THE GHANA POLICY FAIR; A BETTER GHANA AGENDA

The just ended Ghana Policy Fair is the first of its kind to be staged in the country. This was an initiative by the Professor Mills led government that commenced on the 27th of April and ended on the 1st of May 2010 at the Accra International Conference Center (AICC). This event was well patronized as people from all walks of life such as the youth, religious leaders, policy makers, public servants, labour unions just mention them were all present to take part in governance procedure.

This fair can be described as part of government’s better Ghana agenda because it was to involve the general public in its policies aimed at achieving its goal as said by the deputy minister of information Hon. James Agyenim Boateng though it is obvious many under privileged could not partake.

Secondly, the fair aimed at demystifying governance and to give Ghanaians the opportunity to evaluate policies being implemented to determine their relevance.

And thirdly, it was also aimed at creating an avenue for brainstorming on critical national development issues such as education, health, trade etc as well as challenges facing organized labour.

Mr. James Agyenim Boateng said at the early days of the fair “as part of good governance and accountability process and President Mill’s commitment to run an open transparent government, it is not only important that we let the people know what the projects and policies are so that we can feedback and carry the people with us.” These words really manifested in the fair as department and agencies, ministries, corporations all had exhibition stalls where they put on exhibition some of their works, policies and projects.

There were also photo exhibitions of some the projects.
Apart from the stalls, lectures were held to a sitting audience and after that questions, suggestions and comments followed. It was at one of these lecture sessions that the boss of the health insurance scheme reiterated the fact that, the one time premium payment was feasible and will soon be operationalized. It is the plan of the organizers of this fair to replicate similar events in all the regions and districts of the country in order to get people in these areas to participate.

If this event were not a good one, the opposition parties will have criticized it vehemently but rather complimentary messages and talks have been heard from the minority in parliament as if to say the government has gotten this one right. A policy fair is not enough for Ghanaians and policy makers must ensure that all good ideas that came up during this period be put to good use.