An economist at the University of Ghana, Professor William Baah-Boateng, has urged the government to consider absorbing part of the new 10 per cent tariff imposed by the United States on some Ghanaian exports to reduce its impact on local businesses.

He said such an intervention would provide short-term relief for exporters while broader efforts are made to address challenges facing the country’s export sector.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews last Friday, April 5, 2025, Prof Baah-Boateng noted that although the tariff was not as high as those imposed on countries like China and Canada, its effect on Ghanaian exporters could not be ignored.

“If indeed this tariff is something that is going to worry us, can we absorb part of it so that at least when it goes out there it will not be sold at a higher price?” he asked.

The US government recently announced a 10 per cent tariff on a range of imported goods, including agricultural produce from several African countries, sparking concerns among Ghanaian exporters about the potential impact on their competitiveness.

Prof Baah-Boateng said while the tariff itself posed challenges, delays at Ghana’s ports and other structural problems within the export system often contributed more significantly to high production costs.

He pointed to the long waiting times transporters sometimes faced at the ports as a key issue that the government should address to reduce costs for exporters.

“For instance, if you are in Koforidua and you are exporting gari to the US, and the car that you rented is going to spend about three, four days there, can we do something to minimise those bottlenecks so that the car will just spend one day and then the goods will get out?” he asked.

Prof Baah-Boateng said removing such bottlenecks would likely have a greater impact on reducing costs for businesses than the 10 per cent tariff.

He urged the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other relevant state institutions to provide clear communication to exporters to prevent panic.

“I expect the Ministry of Trade and Agribusiness to come in and assure us because they have the figures. They will be able to know how the effect will be, that it is not rocket science,” he said.

He also cautioned against creating unnecessary alarm over the tariff, pointing out that Ghana’s situation was far less severe than that of some other countries.

“We are not Canada, where we’ve been slapped with over 50 per cent. We are not China, where we have in excess of 50 per cent. We have the 10 per cent. Let’s be sober so that we will not panic,” he advised.

Prof Baah-Boateng also warned against any rushed attempt by Ghana to enter into a bilateral free trade agreement with the US as a response to the tariff.

He said Ghana would be better served working through regional bodies like the African Union to strengthen its bargaining position in global trade negotiations.

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Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah

The government of Ghana is to overhaul to overhaul the mining policy and adopt bottom-up approach in the licensing regime to ensure sanity in the mining sector.

Minister of Lands and Natural Resources Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah therefore has announced that the government will soon undertake fundamental reforms at the Minerals Commission towards achieving President’s John Mahama’s vision of resetting the nation.

Buah announced this during a staff durbar, held at the Minerals Commission headquarters in Accra, on Monday.

“Let me sound a word of caution, if you’re not ready to align with government’s policy and stand our way, then you should start walking out right now. Nobody will be a hurdle to our resetting agenda,” the Minister warned.

He added: “We’ll not witch-hunt anyone but if you’re a hurdle to our agenda, we’ll clear you out of our way.”

The Minister stated that Ghanaians had given the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Government overwhelming mandate to reset the economy on the path of growth and prosperity, and nothing would be allowed to thwart the efforts.

The Minister’s maiden meeting with the staff of the Commission was to familiarise himself with its operations and share his goals with them.

The Minister told the staff: “The Minerals Commission is crucial to the country’s economy, and we need to work collectively to ensure success and reset the country.

“I will work with staff who are dedicated, with integrity, ready to obey rules and regulations and prepared to do the right thing,”

The Minister observed that although the Commission had made some progress, there were fundamental reforms that must take place to ensure the nation fully benefited from its operations.

He referred to instances where the Commission had issued prospecting mining licenses to people, but those individuals ended up digging everywhere including cocoa farms, water bodies and destroying the environment with impunity.

Mr. Buah said: “In this case, there is something fundamentally wrong with the approach in issuing licenses.

“We’ll carry out reforms in the licensing regime by shifting from the top-to-down approach to bottom-up where the chiefs, District Mining Committees, District Security Commands, Environmental Protection Authority, Water Resources Commission and the local communities are involved and consulted.

