Source: Ghanaweb

Video: The Political and Economic Outlook in Ghana from CSIS on Vimeo.

General News of Friday, 9 December 2011

Source: GNA

Sixty-six gallant farmers and fishermen will receive national honours at the 27th National Best Farmers Award ceremony at Agona Nsaba in the Agona West District of the Central Region.

At stake will be the ultimate prize of a three bedroom house for the overall National Best Farmer to be built at a location of the winner’s choice, as well as other prizes for other winners and runners-up in the different categories.

Similar award ceremonies will be held at Regional and District levels across the country.

Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere - Deputy Employment Minister (right) interacting with an official of China Jiang International Construction Company during the visit.

A Chinese construction firm working on a road project at Akatsi in the Volta Region, China Jiang International Construction Company, has been ordered to suspend operations with immediate effect.

This follows the failure of the company to comply with Ghana’s labour laws, as they pertain to the rights of employees working with the company.

The Department of Factories Inspectorate, the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare and the Labour Department jointly ordered the company, which is currently constructing the 31-kilometre Akatsi-Akanu road, to suspend work until it takes practical steps to operate in accordance with the Labour Act.

The order followed reports of abuse of Ghanaian employees whose attempts to form a union and demand rights due them as workers, had been refused by their Chinese employers, a development which necessitated the Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr Antwi Boasiako-Sekyere, the Head of the Factories Inspectorate Department, Mr Adjei Boye and the Deputy Chief Labour Officer, Mr Eugene N. Korletey, to visit the company to verify the authenticity of those reports.

During the un-announced visit to the company premises, it was revealed that four Ghanaian labourers who lost their lives and 10 others, who sustained various degrees of injury in the course of their work, had not been paid any compensation by the company.

It was also established that workers who needed protective clothing have not been provided any.

One employee (name withheld), who had lost part of his left little finger, for instance, claimed that it was chopped off six months ago by a machine operated by a colleague, in the course of work but he had been denied compensation.

Mr Boasiako-Sekyere was appalled by the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in the company, which would have spelt out the conditions of service of the workers.

The Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Joe Gidisu, it was learnt, had earlier directed the formation of a workers union in the company but management’s reluctance to allow it compelled the employees to write a petition to the minister on the matter.

A copy of the petition dated July 12, 2011, sighted by the Daily Graphic, said among other things that the workers considered the attitude of management and that of the company’s lawyer an affront to the labour laws of Ghana and the right of workers as human beings. It alleged that any worker who dared to complain was blacklisted and subsequently dismissed.

The workers showed the Daily Graphic pictures of some colleagues who allegedly sustained injuries in the course of their work and expressed delight at the visit of the officials, hoping that that step was the beginning of good things to come.

The Volta Regional Labour Officer, Mr Briku Boadu, debunked claims by the company’s management that they had paid compensation to the injured victims and to families of the deceased, pointing out that administering payments of compensation was done by the courts and not by managements of companies.

The Managing Director of the company, Mr Wan Wulong, in reacting, said he was ignorant of the existence of the Labour Act which enjoined organisations to protect the interest of their workers and promised the delegation that the anomalies would be corrected.

CEO of B-Bovid, Mr. Mr. Issa Quedraogo (in round neck) shows samples of the final products his company will be producing to his colleague entrepreneurs from other African countries

A Group of German-trained African students who have returned to their home countries as entrepreneurs under a Returning Experts Programme financed by the Germany Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, have met in Ghana to deliberate on their experiences and to share ideas to impart other African students.

The group has paid a visit to B-Bovid Limited, an agricultural company, set up by a German-trained Ghanaian.

Germany has over the years assisted Ghana in various sectors of national development. They include support for vocational and technical skills training, agriculture amongst others. The Centre for International Migration and Development Programme (CIM), financed by the Germany Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, seeks not only to train African migrants in Germany, but also to reintegrate them into their home countries to contribute their quota to development.

These entrepreneurs from Ethiopia and Cameroun were in the country to meet with their Ghanaian counterparts to share ideas on their experiences to devise a road-map for other Ghanaian students who are studying in Germany with the hopes of returning home to work.

