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Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, the 2008 presidential candidate of the Convention People�s Party (CPP), has recommended to President John Evans Atta Mills to make available a minimum of GH�250 million to support the growth of the country�s economy. This, he disclosed, the President should do by directing the Finance Ministry to work with the Bank of Ghana to channel the GH�250 million facility through rural banks, savings and loans companies to be given out to micro-small-medium scale enterprises at subsidized rates not more than 15%. He added that this money should also be invested in agriculture, agro-processing and other production activities. Dr Nduom made this known yesterday at a crowded news conference in Accra, where he also made several submissions for the consideration of President Mills as he prepares to deliver his state of the nation address tomorrow on the floor of Parliament. According to him, the government must ensure that low cost funds are provided to local producers. He said one of the biggest challenges to the Ghanaian entrepreneur is capital needed to start and expand a business. �The Government of Ghana can no longer afford to mouth �the private sector which is the engine of growth and leave the situation to improve somehow. We need a deliberate, well-defined and broadly debated plan to fund business ideas of our local entrepreneurs,� stressed Dr Nduom. On the oil and gas, Dr Nduom said: President Atta-Mills must tell us on Thursday, what his timetable for determining through legislation what we should expect with regard to petrochemicals industry, local content, benefit to local communities in the production; and how we will avoid corruption in this new industry.� In the opinion of the CPP presidential candidate, President Mills must assure the entire nation that there is nothing political in the review of the EO Group�s participation in the Jubilee Field transaction. �He must tell us how separating the EO Group from Kosmos in any investigation of potential wrong doing will promote Ghanaian participation in this lucrative industry,� he noted. According to Dr Nduom, President Mills must not go to Parliament tomorrow to just present a litany of issues catalogued by the various ministries, departments, agencies��He must signal strongly, a departure from the past by starting from the base provided by the Constitution and telling the nation what he has done to meet the demands of the Constitution.