The planned listing of 18 State-Owned Enterprises on the Ghana Stock Exchange and the launch of the report of the assessment of political parties’ manifestos by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development ahead of the December 7 polls are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Times reports that 18 State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) are being considered for listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) to attract indigenous capital and local participation in their operations, the Director-General of the State Interests and Governance Authority (SIGA), Stephen Asamoah-Boateng has said.
Mr. Asamoah-Boateng, who disclosed this yesterday, said the names of the companies, comprising both performing and non-performing ones, would be announced by the first quarter of next year.
Speaking on the second day of the 2020 Annual Policy and Governance Forum, organised by SIGA in Accra, he said that the move would ensure transparency as everyone would keep an eye on them.
The two-day event, which opened on Tuesday, was on the theme “SIGA: one year on: achievements, challenges and prospects,” and focused on activities of the Authority since its inception in August last year.
According to Mr Asamoah-Boateng, a maximum of 49 percent of shares would be offloaded onto the stock market in the initial years until the deal yielded significant results.
“Government may hold the 51 just to be sure in the beginning but between any figure from 30 to 49, we will let go, If we find it very good, the government might let go of all 100,” he said.
The newspaper says that the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) has launched a report on the assessment of political parties’ manifestos ahead of the December 7 polls.
This forms part of the Centre’s attempts to inform the decisions of the electorate, particularly as regards who to vote for as president in the upcoming elections.
Explaining the processes involved in compiling the report, the Director of Advocacy and Public Engagement at CDD-Ghana, Dr. Kojo Asante, said that it involved three main stages which began with agenda-setting, a stage which comprised the very inception of manifesto compilation by parties.
He noted that the report did not only focus on political parties and their manifestos, but also what the electorate must look forward to in party manifestos before heading to the polls.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch, Dr. Asante intimated that “this was the second phase so we had already published one where we showed all the issues in 10 sectors and this was taking a few sectors and assessing what the parties had put down in terms of their feasibility and relevance.
“The big issue for some of these places apart from the fact that some of it focused too much on input, is the cost because the economy we have has so many constraints and we already have a debt challenge.”
The Times also reports that the Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has warned of an imminent lockdown should the laxity in adhering to safety protocols for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continue.
The Deputy General Secretary of the Association, Dr. Titus Bayuo, speaking on Morning Starr on Starr FM on Monday, said the government could be forced to impose stricter restrictions or a lockdown if the cases continue to increase as being witnessed recently.
“My caution to Ghanaians is that by our very actions, we are pushing ourselves towards tougher restrictions (that is, ban on social gatherings or lockdown) and if we get there the political leaders will have no option.”
On this same issue, Dr John Amuasi of the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has expressed that there could be a lockdown in two weeks.
He said this during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Monday monitored by the Ghanaian Times.
Although, he said the country needed no lockdown at the moment, he cautioned with the spate of increase in the number of new cases being recorded, should the citizenry fail to keep strictly to the preventive measures, there could be a lockdown.
The Graphic says that the former chairman of the National peace Council, Most Rev Professor Emmanuel Asante, has called on opposition political parties to stop accusing the Electoral Commission (EC) of planning to rig the December polls.
According to him, the commission has been transparent in its dealings and deserves to be trusted.
“From my perspective, the EC has been very transparent, they have always come out to explain things to the public,” he said.
Prof Asante made the call at the launch of the peace summit of the Methodist Diocese in Accra.
He further stated that the EC has worked hard to win the confidence of Ghanaians.
GIK/APA