The official launch the eTradeHubs portal by the International Chamber of Commerce in partnership with West Blue Consulting, United Parcel Services and Trade Law Center and additional responsibility of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs as interim Minister of Finance are some of the leading stories in the Ghanaian press on Friday,
The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in partnership with West Blue Consulting, United Parcel Services (UPS), Trade Law Center (TRALAC) have officially launched the eTradeHubs portal, www.etradehubs.com.
The eTradeHubs portal is a one-stop for Trade Tools, Information & Collaboration which aims to reduce the time and cost of doing business by supporting businesses at all levels of maturity – the micro enterprise to the multinational.
The portal which was virtually launched last week Thursday has features such as a multi country Tariff and Trade Information Tool and a Duty Calculator.
A first-time trader or existing trader wishing to import raw materials or export finished goods, can search on the portal.
The Duty Calculator further provides an estimate of the customs duty, tax and levies of the destination region or country to aid in financial and logistical planning.
eTradeHubs also provides a Trade Management Tool. Equipped with accurate trade information, the trader can proceed to transact, by generating trade compliant documentation, manage compliance, workflow and costs – all on the same platform, without the need to visit multiple regulatory agencies, entities, websites and physical offices as done previously.
The portal currently provides country data on Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and the ECOWAS sub region, with more countries and sub regions to be introduced in support of the Digitise 5 million African SMES initiative.
The newspaper says that the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has been assigned additional responsibilities as an interim Minister of Finance.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo gave him the temporary responsibility for the Ministry of Finance in addition to his work as the leader of government business and Majority Leader in Parliament.
He is expected to present the government’s 2021 Budget Statement in Parliament on Friday, March 12, 2021.
The additional assignment to the Member of Parliament for Suame is in pursuant to Order 140 rule 2 and 3 of the Standing Orders of Parliament.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin, who made this known on Thursday evening on the floor of Parliament said “The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs now has a responsibility over the Ministry of Finance.”
He stated this when he read a communication from the Presidency notifying him as the Speaker and the entire House of the new temporary designation of Mr. Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu.
It is expected that Mr. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu will present the 2021 budget statement in Parliament tomorrow.
The Graphic also reports that the co-founder of Afrobarometer, a non-partisan, pan-African research institution that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, the economy and society in Africa, Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi says the treatment meted out to Ghana’s immediate past Auditor-General, Mr Daniel Yaw Domelevo “is just shameful”.
Making reference to what others have described as a forced retirement for Mr Domelevo, Prof Gyimah-Boadi said “it symbolizes a situation” where it was increasingly becoming clear that the presidency was not ready to work with institutions or leadership it has not appointed.
“I think the worse of it is that, we have a presidency that is increasingly looking like it has difficulty working with institutions and leadership that it has not appointed. Then, the Domelevo incident, or debacle is for me a clear example of that,” Prof Gyimah-Boadi said in a television interview which aired on Citi TV, on Wednesday night, March 10, 2021.
“As for the President’s (Akufo-Addo) credibility in terms of anti-corruption, I’m afraid to say it is in tatters. It has been in tatters for a while but this puts a nail in the coffin,” Prof Gyimah-Boadi, who is also founder and former Executive Director of the Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), added.
The Times says that the participants in a forum on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) have recommended investment in Ghana’s standardisation infrastructure to support businesses to take advantage of the agreement.
They argued that without a stringent standardisation infrastructure, Ghana stood the risk of having its export produce rejected by member countries and becoming a dumping ground for inferior goods from other states.
The participants included Professor Alex Dodoo, Director General of the Ghana Standards Authority; John Awuah, Chief Executive (CEO) of the Ghana Association of Bankers; Seth Twum Akwaboah, CEO of Association of Ghana Industries; Joseph Obeng, President of the Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA); and Nlaliban Wujangi, CEO of Agriculture and More (Agmore) Limited.
Organised by policy think tank, Imani Ghana, with the support of the German International Corporation (GIZ), the event was on the theme ‘What does the AfCFTA mean for Ghanaian businesses?’
Prof. Dodoo explained that Ghana could only benefit from international trade through the institution of best standardisation procedures.
GIK/APA