Government is to constitute a 17-Member National Council and a National Secretariat to oversee implementation of the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda.
The Council is to be chaired by the President regardless of the party in power with two Vice Chairmen made up of Representative of the Largest Opposition Party and Minority in Parliament with the other being a representative of Labour Unions.
To ensure that the agenda transcends all regimes to achieve its ultimate goal, government is fine-tuning a Charter for consideration and ratification of Parliament so as to engender national ownership and continuity even after a change of government.
The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Marfo made this known in Kumasi at the General Meeting of the National House of Chiefs.
The occasion was the 3rd General Meeting of the National House of Chiefs this year during which the chiefs who represent all the 10 previous administrative regions were updated on matters affecting the House and the chieftaincy institution in general since their last General Meeting as well as issues of national interest.
As has become the norm, some state institutions and prominent public officers are invited to educate the paramount chiefs on pertinent national policies or programmes.
It is in this regard that there were presentations on the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) by its Deputy Commissioner, Richard Quayson.
The President of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Eric Asubonteng also made a presentation on the current state of affairs within the mining industry.
The Chamber made also a donation of GHC100,000 to support activities of the National House of Chiefs.
In his remarks, the President of the House, Togbe Afede, who is also the Agbogbomafia of the Asogli State in the Volta region, expressed concern of the Chiefs about insecurity in the country in the past months resulting in kidnappings and the murder of two traditional leaders in Greater Accra and Central regions.
He described as an embarrassment especially to the chiefs, the endemic nature of corruption in the country.
The Senior Minister, accompanied by a Minister of State at the Office of the Senior Minister, Madam Catherine Afeku, took the Chiefs through a power point presentation of the ‘Ghana Beyond Aid’ Agenda document.
He explained that the objective of the plan is to ultimately make Ghana a self-reliant sovereign nation indicating that the amount of foreign aid the country receives has reduced from more than 5% to the current 2% with external grant inflow also shrinking from 3.7% to 2.7% thereby making foreign aid to Ghana unreliable and unpredictable for national development planning in the future.
It is for this and other cogent reasons that Mr. Osafo-Marfo called for a national acceptance of the Ghana Beyond Aid blue print for implementation.
The Chiefs took turns to seek clarification on aspects of the policy while others made suggestions for consideration by the government.
The President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede assured that the House will peruse the document and forward its input to the office responsible to be factored into the Charter.
