Government will institute policy to deal with Fulani menace-President

Accra, Jan. 17, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has said government would institute a comprehensive policy to deal decisively with the Fulani menace.

He therefore, asked herdsmen across the country to respect the country’s laws and not to engage in any acts of violence that would threaten the peace and order of the country.

President Akufo-Addo said this when addressing the media at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Wednesday, to render account on his stewardship for the first year in office.

The media encounter afforded media practitioners and senior editors the opportunity to ask the President questions ranging from the economy, anti-galamsey operations, Fulani menace, security, social services and international relations.

The encounter was the second to be organised by the Akufo-Addo led government since assuming office following a similar one in July last year.

President Akufo-Addo noted that, during the President Kufuor’s government, measures were instituted to contain the situation where cattle kraals and ranches were established to enable the cattle to be shepherded.

He said those kraals and ranches were abandoned and fallen disarray and thus, gave the assurance that, government would restore them in the Afram Plains in the Eastern and some parts of the Ashanti Region to serve as feeding ground for cattle.

President Akufo-Addo said terrorism was real and had become a global issue and also happening in some neighbouring countries, saying; ‘Cote d’Ivoire in Bassam and outbreak of terrorism in Burkina Faso, and we also know of Jihadists in Northern Mali and in the Sahel region’’.

He said Ghana, in principle, cannot be exempted from potential terrorist attack, therefore the security agencies should be alert to thwart any potential terrorist attack.

“It is a very important matter to the country and it is an area we cannot let our guards down and we have to continue to do all the right things and share intelligence with others, beefing up our own capabilities by providing the necessary logistics that the security agencies needed in order to safeguard the security of the nation,’’ President Akufo-Addo emphasised.

In spite of the danger of terrorism, the President said: ‘‘I think that Ghana is safe and certainly going to do everything to keep the nation safe, and so what the Police have done in  the few days shows that they are capable to keep us safe’’.

Commenting on the National Identification System, the President said the law which the programme was going to be unveiled was subjected to review at the eleventh hour, therefore a new Legislative Instrument would be submitted to Parliament for consideration when the House resume on January 23.

Touching on the economy, President Akufo-Addo said, although the government inherited an economy choked with debts with the macro economy in disarray.

However, he said through prudent economic management, the Economic Management Team had risen up to the challenge and instituted measures to banish the spectre of desperation and restore hope to the youth.

“Macroeconomic fundamentals have seen improvements through improved fiscal and monetary discipline,” he stated.

President Akufo-Addo noted that, the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had rebounded recording a growth of 9.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2017 as against 3.5 per cent recorded in the same period in 2016.

He said the latest inflation rate of 11.8 per cent attested to the improvement compared to15.6 per cent recorded at the end of December 2016, while the debts situation had improved.

President Akufo-Addo said the annual average rate of debt accumulation of 36 per cent in recent years had declined to about 13 per cent as at the end of September 2017.

As a result, he said, the public debt stock to the ratio of GDP is 68.3 per cent as against the annual target of 71 per cent for 2017, which is an improvement over the 2016 figure of 73.1 percent.

He said government had provided better budgetary support to the constitutionally mandated institutions that are supposed to hold government accountable including the Auditor-General, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the Judiciary, the Ministry Justice and Attorney General’s Department and the Economic Crime and Organised Office.

GNA