President John Dramani Mahama has made a series of significant announcements aimed at transforming Ghana’s education, healthcare, and agriculture sectors.
In a bold move to address the longstanding issue of textbook shortages in secondary schools, President Mahama vowed to end the crisis this year.
He attributed the problem to the previous Akufo-Addo administration’s failure to provide textbooks after changing the curriculum.
“If you recall, the previous administration changed the curriculum and yet refused to provide textbooks for our basic school students,” President Mahama said during a thank-you tour in Tamale on Saturday, March 22. “This no-textbook phenomenon will end this year. Your own son, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, is responsible for implementing this, and he has assured us that these textbooks are going to be printed by Ghanaian printers so that money stays here in Ghana.”
In another major development, President Mahama announced that the Controller and Accountant General’s Department will now pay the allowances of nursing and teacher trainees directly. This move is expected to bring an end to the delays and inconsistencies that have plagued the payment of these allowances in the past.
“There is good news for nursing and teacher trainees,” President Mahama declared. “Nursing and Teacher trainee allowances are to be paid directly by the Controller and Accountant General.
This has been made a part of the compensation items in the budget. This will permanently eliminate delays in trainees receiving their allowances. This means that anytime public sector workers receive their monthly salary, teachers and nursing trainees will also receive their allowances.”
In the healthcare sector, President Mahama announced plans to upgrade the old Tamale Central Hospital in the Northern Region. The upgrade is intended to ease the pressure on the Tamale Teaching Hospital and improve healthcare delivery in the region.
“We intend to upgrade the Old Tamale Central Hospital in order that it will ease the pressure on the Tamale Teaching Hospital,” President Mahama said. “So we are going to upgrade both the Tamale Municipal Hospital, which used to be called Works Hospital at Zubile, and the Tamale Central Hospital. This will improve healthcare for the people of the Northern Region.”
Finally, in the area of agriculture, President Mahama indicated that the government will invest in irrigation development to enable farmers to reduce their dependence on rainwater for producing their crops.
“Agriculture, we have realised that because of climate change, the rainfall pattern is erratic, and the government is targeting irrigation development because without water control, farmers become like gamblers,” he said.
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