More organisations congratulate President, Vice

More organisations continue to congratulate the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and his Vice, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, on their resounding victory in the December 7 elections.

The latest to send a congratulatory message is the Chartered Institute of Logistics and  Transport (GILT) Ghana which has  pledged its fullest support to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his new government in the attainment of its policies and programmes for the country.

It said it would offer the President the necessary suggestions on how to develop the logistics and transport sector for the benefit of all Ghanaians.

“We wish to draw your attention to some of the issues needing urgent government policy directives and assure you that the institute will make available its expertise in the supply chain, logistics and transport sectors to ensure the attainment of the vision of your government,” a statement signed  by the President of the CILT, Rev. G.D. Mensah, said.

It congratulated President Akufo-Addo on his election and inauguration as the President of the Republic of Ghana.

The CILT is the leading professional body associated with supply chain, logistics and transport; serving the interest of all professionals in the area in the country.

Issues for consideration

The statement drew the President’s attention to some issues that CILT considered very important for the industry for which much attention must be given.

It called for effective urban transport planning in major cities in the country including effective city planning and tackling vehicular congestion.

"We recognise that your programme of one district one factory  will to a large extent help curb the menace of rural-urban migration which is one of the causes of the congestion in our cities," it said.

The statement said the establishment of a national airline or base carrier to support international trade and tourism development, promotion of non-traditional export of perishable fruits and vegetables and reviving the domestic aviation industry and the revamping of inland water transportation for transportation of petroleum products were very crucial.

It called for the rehabilitation of the railway sector to help shift passenger and freight traffic (including petroleum products) from the overstretched road infrastructure.

The statement stressed the need for increased investment in strengthening agricultural logistics in the areas of bulk storage, packaging and financing to reduce post-harvest losses and add value to agro products.

The statement congratulated President John Dramani Mahama on his positive contributions to Ghana’s economy, democracy and the peace of the nation after what it described as “the tensely competitive elections.”

Zongo communities

 In a related development,  the  Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, gave  an assurance that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government would fulfil its promise of launching the Zongo Development Fund (ZDF) to promote socio-economic development in the Zongos.

He said the ZDF would be the fulcrum on which the development of the Zongos would be anchored.

Dr Bawumia was speaking during a courtesy call on him by members of the Ghana Muslim Broadcast Journalists Association (GBJA) at his residence in Accra last Saturday.

The members, led by their President, Hajiya Mariam Mohammed Sissy, paid the visit to congratulate Dr Bawumia on getting the nod to be the Vice-President of Ghana.

Dr Bawumia was the running mate to Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the NPP in the December 7, 2016 election, which saw Nana Akufo-Addo beating former President John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Zongo Development Fund

The ZDF is one of the programmes captured in the 2016 manifesto of the NPP, and both Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia have repeated it on many occasions on campaign platforms.

Dr Bawumia said aside from the ZDF, the NPP government would honour all its campaign promises to the Zongos.

He said the government would use the GBJA as a link to communicate its programmes to the Zongo communities.

GBJA President

Hajia Mariam, who is a journalist with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), said the main objective of the GBJA was to protect the interest of the Zongo community.

She said irrespective of the government in power, the association would work as a gatekeeper to make sure that all the promises made to the people of Zongo were fulfilled.

Therefore, Hajia Mariam said, the association would not align itself with any political party in order to protect the interest of the Zongos.

On behalf of the association, she congratulated Dr Bawumia on his rise to the position of Vice-President and wished him success in that endeavour.