A lecturer at the Dr. Hilla Liman Technical University and first District Chief Executive of the Nandom District, Dr. Cuthbert Baba Kuupiel has stated that although the government has provided some Hundred and Fifty Million Cedis (GHS. 150, 000. 000. 00) to support projects that were previously funded under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) much internal stakeholder support is needed to fill in the funding gaps created after the United States government under President Donald Trump suspended funding to the USAID to continue it’s several aid projects.
The USAID has been supporting, funding and running programmes in Ghana for decades in the areas of Agriculture, Education and Health and Nutrition where they have supported projects such as the Feed the Future (FtF) Ghana market systems, Advancing Partnership for Improved Learning (APRIL) in the agriculture sector, Strengthening Accountability in Ghana’s Education System (SAGES) in the education sector and Advanced Nutrition in Ghana and the Resilience In Northern Ghana, RING II project in the health sector respectively.
The Trump administration has suspended about 90% of aid contracts and about $ 60 billion in aid to USAID projects.
The USAID through its projects is said to have saved over 20 billion lives in Africa alone through its intervention in the outbreaks of the EBOLA disease and provision of medication for HIV/AIDS whilst providing for children suffering nutritional deficiency.
Dr. Kuupiel whilst commending the government for providing about GHS. 150, 000, 000.00 to close the gaps in the shortterm, he is proposing a local stakeholder collaboration to come out with strategies to come up with local solutions to these critical challenges.
He is of the opinion that Ghana is well resourced to provide local solutions to these key areas in terms of human and monetary resources.
He has also cautioned against the reliance of the country on foreign support in critical areas and is advocating for local solutions for local challenges.
Dr. Kuupiel reiterated that a failure of a nation in the area of agriculture, education and health “has lost it all” and that these sectors are some of the critical yardsticks which can be used to measure the prosperity or otherwise of a country.
