Veep urges Ghanaians to promote rule of law

Political page June 9/2008

Story: Abdul Aziz and Charles Benoni Okine


THE Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has called on Ghanaians to promote the rule of law and vote for tolerant and visionary leadership.
That way, he said, the country would continue to grow politically, socially and economically.
The vice-president, who made the call when launching the Ghana Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) in Accra, at the weekend, said Ghanaians ought to protect the basis for good governance.
He likened consumer protection to good quality politics, and urged Ghanaians to protect the country jealously with the choices they made during elections.
Alhaji Mahama said Ghanaians would be making better choices when they voted for tolerant and visionary leadership and not take the era of peace and plenty for granted.
He recalled times past when the economy was so weak, leading to scarce, irregular and poor services and a social infrastructure almost at the brink of collapse.
The vice-president explained that in such an environment, consumer protection was unthinkable, as standards and measures appeared not to matter to the market.
He said consumers were just grateful to find a desperately needed commodity or service, even if the price was unreasonable and the quality questionable.
Alhaji Aliu Mahama said presently, the trend had been turned around and given the state of the economy eight years ago, it was no mean achievement for the government.
He said the government inherited an economy with the cedi in a free-fall and a prohibitive interest rate which deterred business investment and planning.
He said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government under the visionary leadership of President Kufuor took the bold decision to go HIPC, which was politically risky, but an economically sound decision.
The vice-president stated that the government had taken equally difficult decisions on the way to stabilising and growing the economy.
He said the nearly comatose financial sector was revamped and the political space expanded with the repeal of the criminal libel law.
Alhaji Mahama said those measures, including the respect for the rule of law, private property and strong commitment to good governance ensured the confidence that stabilised the economy and led to its growth.
The President of CPA, Mr Kofi Owusuhene, said the formation of the consumer protection group in the country was not meant at grounding businesses in the country through law suits.
He said the aim of the CPA was to provide channels of communication between businesses and consumers to ensure that in distribution of goods and services, both businesses and consumers would be satisfied.
Mr Owusuhene said the agency would mount a vigorous educational campaign to inform the consumers on their rights, as well as of their responsibilities to enable them know when they were being trampled on.