Dan Acheampong, president, GEA
DAN ACHEAMPONG, president
of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA), has asked government to cut tariffs
on non-domestic electricity consumption, to help boost industry.
Mr Acheampong, who
was speaking Wednesday in Accra at the 59th Annual General Meeting (AGM)
of his outfit, said Ghana still remained comparatively high on the price index
for electricity tariffs in West Africa.
He appealed to government
to speed up the rate of developing other cost-effective forms of renewable
energy supply to promote business growth, since these were cheap in the medium
to long term and also environmentally-friendly.
He said that would
keep investors who are already operating in Ghana, and appealing to new local
and foreign investors.
According to Mr
Acheampong, another main problem that obstructed business growth and its
sustainability was counterfeiting and illicit trade, which pushed long term
negative repercussions on local brands and their income.
The GEA president
added that another issue of concern was that the manufacturing sector, which
represented a significant bunch of Ghana’s real sector, was becoming less
competitive partly as a result of illicit and counterfeit trading activities.
“As an association,
we respectfully request that government provides the regulatory agencies with
the requisite resources to strengthen their efforts in combating counterfeit
and illicit trade in the country,” Mr Acheampong said.
In a speech,
Ibrahim Mohammed Awal, Minister for Business Development, said to help the
growth of businesses in the country, government was working seriously to reduce
the cost of borrowing.
Employment and
Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, commended the GEA and Organised
Labour for the peaceful industrial harmony Ghana was enjoying.
He called on employers
to ensure that they paid their workers’ social security contributions, as well
as their tier two pension contributions, since both were obligatory.
Noting that his ministry will continue to support businesses with the required finance to create jobs and employ more people; he advised employers to allow their workers to register with labour unions and also enjoy parenthood leave.
BY Samuel Boadi
