Tamale, Dec. 16, GNA- Vice-President John Dramani Mahama has stated that the people of Ghana have the right to know how their resources and tax money are being utilized to improve upon their lives.

He said it was in line with this that the “Ghana Policy Fair” initiated by the Ministry of Information was in the right direction as it sought to showcase the implementation of government policies and programmes for the people to see and also provide them with the opportunity to assess governments performance.

Vice-President Mahama said this in a speech read for him by Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah, presidential advisor in-charge of policy coordination and implementation at the Northern Regional Policy Fair in Tamale on Wednesday.

The fair, which is under the theme: “Empowering the people as we build a Better Ghana” had 120 institutions and 20 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the region participating.

The Vice-President said the Policy Fair was a clear demonstration of the government’s commitment to make available to the citizenry; the opportunities created by these policies and also create a platform for dialogue between policy makers and implementers.

He said additionally, by the nature of the fair, Ghanaians could easily make inputs and critique some of governments’ initiatives in an open manner “all in a bid to expedite development as we build a better Ghana”.

Touching on next year’s general elections Vice-President reiterated President John Atta Mills’s assurance of governments’ commitment to free, fair and transparent elections and said he had also directed that the Electoral Commission (EC) be given all the financial and logistic support to conduct the elections.

He appealed to all stakeholders particularly, political parties and the media to be circumspect about their pronouncements, activities and reportage respectively in the interest of the nation.

“It should be Ghana first before any parochial or partisan interest. The stability, security and progress of the country should be of paramount interest to all Ghanaians”, the Vice-President said.

Mr John Tia Akologu, the Minister of Information, appealed to the private sector to take advantage of the opportunities that the policy fair offered to create the much needed employment avenues for the youth of the country.

He said his Ministry would not relent in its efforts to facilitate a two-way free flow of timely and reliable information between government and its various publics to ensure that Ghana has dedicated and prosperous citizenry to support its development aspirations.

Mr Akologu expressed worry that with the polarization of the media along political lines some media practitioners had the negative tendency to misinform the public to satisfy their selfish and parochial interest.

“What Ghanaians need to know is the truth and nothing but the truth. The good people of this great land need to know how their taxes and other natural endowments entrusted to government are being utilized”.

“They need to be made to trust their government for exhibiting good management of the nation and its resources. They need to know the efforts being made by their elected leaders to ensure that they better their lives”, Mr Akologu said.

Mr Moses Bukari Mabengba, the Northern Regional Minister, said since the assumption of the NDC government into office the Northern Region had witnessed huge investments in education, health, roads agriculture, rural electrification and other programmes such as the national forest plantation development initiative.

He said the various MMDAs had also contributed in no small measure towards improving infrastructure facilities in basic and senior high schools, technical and health institutions and markets.

As part of the policy fair there would be various dialogue sessions which would treat topics such as: “Better Ghana Agenda- the northern regional experience”, “Ensuring food security in the northern region”, “the contribution of the SADA, alleviating poverty in the northern region”.

Other topics to be discussed are: The Shea butter industry in perspective, “harnessing the tourism potential in the northern region for accelerated development”.

A former President of Ghana, JJ Rawlings, has said the country has come to a standstill under President John Evans Atta Mills as a result of growing indiscipline in the West African nation.

The ex-President decried the spate of debauchery in the country under the watch of his former vice president. For him, a quintessence is the recent cocaine exhibit swap at an Accra Circuit Court that has come under high powered investigations.

The first President of the Fourth Republic of Ghana was speaking during a courtesy call on him by a former Black Stars player Samuel Osei Kuffour to invite him to a testimonial match in Kumasi on December 23.

He commended the retired defender for upholding the spirit of discipline throughout his career, however, he bemoaned the fact that Ghana lacks such level of discipline in almost every sector.

“Rawlings thinks things are getting stagnant, boring and his heart bleeds when he sees some of these things [cocaine swap, sex for job etc] happening in our country,” Joy FM quoted him to have said.

Rawlings has promised to be on the neck of government officials until he sees a transformation in society.