Prez Mahama calls for dialogue on implementation of MCC compact
President John Mahama has underscored the need for more stakeholder engagements to ensure the successful implementation of the Ghana Compact under the auspices of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Advertisement
He explained that the engagements would ensure that “we carry everybody along with us”.
Speaking to journalists in New York on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 after a courtesy call on him by the Chief Executive of the MCC, Ms Dana Hyde, the President said: “Only recently the compact has entered into force and so we are about to reach the stage where disbursement commences.”
The second compact of $498.2 million, meant to be disbursed over five years, is targeted at growing Ghana’s power sector, with private sector investments as a major component.
But workers of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are protesting against plans to introduce private sector participation in the management of the company.
Ghana has already accessed the first compact of $547 million, which disbursement spanned five years, to help reduce poverty in the country.
The MCC Chief Executive congratulated Ghana on working towards the actualisation of the funds.
Other engagements
President Mahama, who is in New York for the 71st United Nations General Assembly, also spoke to journalists about the bilateral talks he held with Prime Minister Marcelo Rebelo of Portugal and President David Grangar of Guyana.
He said Guyana was ready to establish relationships with Ghana on the basis of a permanent joint commission for cooperation.
The two countries, he said, would examine areas where they could collaborate, especially as they had similar economic prospects.
The President indicated that Guyana was into a lot of mining, as well as oil and gas exploration, among other economic activities “and the leaders of that country think that an exchange between the two nations will be useful”.
He stated that Guyana also wanted to share its experiences with Ghana with regard to territorial disputes, saying that had become necessary for Guyana as it had some border disagreements with Venezuela.
Investment
On his talks with the Portuguese Prime Minister, President Mahama said Portugal was anxious to diversify its investments and Ghana was one of the countries that had attracted its attention.
“They are very impressed with the progress we are making economically,” he told the journalists.
He said the Prime Minister spoke well about Ghana’s stability and democratic growth which had become an attraction to Portuguese investors.
The investors, he said, were looking at areas such as tourism, the hospitality industry, the construction sector and agribusiness.
President Mahama said the two leaders also agreed to undertake state visits to each other’s country to push their relations higher.
“The Prime Minister will invite me to visit and afterwards he too will visit Ghana, and on both visits there will be business people to see if we can strike some joint ventures and cooperation between our people,” he said.