THE Chairman of the University of Leicester Aluminae Committee, Mr Winifred Frealar Kwamivi has called on Ghanaian graduates in senior management positions to pursue Continuous Professional Development Programmes (CDPs) to be abreast of current management and leadership issues.
Mr Kwamivi made the obersation when he addressed students and aluminae of the university in Accra during the unveiling of a GTP wax print cloth as the official wear for students and aluminae of the school.
According to him, issues regarding management and leadership needed constant education and thus called managers and leaders to enroll at the Leicester University for updates on those areas.
The chairman said the unveiling of the cloth was to among other things “brand Leicester University in a traditional way” and further hoped the dream would be realised.
Mr Kwamivi added that the UK is has now become the first country soutyh of the Sahara to have conceived and used a local cloth to brand one of its universities in the eyes of its numerous patrons in Africa.
He thus called on students and aluminae alike to patronise the school’s cloth asa way of gettinmg its message across.
Mr Kwamivi also hinted of plans by the current Aluminae committee towards creating a common UK-Ghana Aluminae Cloth “to be used by all of us in Ghana.
“Plans are also far advance by Leicester University to organise a summer school in Ghana for the post graduate management students in West Africa,” he added.
Mr Kwamivi thanked the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for education and cultural relations in Ghana for its continuous support to the school .
The High Commissioner, Mr Peter Jones who officially unveiled the cloth thanked the University of Leicester Aluminae for the idea of using an African cloth to brand the school.
He also challenged other UK-based educational institutions to come out with exceptional ideas of how to brand their respective schools.
University of Leicester is a research-oriented institution with a student population of 23,000, most of whom are post graduates
The school’s numerous online courses currently enjoy a sizeable patronage from most Ghanaian students.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Boye wins HFC Homesave promo
A CORPORATE Administrative Manager at the African Mining Services (Ghana), Ms Adelaide Larisa Boye, has won for herself a two-bedroom house after emerging as the winner of the third and final draw of the HFC Bank Homesave 2010.
Ms Boye’s house brings to three the number of two-bedroom houses that the bank has given out to its customers as coveted prices for the HFC 2010 Homesave Promo which ran from September 2010 to September 2011.
Other winners of the draw will also be given laptops, HFC branded items and home theatre systems.
Ms Boye told the Daily Graphic on phone that she was “shocked beyond description after realising that I was the winner of a two-bedroom house. I initially thought the caller from HFC Bank got either the name or the number wrong but when I got to realise he was right, I just couldn’t believe my ears, the excitement was just great,” the excited Ms Boye said.
She, however, noted that she would not have been overly excited “if I specifically deposited money in my accounts expecting to win a price in the promo.”
Ms Boye explained that though her outfit was aware of the ongoing promotion at the bank, “I did not deposit money into my accounts in that regard except the normal thing of passing my salary through my HFC Bank account for which I received coupons as being qualified into the final draw.”
She said her over 15 years banking relationship with the bank had paid off following the win and thus called on Ghanians to remain loyal in whatever relationship they find themselves.
Ms Boye who said she currently lived in her own house added that she was yet to decide on what to use the house for.
The Managing Director of HFC Bank, Mr Asare Akuffo, said during the draw in Accra that the bank’s commitment to home ownership since its inception in 1990 “has not wavered, having provided loans to over 6,000 families in the country to purchase houses.”
He said the bank had realised an important link between savings and home ownership and thus reiterated HFC’s commitment to support people in this drive by requiring a minimum of 20 per cent down payment from its prospective mortgagors.
Mr Akuffo said HFC Bank had identified residential financing and the provision of home loans as “a strategic growth path over the next three years.” He, therefore, urged the bank’s numerous customers to expect “to be given priority when the houses to be constructed are delivered from 2012 onwards.”
The HFC MD who doubles as the president of the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) added that the bank expected the current consistent decline in inflation and interest rates to continue in the months ahead so as “to give further motivations to Ghanaians to save for their future needs, including home ownership.”
Ms Boye’s house brings to three the number of two-bedroom houses that the bank has given out to its customers as coveted prices for the HFC 2010 Homesave Promo which ran from September 2010 to September 2011.
Other winners of the draw will also be given laptops, HFC branded items and home theatre systems.
Ms Boye told the Daily Graphic on phone that she was “shocked beyond description after realising that I was the winner of a two-bedroom house. I initially thought the caller from HFC Bank got either the name or the number wrong but when I got to realise he was right, I just couldn’t believe my ears, the excitement was just great,” the excited Ms Boye said.