“They’ll give recommendations to the Minerals Commission about the prospective applicants for licenses after engaging the local communities to express their concerns.”

In that regard, he noted, mining would be undertaken in a responsible and sustainable manner to safeguard the environment and preserve livelihoods.

The Minister, therefore, expressed the government’s resolve to sanitise the mining sector and entreated the staff of Commission to align with its policy direction for the good of the nation.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to revamping the Ghana Geological Survey Authority to ensure efficient geological investigations of mineralised areas.

He was of the belief that the reforms would include responsible and sustainable mining as key performance indicators (KPIs) for the various district chief executives across the country.

Mr. Martin Ayisi, the Chief Executive Officer of the Minerals Commission, in his welcome remarks, said gold earnings constituted US$11.5 billion of the country’s export receipt in 2024.

Of the amount, he said, US$4.6 billion came from the small-scale mining sector, noting that gold alone constituted 56.3 percent of the country’s total export earnings.

Former Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia

The then Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, in April 2024 said the digitalization agenda rolled out by the Akufo-Addo led government saved the country millions of cedis.

Speaking at the launch of LEADing Justice, he said, “When we digitalized and gave everyone a Ghana Card and made the decision to make the Ghana Card Tax Identification number, we increased the proportion of individuals with Tax ID, the number moved from four per cent to 85 per cent just like that.”

“We have also seen through digitalization that you can deal with corruption. We have eliminated ghost workers at the Controller and Accountant General Office just by using the Ghana Cards because the ghosts don’t have fingerprints,” Dr Bawumia added.

Read the full story originally published on April 10, 2024 by GNA.

Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, says digitalization has saved the country millions of cedis.

He said for example, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) had saved GH¢480 million by eliminating 29,000 ghost pensioners, with the National Service Secretariat eliminating 44,000 ghost workers saving the country over GH¢356 million.

Speaking at the launch of LEADing Justice, a strategic framework document of the Chief Justice on her vision for the Judiciary and Judicial Service of Ghana in Accra, Vice President Bawumia was elated that digitization was a key component of the vision of the Chief Justice, noting that Ghana had made major strides within short periods through digitization.

He said he was enthused with the new focus, dynamism, and energy that the Chief Justice had brought to the Judiciary after taking office last year.

“It is my hope that today’s event will herald a new dawn in the history of our judicial system propelled by efficiency, excellence, knowledge, and integrity.”

He said for example in the year 2014, only four (4) percent of the adult population had Tax Identification Numbers from independence to the year 2017.

“When we digitalized and gave everyone a Ghana Card and made the decision to make the Ghana Card Tax Identification number, we increased the proportion of individuals with Tax ID, the number moved from four per cent to 85 per cent just like that.

“We have also seen through digitalization that you can deal with corruption. We have eliminated ghost workers at the Controller and Accountant General Office just by using the Ghana Cards because the ghosts don’t have fingerprints.”

He said the image of the judiciary hinged on the fundamental pillars of law, ethics, asset management, due process and digitization, which were crucial advancements of the judicial system.

The Vice President said having personally launched a case tracking system under the criminal justice sector in the year 2018, he was elated to see the positive changes that the e-system had brought about in the administration of justice.

He appealed to all Ghanaians to support the vision of the Chief Justice so that the judiciary would deliver on its goals, mandates, and targets to benefit the country.

“As a government, we shall continue to do more for the Judicial Service to ramp up the other parts of the E-Justice system of the court and beyond the High Courts in Accra.

“We shall continue to invest in court infrastructure, residential accommodation for judges and magistrates and general re-tooling of the human resources of the institution to improve justice delivery. It is in our interest as a country to do so.”

Godfred Yeboah Dame, Minister of Justice and Attorney General described the launch as novel because it was the first that the Chief Justice launched her aspiration for justice delivery in Ghana.

According to him, the occasion offered a unique opportunity for ordinary citizens on behalf of whom justice emanated to have a fair barometer by which to assess the performance of the Chief Justice.

