Funding for the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will come easier if Ghana can plug revenue leaks brought on by corruption, President Nana Akufo-Addo has noted.
Speaking on Thursday as he inaugurated the Inter-Ministerial Committee for the SDG implementation, he noted that the realization of the SDGs will only be as good as how well they are financed.
He also said achieving the SDGs will require all the resources the country can muster.
“We must, therefore, be efficient and effective not only in mobilising resources, but also in eliminating pervasive revenue leaks, and addressing misallocation and misuse of public funds. Crucially, if we are to succeed in enhancing domestic financing of the SDGs, we must address the unacceptable leakage of resources in the form of wanton corruption,” the President stressed.
The President also revealed that government has also captured the SDGs in its coordinated programme for economic and social development policies, which, in accordance with the dictates of Article 36(5) of the Constitution of the Republic, will be presented to Parliament in October.
Inter-Ministerial Committee inaugurated
At the ceremony, which was also held to commemorate the President’s appointment as co-Chair of the Advocacy Group of Eminent Persons, President Akufo-Addo also inaugurated a 15-member Inter-Ministerial Committee for the implementation of SDGs.
He charged the Committee to discharge its duties efficiently and ensure that Ghana becomes a shining example for the implementation of the SDGs.
The Committee, which is chaired by the Minister for Planning, Prof. Gyan Baffuor, has the Ministers for Trade and Industry; Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration; Finance; Food and Agriculture; Attorney General; Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; Monitoring and Evaluation; Education; Health; Sanitation and Water Resources; Local Government and Rural Development; Gender, Children and Social Protection; Employment and Labour Relations; and Fisheries and Aquaculture as members.
According to President Akufo-Addo, the completion of the SDGs in 2030, position future generations to overcome issues pertaining to poverty, climate change and environmental protection.
“This Agenda is an investment in our future – the future of our youth and that of our children. We are obliged to leave them with an enduring legacy of a richer, more stable, more secure and more peaceful world,” he said.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana