Inclusive development is key to consolidating Ghana’s democracy – Australian High Commissioner

The Australian High Commissioner to Ghana, His Excellency Andrew Barnes has said inclusive development is important for promoting peace and stability which will help consolidate Ghana’s fledgling democracy.

Speaking exclusively to The Ghana Report (TGR), he observed that if the benefits of the country’s development are shared evenly and fairly, it has the potential of achieving stability, a necessary ingredient in pushing the country’s democratic gains to another level.

He said, “Well, I think everyone says inclusive development is important for stability and so that means the benefits of development and the growth of the country got to be shared evenly and fairly and I think every country has to be aware of that and I think that is what Ghana is aiming for as well.”

According to him, democracy is one of the high points of Ghana and the country has largely been successful with it since it returned to multi-party democracy in on January 7, 1993 and this, he emphasized, is necessary for investment.

“I think this (democracy) is one of Ghana’s strengths; the peace and stability of the country and without peace and stability, you can’t help to development and while some of the countries around Ghana have been unfortunate to have some civil conflicts, Ghana has managed to avoid that and since 1992, we should say it’s been a peaceful democracy and that helps investors to come and invest here and that helps people develop the country,” The High Commissioner remarked.

H.E. Andrew Barnes, who is also responsible for Australia’s relations with Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, described relations between Ghana and Australia as very cordial with an appreciable level of mutual understanding.

He stated, “Well, we have very strong people to people links. There is quite a significant Ghanaian diaspora even in Australia and that helps to strengthen the people to people links and also the understanding of both countries.

We also have a small but very good scholarship programmes with Ghana and so there are a lot of Ghanaians studying in Australia, or who have studied in Australia thanks to our Australia Awards Students Scholarship Programme.”

Touching on what can be done to strengthen diplomatic ties between Ghana and Australia, the High Commissioner suggested the need to encourage two-way links between the two countries as well as encouraging investment.