“This is innovative and bold, and the Chief Justice is indeed bold and innovative,” he added.

Yaw Acheampong Boafo, President of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), said the Association had no doubt about the capacity of the Chief Justice to bring real leadership to the Judiciary.

He was optimistic that the Chief Justice’s vision would be more transformative and expanded to reach all.

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Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Accra (AFCFTA), Wamkele Mene

Trade ministers in Africa will meet on April 14, 2025 to assess the implications of the 10 percent levy on imports on a number of African countries imposed by the US government.

The move, introduced by President Donald Trump, is expected to have significant repercussions for African exporters, many of whom rely on preferential trade agreements to access the US market.

The ministerial meeting will bring together policymakers, economists, and trade experts to discuss strategies for mitigating the impact of rising protectionism and accelerating regional economic integration under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Accra (AFCFTA), Wamkele Mene described President Trump’s decision as a wake up call for the continent, warning that Africa must act swiftly to reduce its dependence on external markets.

In his remarks in Washington, DC, Mene said “The President of the United States has given us a wake-up call. And the wake-up call is that we must accelerate our own economic self-sufficiency. The ministers of trade will meet on April 14, 2025 to deliberate on this matter and exactly how our continent should respond.”

The tariffs could diminish the competitiveness of African goods in the U.S. market, affecting key export sectors such as textiles, agriculture, and manufacturing.

Many of these industries currently benefit from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which provides duty-free access to the U.S. for eligible African countries.

SP/MA

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The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) has called on the government to provide a detailed update on the presence of two foreign aircraft that landed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) last month.

“We expect a detailed, professional response from the government, led by the appropriate security agencies, regarding the mission and cargo on board the two aircraft,” a statement signed and issued by the NPP Director of Communications, Richard Ahiagbah, said.

The two aircraft in question are AirMed flight N823AM and Cavok Air private jet, Antonov An-12B, which landed on the tarmac of KIA last month, from Gran Canaria; an island of Spain, and departed to the same Gran Canaria days after their arrival.

The party condemned what they termed the government’s intimidation of the minority, who had expressed valid concerns regarding the unexplained presence of specific foreign aircraft in Ghana: AirMed flight N823AM and the Cavok Air Antonov An-12B.

“Considering their origin, a satisfactory explanation of these aircraft’s mission in our country is required,” the statement said.

“The government must explain the purpose of the aircraft and the nature of their cargo. Ghanaians deserve to know whether these planes were involved in any illegal activity,” the statement said.

It said the explanation provided by the Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, was “scanty and primarily defensive,” which has only increased public suspicion.

The NPP also cited a call by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which has reportedly urged the government to investigate the purpose of the flights.

Narcotics

In addition, the NPP also demanded updates on two separate cocaine seizures. One involved a $350 million cocaine bust in Cape Coast, and the other a $150 million seizure in Sekondi.

“The political explanation Mr Felix Kwakye Ofosu offered failed to address the request for an update on these drug arrests. The silence on these high-profile arrests undermines public trust, particularly given the alleged involvement of a senior member of the NDC,” the statement said.

“We wish to caution the government that it should not trivialise issues concerning drug trafficking and money laundering, as we have witnessed thus far. These are matters of international interest, and Ghana’s credibility and compliance with international obligations are at stake.”

“The international community is observing closely, and Ghana cannot afford the perception of complicity or institutional failure in confronting transnational crime,” the statement added.

The NPP, in the statement, said it would continue to demand accountability from the government, stressing that the public has a right to clear and honest information.

Recall

In a series of Facebook posts on Sunday, April 6, 2025, Mr Kwakye Ofosu dismissed fresh allegations of drug trafficking linked to the recent aircraft landings at the KIA, insisting that the incidents were technical and logistical in nature.

He urged the public to disregard what he described as deliberate misinformation and stressed the government’s commitment to transparency in matters involving national security and airport operations.

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, has maintained that the aircraft in question were involved in transporting narcotics and cash.

