Employable skills centres to be established - Minister
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 May 2003 - The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved an amount of $258m under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) to support the government's economic reform programme for a three-year period (2003 - 2005).
The decision by the Board would make available to Ghana an amount of about $37m by the end of June this year with an additional $49m after a successful review before the end of the year.
Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said this in a statement he issued in Parliament on Thursday on "Ghana's Poverty Reduction And Growth Facility With The International Monetary Fund".
He said the IMF Executive Board also agreed to reward Ghana with $22m as additional interim assistance under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative to be accessible by the end of the year.
Osafo-Maafo explained that the PRGF facility was made available to low-income countries and carries an annual interest rate of half per cent and was payable over 10 years with a five and a half years grace period on principal payments.
He said the facility was intended to support the country's balance of payment position, help to build up international reserves and to support the ability of the country to support the foreign exchange needs of the economy and thereby engender a stable exchange rate.
Osafo-Maafo said a stable exchange rate would reduce one of the primary causes of inflationary pressures in the economy and minimise the exchange rate uncertainty and its negative effects on important business decision-making.
"A stronger reserve position makes us better prepared to withstand any unexpected adverse shocks from the global economy", he said. The Finance Minister said when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government came into power in 2001 there was a similar programme with the IMF.
He said the PRGF arrangement that was signed in 1999 was expected to expire in 2002 and as new government they had option to start a new programme but they chose to continue with the existing one.
Osafo-Maafo said the government made significant progress in the meeting the programme requirements and commitments by the previous government and in July 2001 had a successful Article IV Consultation with the IMF.
The fourth review of the old PRFG was also completed in February 2002, he said adding, that the old programme was however allowed to expire in mid-2002 for good reasons.
He explained that since the old programme was based on an Interim - Poverty Reduction Support Programme (I - PRSP), which was not fully costed, the implementation of the programmes and activities was very difficult.
Osafo-Maafo said the government, therefore, developed a new GPRS document with emphasis on poverty alleviation as well as accelerated growth within a democratic governance environment.
He said the new PRGF, therefore, bears the seal of country ownership and was designed to help build the macro economic environment conducive to the development of the private sector; to the promotion of growth and implementation of the broad array of structural policies to tackle underlying causes of poverty.
Osafo-Maafo said discussions were also far advanced with the World Bank on the Poverty Reduction Support Credit and it was expected that Ghana would benefit from a three year $100m highly concessional credit by the end of the June 2003.
He said the second benefit coming out of the successful PRGF was the opportunity to see the multi donor budgetary support coming to fruition with the Ministry and development partners endorsing a framework memorandum that would guide the Multi-Donor Budgetary Support arrangements at the Mini-Consultative group meeting.
The direct budgetary support is an untied grant and not credits. Funds are provided in support of government programmes that focus on growth and poverty reduction.
Development partners, who have currently agreed to direct some of their development support directly into the budget includes the World Bank; African Development Bank; European Union; United Kingdom; Canada; Germany and The Netherlands and the expected amount of such support for 2003 is estimated at about $110m.
Dr Osafo-Maafo said this untied aid was a vote of confidence in the modest progress the government had made to date towards the control and monitoring of public expenditures and "our responsibility is to use these resources in a way that will bring the maximum benefits to our people".
He said the disbursement of the funds would be based on having a programme that would lead to sound macro economic policies, how well the government was carrying out its programmes of growth and poverty reduction and transforming institutions that made budget planning and implementation effective and how well the economy was performing based on macro-economic and social indicators.
Osafo-Maafo said this new arrangement represented a major improvement in government - donor relationships in many important ways. The multi-donor budget system is guided by a code of conduct; the harmonisation would reduce the reporting requirements that often took so much of the time of Civil Servants.
Moses Asaga, Minority Ranking of Finance, said even though it was quite a relief that an agreement had been reached with the IMF, there was no significant change in the figures approved for the country.
He said the country needed to look beyond just the IMF and the World Bank for other facilities especially at the international market to support the country's economic growth. He said it was apparent that the facility was becoming an annual ritual where the IMF always presented the figures without any significant changes citing similar figures in the past four to five years from the IMF.
Steve Akorli, NDC- Ho East; said there was the need for other revenue measures to support the economy and to ensure that all multi donor countries were grouped to ensure that they were not disintegrated.
He called on the Minister of Finance to come to the House and brief members on how the HIPC fund had been disbursed so far. Seidu Adamu, NDC- Bibiani /Anhwiaso/ Bekwai; cautioned that the conditionalities and programmes of the IMF should be carefully guided since it appeared the country was over relying on the IMF and the World Bank and there were indications that the country was losing control of the economy.
Doe Adjaho, NDC-Avenor and Minority Whip, said matters of the economy should not be politicised and asked the Minister of Finance to endeavour to come to the House to brief it when there were difficulties with the economy and not come only when they achieved some success.
He said, as at May this year, lodgements into the Ghana Education Trust Fund and the District Assemblies' Common Fund were all in arrears while feeding allowances to teacher trainees had still not been released.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 May 2003 - Mrs Angelina Baiden-Amissah, Member of Parliament for Shama-Ahanta, had noted that poverty and urbanisation had caused the breakdown of the nuclear and extended family system in Ghana and many parts of Africa.