Students upon completion of their studies, either through scholarship or personal investments, can apply to the programme which provides their transportation back home and offers them job placements in the areas of Agriculture, decentralization and good financial governance and economic cooperation.

Students on job placements are given salary top ups by the programme between 400 – 1,000 Euros monthly for a two year. Aside this, their host companies or institutions receive equipments from the programme which upon completion of the students’ work, become the property of the institution.

Some students who decide to set up their own businesses after the period also receive some form of start-up capital from the programme. Those who return home with the sole aim to set up, receive start-up capital of about 10,000 Euros and beyond.

The Programme operates in parts of Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, and has so far benefited over 10,000 people globally since its inception in 1994.

In Ghana, about 400 people have benefited from it. Mr. Issa Quedraogo who lived and trained in Germany has returned to Ghana to start B-Bovid Limited, an Integrated Organic and Biodiversity Farming Company at Mpohor in the Western Region.

His company focuses on aquaculture, agro processing, eco-tourism amongst others. The company, which will produce palm oil and other palm products for export and local consumption, hopes to improve the lives of local farmers whose produce will be purchased for processing. Farmers will also be supported by the company to increase their production for the benefit of both parties, and will benefit from several corporate social responsibility projects.

Mr. Quedraogo has also employed a German trained student who is a beneficiary of the Returning Experts Programme. David Y. Tetteh, an Advisor and Coordinator for the Centre for International Migration and Development Programme in Ghana, who led the team of entrepreneurs to observe the work done by B-Bovid, said he was impressed.

Mr. Tetteh dispelled the notion that the programme is intended to send home African migrants in Germany, explaining that people are not forced to enrol on the programme to return to home. He said it is meant to give a positive perception of African migrants by converting what is commonly known as ‘brain drain’ into ‘brain gain’.

The Western Regional Crops Officer at the Ministry of Agric Enock Smith Koranteng said his outfit will benefit immensely from the activities of B-Bovid.

He said the company has a training centre for famers and agric extension officers; an Agricultural ICT Centre to help farmers’ access information, as well as a mechanization centre which will be of great help to farmers. He said there will also be a large-scale production of quality vegetables to stop the importation of vegetables by oil companies operating in the country.

Advisors and Coordinators of the Programme in Cameroun and Ethiopia also commended B-Bovid’s work so far. The company will begin full production by December 2011.

Source: MYJOYONLINE.COM

Stats office says oil, mining, cocoa boost growth (Adds quotes, details)

ACCRA, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Ghana’s economy grew by an unadjusted 33.5 percent in the year to the second quarter of 2011 as the West African nation became an oil producer, the country’s statistics office said on Thursday.

Ghana’s statistics office also revised the country’s first quarter year-on-year gross domestic product growth up to 31.5 percent from a preliminary 23 percent figure.

However, Ghana’s government statistician Grace Bediako told a news conference in the capital Accra that quarter-on-quarter GDP fell 4.3 percent in the second quarter.

“The value of goods and services produced in the second quarter increased by 33.5 percent unadjusted … No doubt the mining and quarrying sector, which includes oil, contributed heavily to the increase,” she noted.

Bediako said oil was having a heavy impact on Ghana’s growth.

“It is the key driver here, and weighs heavily in the figures and will continue to be the catalyst,” she said.

Ghana, the world’s second largest cocoa producer, started pumping oil from its Jubilee oil field in late December. Increased mining activities and a record cocoa crop also boosted its economy and revenues.

“The strong growth is reflected in the minerals production of gold, oil and quarrying,” Bediako said, adding that output in the crops and cocoa sector rose 82.3 percent year-on-year in the quarter.

“The big jump in this sector is also due to the heavy cocoa production that we have seen this year,” Bediako said.

Cocoa purchases declared by private buyers to Ghana’s industry regulator Cocobod have topped one million tonnes since the start of the season last October, far exceeding last year’s output of 630,000 tonnes.

Bediako said Ghana’s construction, financial and insurance services also saw similar growth.

The City of London police said that Adoboli, British educated and of Ghanaian descent, remains in custody at Bishopsgate police station and will appear at City of London magistrates court later on Friday.