I’m Ghanaian by heritage and spent many years living in the country. I attended an international school before moving back to the UK for university but I’ve gone back every Christmas – and often for Easter holidays too. Ghana still feels like home.

Accra, the capital, is full of energy and ambition. The city pulses with youthful drive – people hustle with passion and purpose, and it’s incredibly inspiring. There’s a vibrancy here that I haven’t found anywhere else. While Accra is evolving fast, it remains deeply connected to its roots. Other parts of Ghana feel more peaceful and laidback, but they still carry that same resilient, hustler spirit.

Kukun

Kukun is a lovely cafe in Osu, in the heart of Accra. The interiors are so chic – there’s a café and bar on the ground floor where you can order delicious dishes – with office spaces to rent on the upper floors. It’s also one of the few co-working spaces in Accra, so there’s a creative vibe in the café. 

Visit KUKUN.CO

Jamestown Coffee Company

You’ll find some of the best coffee in town at this shop in Jamestown. It offers a variety of dishes, from traditional to continental – I like spending mornings there to work.

Follow @JAMESTOWNCOFFEEGH

Bella Afrik

This restaurant in Osu might just be one of my favourite spots in Accra. Imagine the perfect fusion of Ghanaian and Italian flavours – it has the best of both worlds, everything you love about Italian food but with a Ghanaian touch. My favourite dish is the seafood platter. It’s a great place for drinks, too, with a fun vibe during the day. It’s also great for pre-drinks before you brave the rest of Accra’s nightlife scene.

Visit BELLAAFRIK.COM

Santoku

Close to the airport’s residential area, this is my favourite restaurant in Accra. It’s a lovely Japanese spot at the base of the Villagio Apartments. I’ve celebrated every birthday there with a big group of friends and family in the private room. It’s a tradition that’s become really special to me.

Follow @SANTOKUACCRA

Pâte á Chou

This French bistro in Labone offers classic French dishes and patisserie treats. It’s simple, yet the quality of ingredients and the dishes it serves are outstanding, again with a slight Ghanaian touch.

Skybar

This is one of the best bars in Accra. At the top of the Villagio Apartments it has breathtaking views of the city – arguably the best views you’ll get anywhere in Accra. It’s super vibey and they serve food late into the night, which is always a plus, especially as everything in Accra starts so late. Even in the intense 32°C heat, you’ll feel a refreshing breeze. 

Zoomlion Ghana Limited has issued a strong denial in response to allegations made by the Daily Guide newspaper on Monday, April 7, 2025.

The publication accused the company of being involved in the destruction of property belonging to Turkish investors, allegedly carried out by “Zoomlion Landguards.”

In a statement released to the press, Zoomlion Ghana Limited clarified that it does not engage the services of landguards and is not involved in any illegal activities.

The company emphasized its commitment to operating within the bounds of Ghana’s laws and maintaining the highest standards of ethical business practices.

“Zoomlion Ghana Limited does not employ, contract, or engage the services of landguards, nor are we involved in any unlawful or outlawed activities,” the statement read. “As a responsible corporate entity, we are committed to ensuring that our operations adhere strictly to legal and ethical standards.”

Zoomlion, a well-established player in the Ghanaian business landscape, also refuted the notion that it has been linked to violence or property destruction.

The company stressed its history of collaborating with reputable foreign firms and further asserted that it values peaceful and productive business relations.

The company also addressed the broader concern by urging anyone with grievances to resolve disputes through the proper legal channels, reinforcing the role of the judiciary in settling conflicts.

“We unequivocally deny these allegations,” the company stated. “Any concerns should be addressed through appropriate legal measures in accordance with the rule of law.”

Zoomlion Ghana Limited concluded its statement by reassuring the public and its stakeholders that the company continues to uphold the highest standards of integrity, professionalism, and accountability.

It called for the general public to disregard the unfounded claims and expressed confidence in its commitment to lawful and sustainable development.

The company’s statement serves to reassure all stakeholders that Zoomlion remains focused on its operations, ensuring that it contributes positively to the growth and development of Ghana.