The appeal by former President John Dramani Mahama to captains of industry and the investor community to remain confident in the country’s business environment in the face of prevailing challenges is one of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Thursday.
The Graphic reports that former President John Dramani Mahama has urged captains of industry and the investor community to remain confident in the country’s business environment in the face of prevailing challenges.
He expressed concern over the decision by some multinational companies such as GAME, Glovo, Nivea, BIC Pen, and Dark and Lovely to shut down operations with Unilever relocating its tea production to Nigeria due to what Mr Mahama described as the country’s bankrupt and collapsed economy.
“Amid all this, our public debt has also hit a staggering GH¢658.6 billion. But we cannot despair over the poor quality of governance that has served us in the last seven and a half years.
“I would like to appeal to you, captains of industry and the investor community, to tarry a bit more. Please don’t leave our country,” he said. The former President pledged to help change the fortunes of the country when re-elected in the December 2024 election and, therefore, entreated them not withdraw their investments despite the difficulties they were facing.
He was addressing the 8th CEO Summit and Excellence Awards in Accra last Monday on the theme: “Reigniting business and economic growth: Charting a path forward; economic diversification and artificial intelligence (AI) transformational. A private-public sector CEO dialogue and high impact-learning.”
More than 500 CEOs, heads of state, entrepreneurs, business leaders and policymakers from West Africa and around the world are participating in the event.
Mr Mahama said his priority when voted into office would be to stabilise the economy by restoring the value of the cedi. That, he said, would be achieved by launching an urgent economic recovery and fiscal consolidation plan after a national economic dialogue within the first 100 days upon assumption of office.
“We would do this by pruning huge government expenditure, preventing waste and corruption, and boosting revenues by expanding the tax net,” Mr Mahama added. He said his government would continue to digitalise the country’s revenue collection and payment systems and by 2028, phase out cash as a form of payment for all government services.
The newspaper says that as the Bank of Ghana (BoG) struggles to use all the monetary policy tools at its disposal to stabilise the local currency, the cedi, against the major foreign trading currencies, particularly the United States greenback, some major streets in the capital city of Accra are openly booming with the trading of the dollar.
From Cow Lane, an area right in the heart of the central business district of Accra, also identified as the hot bed of black market currency trading in the country, to the major bus stop at the Kotoka International Airport, a stone throw away from a major police station, down to the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, specifically in and around the yard of the Allied Filling station, foreign currencies are traded like what some say is just as buying yam and onions on the street.
Aside from these major areas, there are also some minor spots such as Zongo Lane, Abeka Lapaz, Kaneshie, Nima Highway among many others that are equally booming with black market activities.
According to some of the dealers in the illicit trade, most of the dollars they sell to the public are supplied to them by staff of some commercial banks they refused to name, who per their privilege of working in a bank, are sold the dollar at cheaper rates than would be sold to an ordinary customer of a bank.
The Ghanaian Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has lauded the transformative impact of the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme (NEIP) on Ghana’s entrepreneurship landscape.
Speaking at the 3rd Applied Research Conference of Technical Universities in Ghana (ARCTUG 2024) in Sunyani, the President detailed the successes of NEIP and its contributions to reducing youth unemployment and stimulating economic growth.
Launched in 2017, NEIP has been a cornerstone initiative aimed at advancing entrepreneurship and innovation in Ghana. The programme provides critical support to start-ups through funding, training, and mentorship.
President Akufo-Addo noted that NEIP has significantly impacted Ghana’s start-up ecosystem, leading to the emergence of numerous innovative businesses across various sectors.
“By offering financial support and business development services, NEIP has enabled 15,000 start-ups to scale up their operations,” President Akufo-Addo stated.
He highlighted that the programme had contributed to the creation of 103,871 jobs as of the end of 2023, fostering economic diversification and empowering the youth.
The President paid tribute to the foundational work of the late John Kumah, the first CEO of NEIP, and the former Minister for Business Development, Mohammed Awal Ibrahim, for their roles in establishing the programme.
He emphasized that NEIP’s success in producing entrepreneurial talent has not only generated thousands of jobs but also positioned Ghana as a hub for innovation in West Africa.
President Akufo-Addo highlighted the various forms of support provided by NEIP, including funding, training, and mentorship.
The total of 184 convicts are on death row in Ghana as at April this year, according to Amnesty International’s World Human Rights 2023 report.
The tally increased from last year’s 180 after four persons were sentenced to death during the first quarter of this year.
The report, in relation to Ghana, focuses on witchcraft accusations, women’s and girls’ rights, sexual minority rights, excessive use of force, right to health and environmental issues
The report, which was launched in Accra, yesterday, in¬dicated that the convicts included seven women and 10 foreign nationals.
The event attracted stakeholders, including government officials, members of parliament, and representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs), political party representatives and queen mothers. Discussing the report, Board Vice Chairman of Amnesty International Ghana, Charity Batuure, said although Ghana had taken steps to abolish the death penalty, there was the need for concrete steps to ensure its complete abolition.
She explained that, while Ghana had not carried out any executions since 1993, it was critical that the government commute the death sentences of those on death row to life sentences.
GIK/APA
Ghana: Press spotlights Mahama’s appeal to investors not to leave Ghana, others
