He explained that when completed, the identification system would help in the effective management of the country, including the economy.

Anniversary

He was addressing the 87th  anniversary celebration of St Augustine’s College in Cape Coast in the Central Region last Saturday on the theme: “Raising Ethical Leaders for Nation Building: The Pivotal Role of Students.”

Dr Bawumia underscored the need for the country to design a system that would encourage ethical behaviour to enable the government to operate efficiently.

The Vice-President said the country’s economy was largely informal which made it difficult for people to be identified, stressing, “We have to build an economy that will create jobs and empower the youth so that we can get into a new trajectory of transforming the country.”

“There are certain elements in every economic system that provides checks and balances. People generally do what the system allows them to do, so if you want ethical behaviour, you have to design systems that would allow ethical behaviour,” he added.

Free education

On education, the Vice-President said the rationale for the government’s free education policy was to build human capital which was a prerequisite for development.

He observed that one of the major problems confronting education was teacher motivation; for which reason the government had initiated a four-year programme that included affordable housing and training for teachers and the restoration of teacher allowances.

Dr Bawumia also announced that the government was setting up a national protecting project that would value all uncompleted projects in educational institutions to ensure their completion before the commencement of new ones.

‘Galamsey’

Touching on the menace of galamsey, the Vice-President expressed concern about the activities of illegal miners which he said were destroying the environment and water bodies in communities.

According to him, the government will soon announce a policy to stamp out the threats, adding, “We will take a firm decision to stop this menace.”

Appeal

The Headmaster of the college, Mr Joseph Connel, appealed to the government to lift the ban on employment to enable the college to recruit non-teaching staff to enhance teaching and learning.

A medical practitioner, Professor Francis Werner Ekow Ofei, urged the school authority to involve students in decision making, arguing that such an initiative would boost their leadership roles.