The government has called on the public to engage it in a new conversation to find lasting solutions to the challenges confronting the nation.
The Deputy Minister of Information and Media Relations, Mr Felix Ofosu-Kwakye, who made the call at a media briefing in Accra yesterday, said it was the government’s view that this was a better alternative to the practice of painting a gloomy picture about national issues.
"...It is our conviction that we can together as a people foster a new conversation about the country away from the doom, gloom, despondency and hopelessness that some seek so strenuously to foist on this nation,” he added.
Mr Ofosu-Kwakye made the call at the maiden edition of a press conference by the government, on some measures it had taken over the period to improve living conditions in the country.
He briefed the media on some projects and strides that had been made in the various sectors, including Education, Health and the Energy sector.
He said the government was aware of the many challenges confronting the citizenry despite the significant sectorial improvement made so far.
Water supply
On the supply of potable water, the Deputy Minister said, government had invested massively to increase urban water coverage from the current level to 85 per cent by 2015, while taking rural water coverage to 76 per cent within the same period.
Urban water coverage is currently estimated at 63 per cent while rural water coverage stands at 64 per cent.
Education
Mr Ofosu-Kwakye said basic level education enrolment had increased by 829,625 in the last four years.
He explained that the sudden increase was largely due to government interventions that aimed at guaranteeing greater access to education and named some as the 2,064 basic school projects under construction, 432 of which were funded by the government and 1,632 by the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND).
Health
He named projects in the health sector to include the provision of 600 additional beds at the University of Ghana Teaching Hospital, the 420-bed Ridge Hospital expansion project and the 500-bed Military Hospital project in Kumasi.
Mr Ofosu-Kwakye said the government had rolled out a programme of providing modern hospital equipment to enhance healthcare delivery nationwide, titled the National Hospital Equipment Replacement Programme (NHERP).
Electricity supply
On electricity, Mr Ofosu Kwakye said the recent challenges with its supply were regrettable.
He said in line with the government’s commitment to increase power generation, it had inaugurated the 132MW T3 thermal plant at Aboadze, a 2MW solar plant at Navrongo and the 400MW Bui Hydroelectric project.
He stated that cumulatively, 534MW of power had been added to the national grid, increasing power generation from 311MW to 2845MW.