“At 12.56hrs the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the charging of Kweku Adoboli, from Bethnal Green. City of London police has since charged the 31-year-old with fraud by abuse of position and false accounting. He remains in police custody and is due to appear at City of London magistrates this afternoon,” the police said.

The forced added that the investigation is ongoing and officers continue to work in “close collaboration” with the Financial Services Authority, the Serious Fraud Office and the CPS.

He is understood to have hired Kingsley Napley, the firm of lawyers that represented Nick Leeson when his £800m rogue trading caused the collapse of Barings in 1995. There was no immediate response from the firm of lawyers.

Adoboli was charged after more than 24 hours in Bishopsgate Police Station following his arrest at 3.30am on Thursday morning. His employers tipped off the police at 1am on Thursday after learning about his trading activities on the so-called Delta One desk in the heart of the third floor dealing room in UBS’s headquarters in Liverpool Street.

The Swiss bank is expected to reveal more information about this alleged activities later on Friday.

His registration with the Financial Services Authority was switched to “inactive” on Friday at the request of UBS, indicating that he is no longer working in that role.

There are now expectations that the Swiss bank will scale back its investment banking operation in the City, potentially causing thousands of job cuts among the 6,000 City-based workforce.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana - Prof. Ernest Aryete

The biggest weakness of the economy is the chronic joblessness of a vast proportion of the people, economist and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof. Ernest Aryetey, has pointed out.

He expressed worry that, as head of a university, he knows that 50% of graduates who leave the country’s universities will not find jobs for two years after their national service, and 20% of them will not find jobs for three years.

“It reflects the biggest weakness of the economy of Ghana,” he said at the launch of the State of the Ghanaian Economy report by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) in Accra.

The report is ISSER’s 20th publication since the series began in 1991.

“For 20 years, we’ve always said that unemployment deserves much bigger attention in policy than it has been given; and for 20 years we have said that the policies we have been pursuing are not tailored towards job-creation,” the former director of ISSER said.

“The policies have been structured to create a free-market economy, but the market is not free because of structural constraints.”

The industrial sector remains weak, he said, and has not been expanding enough to create the jobs that are needed.

“Today, any serious industrial policy is one that focuses on how the state and the private-sector can work together to generate jobs.”

What compounds the challenge of unemployment, also, is that there are no statistics on the problem in Ghana – a fact that was recently confirmed by the Minister for Employment and Social Welfare, Enoch Teye Mensah, during an appearance before Members of Parliament.

But the extent of joblessness and under-employment is evident in the huge numbers of youth which line the streets “selling things nobody will buy,” Prof. Aryeetey said.

In the parts of Africa where data are available, unemployment rates are very high. In South Africa, the region’s largest economy, one in three persons in the active labour force is unemployed. Globally, the rate is at 6.1%.

“So one can imagine where Ghana is now that the global rate is at 6.1%,” said Dr. Felix Asante, a senior research fellow of ISSER.

Despite more than two decades of positive growth, the economy is yet to achieve the desirable structural transformation that is needed to move the country into the state of a modern, industrialised and prosperous economy, he said.

ISSER has found some common social challenges that have persisted in the 20 years since it has been reviewing the economy’s performance, he said. Among these are poor health and educational outcomes.

Elitism persists in education at the basic level with most pupils unable to read and write after school, it was found. There is a chronic shortage of health facilities, and primary health-care provision is still inadequate.

Labour and capital are not sufficiently productive, according to the findings, and the general infrastructure of the economy is stretched due to rapid urbanisation and a growing population.

For each year since 1984, the economy has recorded positive real growth – averaging some 5% per annum. But much of this was a period of reform during which the public-sector undertook severe retrenchment, and the private-sector was opened up to competition from producers in all parts of the world.

In the initial years, the reforms seemed to stem the decline in industry and manufacturing; but since then the economy’s manufacturing capacity has shrunk, reaching a low of 6.8% of GDP in 2010. Between 2006 and 2010, the share of manufacturing output in GDP slumped from 10.2% to 6.8%.

Dr. Asante said the biggest potential source of jobs is industry — and not services, which currently dominates activity in the economy.

