspirations. We must all have a service mentality, and must be willing to serve our country in all aspects of endeavour.”
Prof Olivia Kwapong, Acting Dean, SCDE, University of Ghana, said: “As a nation one of the best things that could ever happen to us is to be self-sufficient and manage the abundant resources that surround us to meet our needs (not wants) and even be able to support other countries who are in need.”
Nana Ato Arthur, the Head of Local Government Service said for the country to be able to attain the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda, there was the need to strengthen the local government system, especially grass root democracy.
Source: GNA