Business News of Sunday, 24 May 2020
Source: GNA
Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, Executive Director for the NBSSI
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Government has been urged to give preference to Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the disbursement of the GH¢1Billion stimulus package to Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMSEs) in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Government should also roll-out more disability friendly policies that will ensure that PWDs had equal access to facilities, jobs and financial support to grow their businesses.
Of the total projected amount, GH¢600 million is coming from government coffers, while commercial banks in the country also put together GH¢400 million.
Dr Eric Ekow Ghansah, a Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) made the call in an interview with the media at Assin-Fosu on the Government’s stimulus package for businesses and its commitment to protect as many jobs as possible as the COVID-19 rages.
The President gave the assurance when he launched a GH¢1 billion Coronavirus Alleviation Programme (CAP) Business Support Scheme to help MSMSEs impacted negatively by the coronavirus pandemic.
The GIMPA Lecturer however, praised government for the great intervention for businesses in to thrive in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic to enable them survive, grow and expand to create employment.
He said “the intervention is not only timely, but also appropriate in the sense that the issue is not only of health but also of serious adverse effect on every sphere of life; leaving the entire global community in an atmosphere of uncertainty”.
He indicated that the stimulus package was the surest way to end the protracted issues of unemployment and its attending socio-economic and political ramifications.
On the banking sector, he expressed the hope that the move will strengthen banks to stand on their feet to avert any crisis and inspire confidence in the people and businesses.
To avoid the often abuse of such funds, he suggested that the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) the institution that will oversee the distribution of funds, publishes all beneficiaries and the qualification procedure to promote transparency, probity and accountability.
In addition to that, the distribution of the funds must be devoid of partisan political considerations that had permeated every facet of the Ghanaian society, where such funds were seen as party freebies for their contribution to party members.
That, he acknowledged would be detrimental to its intended purposes and may affect other policies to boost the MSMSEs sector.
He charged prospective beneficiaries to make judicious use of the funds.
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