Former Minister of Public Sector Reforms, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, has added his voice to calls for the election of district chief executives (DCEs) to deepen the decentralisation process. "If the people are wise enough to elect a President and Members of Parliament (MPs) for their respective areas, they will be wise enough to elect their leaders in the districts," he said. Contributing to the debate on: "Leadership and Poverty Reduction" at the ongoing fifth African Business Leaders Forum in Accra on Sunday, Dr Nduom, who is con¬testing the flagbearer position of the Convention People's Party (CPP), said it was time "to walk the talk", adding that there was the need to empower the local people to take their destiny into their own hands. Touching on poverty reduction, he disagreed with arguments that the tag "poverty reduction" be changed to "wealth creation". Dr Nduom, who was charged with the designing of the country's poverty reduction strategy, the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), during the initial stages of the government in 2001, said wealth creation would not be an appropriate term to use for people living in absolute poverty. "We should not be reluctant to recognise that poverty exists in our country," he stated. He said the state had the broad responsibility of creating the enabling environment that would offer opportunities to the people and called for closer collaboration between the public and private sectors to ensure poverty reduction. In a related development, Dr Nduom said African unity which was proposed by the country's first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, was even more relevant today than ever before. He said the failure of African leaders to unite had led to the poor state of the African continent. "The vision for African Unity today means partnership for progress through shared knowledge with full respect for our differences," he stated. Dr Nduom said this when addressing 101 young leaders meeting in Accra as part of activities of the African Business Leaders Forum in Accra on Tuesday. "The vision for the unity of African states remains an active one and is still our hope for the acceleration of the growth and development of Africa in the 21st century," he said. Source: Daily Graphic