The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Vice Admiral Seth Amoama’s worry that West Africa’s potential to develop has been saddled with the unpleasant reputation of being the most dangerous region in recent times is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Monday.
The Graphic reports that the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, has expressed worry that West Africa’s potential to develop has been saddled with the unpleasant reputation of being the most dangerous region in recent times.
Apart from coup d’etats, the constantly evolving terror threat in the region made it even more worrying for governments in the region to harness the vast resources under a peaceful environment to enhance the well-being of the citizenry, he said
At the closing ceremony of a two-day extraordinary session of the ECOWAS Committee of CDSs meeting in Accra last Friday, Vice Admiral Amoama, who is the Chairman of the Committee of CDSs, noted that the challenges, undoubtedly, continued to hamper the aspirations of people in the region.
Dubbed the Accra Initiative, the meeting discussed the very critical security challenges within the region and the pivotal roles the CDSs of the respective countries played in shaping the defence and security policies toward reducing the incidence of terrorism and political instability.
The conference was organised under the direction of the Authority of Heads of State and Government in fulfilment of the commitment in creating a peaceful region for socio-economic development.
The newspaper says that the government has lost nearly GH¢9 billion in revenue from taxes generated on imported goods as a result of the reduction in the benchmark values in the last three years.
The amount was lost between April 2019, when the implementation of the policy started, and March this year when it was reviewed.
The discount policy was reviewed from 50 per cent to 30 per cent for general goods and from 30 per cent to 10 per cent for vehicles.
This means that the government forfeited up to 40 per cent of its projected revenue in the last three years to help stabilise prices of imported goods on the market.
The prices of imported goods are driven by a combination of factors, including exchange rates, market uncertainties (local and international) and import duties.
The Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Col. Kwadwo Damoah (retd), disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview at the sensitisation workshop organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) in Accra last Friday.
He stated that applying the discounts up to 50 per cent cost the country about GH¢3 billion every year.
The benchmark value is the reference value for assessing whether a particular declared value that deviated from the benchmark had a valuation risk of under-invoicing, over-invoicing or transfer pricing.
The Graphic also reports that the Dputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong, has said that the implementation of ECOWAS protocols is more relevant now than before.
He said attaining that vision was not an illusion, since it was part of the regional body’s objective of ensuring cooperation and integration.
According to him, ECOWAS functioned on the pillars of peace and security, infrastructure development and policy harmonisation for the facilitation of trade and good governance, adding: “These pillars can be fully achieved on the bedrock of regional integration.”
The Paramount Chief of the Akoefe Traditional Area, Togbe Drake Tsigbey, chaired the event.
The participants discussed topics such as functions of the Integration Bureau, an overview of ECOWAS (history, structure and institutions), the protocol on democracy and good governance.
Others were the protocol on free movement, the right of residence and establishment, transhumance, the ECOWAS Brown Card and trade facilitation.
Mr Sarpong said this at a two-day sensitisation workshop on ECOWAS protocols and conventions in Ho, the Volta Regional capital, on May 5, 2022.
The Ghanaian Times says that commercial transport operators across the country, over the weekend, adjusted transport fares upwards by 20 per cent.
This followed an earlier announcement by the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) to authorise the operators to review transport fares upwards.
Some passengers the Ghanaian Times interviewed yesterday reported of about 20 per cent increment in fares.
Kojo Manu, one of the passengers said, Teiman to Kaneshie, which was initially GH¢7 was now GH¢9 while Teiman to Circle was presently GH¢8.50 from GH¢6.
Another passenger, who gave his name as Lawrence noted that the fare for Madina to Circle which was GH¢5 was now GH¢6.50 while Teiman to Abokobi increased from GH¢1.70p to GH¢2.50p.
Similar reports were gathered from some passengers who plied the Circle-Kasoa route and the Accra-Nungua stretch.
Some operators on the Circle-Spintex, Accra-Nsawam and TemaAfienya to Accra were yet to increase their fares.
Confirming the development, General Secretary of GPRTU, Godfred Ablubire said the increment had become necessary due to rising fuel prices as well as that of other key components including spare parts and lubricants.
He explained that the operators have been hard hit by the recent increase in fuel price from GH¢10.80p at the pump to GH¢11.40p.
He noted that the Union was compelled to implement the fare adjustment after several attempts by the Union to meet other stakeholders including the Ministry of Transport to reach a consensus on the matter failed.
“We had earlier agreed with government in March that should fuel prices increase again by 10 per cent or upwards, there will be a corresponding increase in transport fares,” he said.
But when it happened in March and the first week of May, all our attempts to activate that agreement have not been fruitful. So we proceeded to ask our members to review their fares by 20 per cent,” Ablubire added.
He said transport operators risk collapsing their business if the increase in fares was not immediately implemented.
GIK/APA