In June, the government launched an industrial policy that it said is purposed “to transform Ghana into an industry-driven economy capable of delivering decent jobs under conditions of widespread, equitable and sustainable development.”

Job-creation is also the main theme of the government’s 2011 budget and economic policy statement.

“It will be interesting to see the extent to which policies mentioned translate into jobs and youth empowerment,” Nana Owusu Afari, president of the Association of Ghana Industries, said of the budget’s intentions.

State support is critical, he affirmed, to expand industry and create sustainable jobs.

Source: B&FT

More than Ghc400 million, realised from an oversubscribed Eurobond, with a target of GHc300 million with five-year maturity, is available to pay the contractors on the projects which started in the previous Administration, but were stalled for lack of funds.

So far, a total of GHc66 million have been released as first tranche payment to the contractors.

The breakdown of the release are GHc23 million for the Achimota- Ofankor; GHc13 million for the Tetteh Quarshie- Madina; GHc13 for the Nsawam Apedwa; and GHc17 for the Sofoline road projects.

The contractors have given their word to President John Evans Atta Mills that the projects would be completed by next year and in 2013.

The assurance came out of a meeting with the contractors, at the instance of the President on the progress of work and their new re-scheduled dates to complete the projects now that funds were available.

Apart from the Sofoline project, all the others are to be completed before the end of next year.

The Sofoline project, which started in 2007 with a target completion period of 36 months, is now to be completed by February 2013.

Welcoming the contractors to his office at the Osu Castle, President Mills said the completion of the roads, inherited from the previous Administration, was a major concern to the Government.

He said financial provisions were not fully made for the projects, and his Administration took a decision not to allow that to continue.

Government, the President said, decided to bite the bullet and therefore went for the sale of the Eurobond to raise funds for the completion of the projects.

He assured the contractors of Government’s co-operation to complete the projects on time, indicating on a lighter note that he would pay them a surprise visit to see for himself how they were progressing with the work.

President Mills expressed concern about the inconvenience caused to motorists by delays in the completion of road projects, adding that it was the responsibility of Government to make life comfortable for the people.

Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways and Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minister of Finance, together with Mr Peter Dagadu, Acting Chief Executive of the Ghana Highways Authority, Dr D. D. Darko, Director of Urban Roads, and Mr Anthony Esssilfie of the Ministry of Roads and Highways were present at the meeting.

The Contractors involved were Sonitra, China International Water and Electricity Corporation, and China Geo Engineering Corpration.

Later in an interview with journalists, Mr Gidisu discounted rumours that the road asphalting at East Legon were being financed by residents themselves.

He said the contractor, Ussuya, was doing the road jointly with Government, to test its asphalting plant.

Now a host of new mobile phone applications, developed by software designers across the continent, are promising to boost development and business growth.

On the tranquil, leafy campus of Nairobi University, IT graduate and software designer Kariuki Gathitu opens his laptop and proudly displays the details of his most ambitious project to date.

“M-Payer” is a mobile phone application enabling businesses to make and receive real-time money transfers.

Twenty-seven-year-old Mr Gathitu, the founder of Zege Technologies, is one of a new breed of African entrepreneurs, using telecoms and IT technology to tackle some of Africa’s most intractable business problems.

He told Africa Business Report, “[M-Payer] has come into the mobile money scene to solve a huge challenge, and this challenge is basically the interoperability, aggregation and integration of mobile money.”

The apps backup website shows how subscribers can pay bills, receive cash and transfer funds with just a few taps on a mobile, and cash will clear in minutes, not hours or days.

“M-Payer” claims it can end the “cheque-in-post” culture that has ruined many small African firms, often operating on tiny margins, with little or no access to bank credit.

Health check

On the other side of the continent in Ghana, customers queuing at a pharmacy in central Accra wait for their medication.

Kariuki Gathitu is at the forefront of African IT

The World Health Organization has estimated that up to 30% of medicines sold in Africa are counterfeit, and the trade in fake drugs is putting millions of lives at risk every year. Getting hold of safe reliable treatments has always been a hit-and-miss affair.