She said the phenomenon had engendered the situation where children who were either orphaned or had irresponsible parents were left to fend for themselves in many instances.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah made the observation in a statement in Parliament on Thursday to mark the International Day of the Family that fell on Thursday. The Day is being marked globally to draw the attention of the international community to focus on the central position and role of the family.
The theme for the celebration in Ghana is: "Community Support For Orphans And Other Children In Difficult Circumstances; The Role Of The Family".
Mrs Baiden-Amissah said the communal arrangement, which had seen the society through thick and thin over the centuries had lost its significance because of modernisation and urbanisation in the growing up process of the majority of children.
She observed: "With the declining importance of the larger and communal extended family system and its roles, emphasis and importance has shifted to the nucleus family of father, mother and children which is expected to fully perform the 'nurturing and catering' functions formerly performed by the extended family."
The MP said the nucleus family was bedevilled with a high incidence of parental irresponsibility, break-ups and lack of family planning and support leading to child abandonment, streetism, child trafficking into labour exploitation and slavery.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah said these had led to the destruction of internal cohesion of families, which had resulted in civil and ethnic conflicts leaving in its wake widows and orphans and the effect of HIV/AIDS.
She called on Ghanaians to re-examine the society with the view to recapturing those institutions, structures, practices and values, which enhanced the humane dispositions and capacity to be each other's keeper.
The Member also enjoined Ghanaians to be very careful in copying practices and values from other societies that undermined theirs and to recognise the sacredness of institutions like marriage and the family.
Mrs Baiden-Amissah urged parents to learn from their experiences to be responsible to their children and succeeding generation and to show concern for the weak, deprived and vulnerable.
Mrs Gifty Eugene Kusi, NPP-Takwa - Nuasem, said the Women and Juvenile Unit of the Ghana Police Service and the Media had played major roles in uniting the family by drawing the public's attention to the atrocities in the society.
Mrs Hanna Tetteh Kpodar, NDC- Awutu- Senya, said there were various changes in the social factors and there was the need for the aspiration of the family to change in line with the times.
She said there was also the need for the PNDC Law 111 on Intestate Succession Law to be revised to meet present day needs since the idea of inheritance by members of the immediate family needed to be considered so that mothers and children could be protected and catered for.
Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, NDC- Kumbungu, said despite the difficulties and challenges facing the family it was gratifying that the family was still a unit and performing its expected role by providing security to its members, especially in the case or orphans, the disabled as well as children and the deprived in the society.
He said there was the need for steps to be taken to reduce the number of children on the streets by supporting families to be capable of retaining such children in schools and the homes instead of being on the "free range".
Alhaji Mumuni said civil society and non-governmental organisations should also be made to support the government in its efforts at maintaining the family in view of the economic hardship in the system.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 May 2003 - The Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment is to establish Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills in all districts by the end of the year.
Communities have, therefore, been advised to express interest in the establishment of the ICCES programme and District Assemblies urged to support the communities in meeting the criteria for the take-off of the Centres.
Yaw Barimah, the Sector Minister, said this in Parliament on Thursday when Kwakye Addo, NDC - Afram Plains South, on behalf of Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, NDC- Fanteakwa, asked whether the ministry would consider opening ICCES at Bosuso to provide vocational and technical training for the unemployed youth.
The Minister said the criteria for the establishment of the centres included an indication of a strong community support for the programme. The area should be free of chieftaincy disputes, factionalism and other divisive tendencies that might be inimical to the progress of the centre.
Barimah said the community support was essential because the community would be expected to contribute land or structures for workshops, accommodation of expatriate and local volunteers and National Service Personnel, land for agricultural ventures and part of the start-up capital for the commissioning of the centre.
He said contributions of the ICCES Directorate included payment of salaries of the Manager and instructors, non-teaching staff, professional advice from the Technical Unit of the Directorate and provision of teaching and training aids.
Barimah said the Directorate was also expected to provide national service personnel and foreign volunteers as instructors and resource persons; raise part of the start-up capital and to provide tools and equipment.
He told the member that if the Bonsuso Community in the Fanteakwa District were able to satisfy the criteria for the establishment of the Centre the Ministry would support them to do so very soon.
Barimah advised the member to help the Centre to acquire the needed training tools and equipment since budgetary allocation to the Ministry for the acquisition of tools and equipment was woefully inadequate.
He said the ICCES aims at filling a major gap in employment by developing young human resource in line with the poverty reduction goal of the Ministry. Barimah said the vision of the ICCES was to combat youth unemployment, rural-urban drift and contribute to the development of micro and small-scale enterprises among the youth.
Kofi Attor, NDC- Ho Central, said the conditions for the establishment of the centres were too stringent for the communities to bear and asked whether the ICCES were meant for the urban or rural poor.
Barimah said the criteria was to ensure that there was a sense of community ownership and participation in the project but conceded that there was the need to review the conditions and asked the District Assemblies to assist interested communities to establish the centres.
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