OPENING REMARKS BY CHAIRPERSON DR. EDITH TETTEH, NDPC COMMISSIONER/VOLTA REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE Honourable Volta Regional Minister, Helen Adjoa Ntoso MP; Honourable Deputy Volta Regional Minister Francis Ganyaglo; Honourable Municipal/District Chief Executives, heads of departments, institutions and agencies, representatives of political parties, honourable representative of the Volta MPs Caucus, Togbewo, Mamawo, friends of the media, distinguished invited guests, ladies and gentlemen:
I am most honoured and highly privileged to chair this sixth Regional Forum on the Preparation of the Long-Term National Development Plan. Today is a great day because something good will happen to the Volta Region due to the calibre of people present in this auditorium. The Volta Region is the only region in Ghana that covers all the three ecological zones namely: the Coastal Savannah, the Forest Belt and the Northern Savannah, hence the need to put development on a higher pedestal since important lessons can be learned from other regions. Our current efforts are always driven by the momentum of the past, so going down memory lane, let us recall the state of development in the region in 1975 – exactly 40 years ago. Have we made significant progress or we are stagnating or rather retrogressing? For the next 40 years, let us think big but start small and act now. Hence the urgency of a long-term plan that will help us implement feasible interventions to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
8. 9.
Address poverty, unemployment and underemployment. Address inequality in all its dimensions. Improve productivity and human capital. Achieve universal health coverage with zero maternal deaths, zero hunger and zero malnutrition as well as zero open defecation. Improve domestic resource mobilisation for development. Enhance public private partnerships for infrastructure and industrial development. Prioritise programmes and projects for vulnerable and marginalised groups, especially persons with disability (PWDs), widows, orphans, internally displaced persons and the elderly. Adopt multi-sectoral perspectives on development. Engage in policy advocacy, media advocacy and grassroots advocacy to translate plans into meaningful action on the ground.
As we engage in this process, we are bound to face challenges but with Christ in our vessel, we will smile at the storms of life.
On a lighter note, let me share the story of a 6-year-old girl who came to Ghana on a visit from the USA. On arrival at a market in Accra, she asked whether the zoo had been opened with the influx of goats, sheep, cattle, dogs, etc at the market. Then on her way home, the driver parked the car by the roadside to urinate. When the driver came back to the vehicle, she asked him if he was a dog! Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, in the next 40 years, the above scene will be history so let there be unity in our diversity so that development in the Volta Region in particular and Ghana in general will be at an advanced level. I wish you a very fruitful and meaningful deliberation. God bless our homeland Ghana. Thank you very much.
