Support Prez�s �Home-Grown� Policy � UCF

Members of the United Cadres Front (UCF) of the National Democratic Congress have urged state institutions to support the President�s �home-grown� policy of buying made-in-Ghana goods. According to a statement signed by the General Secretary of UCF, Mr Efanam Felix Nyaku, the UCF is worried about the chairs imported from China and fixed in the chamber of the House of Parliament. It is also worried that the country is going for a foreign coach instead of contracting a local one. It said that the desperate attempt to engage a foreign coach for the Black Stars, the senior national team, is most worrying. Three foreign coaches have been short-listed for one to be appointed as Black Stars coach. On the people�s repugnance about the newly fixed chairs in the chamber of the House of Parliament, UCF said apart from the alleged poor quality of the chairs, the colours take away the Ghanaian symbols which used to accompany the old furniture. The UCF statement stressed the importance of having policies of state and government translated by the ministries, departments and agencies, which are supposed to be the implementing agents. According to the statement, it is, therefore, sad that the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Association are blatantly reneging on their duties and responsibilities of ensuring that the �home-grown� policy is given a real face by looking for a Ghanaian,not a foreign coach. In the same vein, the statement said the Sub-Committee of Parliament for Water, Works and Housing, the leadership of Parliament and the Parliamentary Service have failed the nation by not only importing made-in-China chairs, but also demeaning the Ghanaian outlook of Parliament with the removal of the �adinkra� symbols. According to the statement, what Dr Kwame Nkrumah meant by saying that �The black man is capable of managing or mismanaging his own affairs� could only be true if we continued to do what we knew best whilst at the same time tried to polish our shortfalls. �With the Eurocentric attitude of those who are supposed to lead the way still hanging on our necks as inseparable goldchains, it will be very difficult to achieve anything that will promote the effort of cutting down on the importation of foreign goods and services whilst we make do with what we have,�� the statement stressed. The statement said, �It is the belief of members of the United Cadres Front that Ghana has the ability and capacity to change the seeming black clouds to those of white if we consciously ensure that our daily lives are characteristically Ghanaian by the food we eat, the clothes we put on, and the attitudes we exhibit to our leaders, elders and even our fellow citizens at all levels of the social ladder��.