VICE-President Aliu Mahama has said the government is undertaking reforms in the land sector so that land acquisition ceases to become a stumbling block to investors.
He said the Land Administration Project should be able to rationalize land management in the near future.
Vice President Mahama was addressing a grand durbar to climax the Yam Festival of the Asogli state in Ho on Saturday.
The Vice-President promised that traditional authorities, as custodians of the land on behalf of their people, will be fully involved in the land tenure rationalisation process.
The month-long festival was under the theme: “Jubilee Yam Festival, Attitudinal change for Development in the Next 50 years”.
Alhaji Mahama said the festival’s origin, being the celebration of good harvest, should encourage farmers to strive to increase yield through the use of new and high yielding varieties of crops, reduce post harvest losses and embrace better marketing techniques.
He said it was not “uncommon to find crops that our farmers have produced under difficult conditions going waste for lack of effective storage and marketing”.
He said, while the government had chalked significant successes in the modernization of agriculture, “we are aware that more needs to be done in the areas of post-harvest technology and marketing”.
It was his vision, he said, that “every farmer earns the value of his or her work whilst consumers of agricultural produce enjoy the best quality for fair prices”.
He called on the people to forge national unity and avoid unity and avoid attitudes and pronouncements, which tend to divide them on ethnic, religious on social lines.
“Corporate Ghana is above any individual or ethnic grouping”, he said, adding that, the government’s development agenda was on course to consolidate macro-economic gains.
Togbe Afede XIV, Agbogbomefia of the Asogli State, appealed to the government to help resolve the dispute over ownership of land acquired for a power project at Kpone near Tema.
The Asogli Power Project is Chinese/Asogli State collaboration brokered by Togbe Afede but is being delayed as a result of a row between the Asogli Power and VALCO over the rightful owners of the land.
Togbe Afede complained about the poor reception given him and his team in china by the Ghanaian Embassy officials and advised that diplomats should give equal attention to visitors regardless of who they were or where they came from.
He lauded the contribution of present and past leaders to national development but expressed regret that Ghana, after 50 years of Independence, should be so dependent on donor countries.
Togbe Afede said this year had brought a lot of good tidings to Ghana, as oil had been discovered in commercial quantities, a hydro-dam at Bui started, currency successfully demonetized and a recent donor support pledge.
He said these achievements alone would not grow the country if the people remained indifferent to national affairs and look on when a few individuals plundered the country’s resources.
Togbe Afede said corruption was so widespread that it was believed that School Prefects now take bribes to cancel punishments of erring students.
He said there was too much talking about what was going wrong without action to stop them adding that those who refused standing up to the truth would be enmeshed in confusions created by incapable people.
Osagyefo Amoatia Ofori Panin II, Okyenhene, who was the special guest, said Ghana needed fearless and pro-change leaders to turn the country’s fortunes around. – GNA
*Source:
The Ghanaian Times - Monday, October 1, 2007 Page: 4