DR Kwame Addo-Kufuor, immediate past Defence Minister and presidential campaigner of the ruling New Patriotic Party, has stated that he would make corrupt practices very expensive and costly for all, if given the nod as the flagbearer of the party and subsequently the president of the nation. This, he said, was because the "tag of corruption erodes the moral authority of the government and exposes representative governance to enemies of democracy. It also reduces the trust of the people in their elected representatives". Dr Addo-Kufuor, the longest serving Defence Minister, was briefing the media in Accra on Wednesday about why he was the best person to lead the NPP for the 2008 elections and his vision for the country, if given the mandate as the chief executive of corporate Ghana. He said to set an example, immediately after he had been sworn in as president, he would publicly declare his assets and give directive that all government appointees do same. According to him, even at personal level, as a former minister, he had given all the contracts documents he signed since 2001 to the Ghana Institute of Surveyors and the Auditor General for forensic auditing. He believed that a positive report would make it difficult for opponents of the government to accuse the government of corruption so far as the Ministry of Defence was concerned. Dr Addo-Kufuor, who said he associated himself with both the achievements and setbacks of the current administration, said the country under the NPP government had made great strides in the economy, all geared towards moving the nation to a middle-income status. He mentioned the increase of foreign reserves of $0.2 billion in 2000 to $2 billion currently, stability of the cedi against major currencies, reduction in inflation and lending rates and increase in foreign direct investment from $297.9 million in 2000 to $1.55 billion in 2005 as some of the achievements. He said one of his major initiatives as president would be to persuade the Bank of Ghana to pressurise the commercial banks to make their rates move in tandem with prime rates. On health, Dr Addo-Kufuor, who is also a renowned medical practitioner, said to reduce the brain drain in the health sector, he would institute measures to ensure that health personnel who trained with public resources stayed to take care of the taxpayer. He said the government would also sponsor accommodation and transportation facilities for foreign medical specialists who would volunteer to work in public health facilities in the country during their annual vacation. He said one of the landmark achievements of President Kufuor was the National Health Insurance Scheme, but the scheme, which is doing well in 123 out of the 138 districts, had some challenges, which included negative attitudes of some health professionals, irresponsible attitudes of some registered members, who move from one facility to another and occasionally fronting for relatives, as well as high cost of medicines. "Currently, Ghana imports virtually all the basic drugs needed for effective functioning of the scheme. Addo-Kufuor's government would encourage a consortium of local drug manufacturers and their foreign partners to establish pharmaceutical factories and manufacture the drugs locally and sell at reasonable prices to the scheme," he said. Source: Daily Graphic