The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo has said persons responsible for the banking sector crisis will be put before court soon.
“We have begun to bring those responsible for the banking crisis to justice. We have one case in court and if evidence of criminality is found in other ongoing investigations, which according to my information, is likely, then the perpetrator of the crisis -both regulators and individuals will face justice soon” he said.
The President said this yesterday when he opened the 71st Annual New Year School and Conference organised by the School of Continuing and Distance Education , University of Ghana, Accra.
The annual week-long event which set the stage for discussion of topical issues to guide policy formulation is on the theme ” Attaining Ghana Beyond Aid: Prospects and Challenges”.
.
President Akufo-Addo’s assurance of prosecution of culprits came the same day founders of two collapsed banks, Prince Kofi Amoabeng and Michael Nyinaku were charged with stealing and money laundering.
He said although the banking clean-up was a painful exercise, it was necessary as it saved more than 6000 jobs instead of 10,000 that could have been lost and saved investment of depositors.
Touching on the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda Vision, he said value addition to natural resources which the country was endowed with was one way to achieve it, adding that it was for this reason that the government had taken steps to rejuvenate the cocoa sector and set up an integrated aluminum and bauxite industry.
He said attitudinal change was critical to the agenda and the transformation of the country since it would craft its destiny as prosperity was the key to the development of every country.
The President pledged to create and safeguard the security of the country, improve the economy and provide the needed social and physical infrastructure to propel the country’s growth.
Delivering the keynote address, a former chairman of the University Council, Dr Ishmael Yamson said, aid was not the cause of the country’s lack of development but rather the result of lack of discipline in managing fiscal and monetary policies.
“We have simply failed to be discipline in managing our economy, we are not a developed country but yet we are not a poor country either. We had a robust peasant economy just as Malaysia and South Korea had. However it was not long before we begun to experience very serious economic difficult,” he said.
He said the balance of the government budget in 1954 run an average of surplus of 35 million Ghana pounds until 1960 when the first budget deficit of 30.2million was recorded because government’s consumption expenditure had far exceeded the rate of growth of capital expenditure.
Dr Yamson indicated that by 1961, the country had run out of cash and was trapped into deficit financing that gathered momentum in the succeeding years.
Sadly, he said that the 370 state enterprises failed to deliver any positive results and posted losses.
For the Ghana Beyond Aid to succeed there is the need for patriotism, honesty, discipline, hardwork, wise and efficient use of the country’s resources and collaboration of all stakeholders.
The Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu said the university would continue to create the platform for dispassionate discussion on national issues.
Pictures by Lartey
29 died on the spot while five died while receiving treatment at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.
Additionally, 54 of the passengers on board the two vehicles who sustained various degrees of injuries were receiving treatment at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital.
It took personnel from the National Fire Service about seven hours to carry out rescue operation of individuals trapped in the impact as well as the dead from the accident scene.
However, he indicated that, preliminary investigations showed wrongful overtaken on the part of the driver from the Accra-Cape Coast point of the road towards Takoradi.
The Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Fred Nyankah told media personnel that some of the injured had been treated and discharged.
The Public Relations Officer of th Central Regional Fire Service, ADO 1 Abdul Wasiu told the Ghanaian Times that, the office received a distress call around 12:25 am yesterday about the accident and personnel proceeded to carry out rescue operation as well as clear the road for free flow of traffic.
He explained that, the personnel had to cut through the metals in order to remove those trapped.
He said that it was difficult to separate the metal at the initial stage due to the severe nature of the accident.
He further said that, there was a halt of vehicular traffic on that stretch of the road which normally the movement of long vehicles during that period.
The service, according to him, managed to clear the road around 6:30am.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU AND JONATHAN DONKOR