She, however, noted that she would not have been overly excited “if I specifically deposited money in my accounts expecting to win a price in the promo.”
Ms Boye explained that though her outfit was aware of the ongoing promotion at the bank, “I did not deposit money into my accounts in that regard except the normal thing of passing my salary through my HFC Bank account for which I received coupons as being qualified into the final draw.”
She said her over 15 years banking relationship with the bank had paid off following the win and thus called on Ghanians to remain loyal in whatever relationship they find themselves.
Ms Boye who said she currently lived in her own house added that she was yet to decide on what to use the house for.
The Managing Director of HFC Bank, Mr Asare Akuffo, said during the draw in Accra that the bank’s commitment to home ownership since its inception in 1990 “has not wavered, having provided loans to over 6,000 families in the country to purchase houses.”
He said the bank had realised an important link between savings and home ownership and thus reiterated HFC’s commitment to support people in this drive by requiring a minimum of 20 per cent down payment from its prospective mortgagors.
Mr Akuffo said HFC Bank had identified residential financing and the provision of home loans as “a strategic growth path over the next three years.” He, therefore, urged the bank’s numerous customers to expect “to be given priority when the houses to be constructed are delivered from 2012 onwards.”
The HFC MD who doubles as the president of the Ghana Association of Bankers (GAB) added that the bank expected the current consistent decline in inflation and interest rates to continue in the months ahead so as “to give further motivations to Ghanaians to save for their future needs, including home ownership.”
Ministry launches forecasting model
THE Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) is optimistic that the country’s development partners will soon express their confidence in the country’s macroeconomic policy statistics, following the launch of a multi-sectorial macroeconomic policy model for forecasting and analysing of the government’s economic policy decisions.
The Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics at the MoFEP, Dr Said Boakye, who made the observation during the launch of the model in Accra, said the interconnected and scientifically-based nature of the model should make its use authentic in the eyes of policy analysts and development partners.
The model which is titled: “A macroeconometric model of the Ghanaian economy for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting”, will replace the inter-sectorial macroeconomic policy models that existed and were used prior to the model’s coming into being.
The 27-page model was developed by the MoFEP’s Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics, Dr Said Boakye, in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).
Presenting the model to policy analysts, economists and some of Ghana’s development partners as part of its launch, Dr Boakye said the interconnected nature of the current model in analysing and forecasting government policies made it a credible tool for forecasting.
He explained that unlike recent developments in the country’s economy such as the rebasing which saw services overtaking the agricultural sector, the emergence of oil production and the now inter-connected nature of the various sectors, macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models had failed to catch up with the trend, a situation he said was causing Ghana’s development partners to cast doubts on her macroeconomic statistics.
He said though other models existed prior to this current model, “those models were developed on sectorial bases and were basically not scientific” thereby adding to doubts over the authenticity or otherwise of data compiled from them.
He was thus hopeful that the current scientific nature of the macroeconomic model of the Ghanaian economic for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting will serve as a mutual benefit to Ghana and her development partners.
“We also think the model will help minimise the incidence of our development partners imposing their policies on Ghana,” the MoFEP Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics added.
Macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models are benchmarks used as bases for analysing and predicting the effects of major government policies and economic decisions.
Ghana, until now, had been relying on inter-sectorial models developed by various local economists, many of which Dr Boakye said were unscientific and unreliable.
He described the model as one focused on policy issues and “reflects the most current developments in our economy”, therefore it will endear the model to policy analysts and development partners.
On why the model omitted the labour market despite the area’s increasing importance in policy issues (due to hiking unemployment), Dr Boakye said “it was my plan to include that sector in the model. Sadly, however, statistics on that sector does not exist and that made it impossible capturing it.”
He thus charged on the Ghana Statistical Service to compile statistics on the said areas to help research and the formulation of policies.
The model used the country’s economic policy data and statistics compiled from 1983 to 2010.
The Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics at the MoFEP, Dr Said Boakye, who made the observation during the launch of the model in Accra, said the interconnected and scientifically-based nature of the model should make its use authentic in the eyes of policy analysts and development partners.
The model which is titled: “A macroeconometric model of the Ghanaian economy for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting”, will replace the inter-sectorial macroeconomic policy models that existed and were used prior to the model’s coming into being.
The 27-page model was developed by the MoFEP’s Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics, Dr Said Boakye, in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ).
Presenting the model to policy analysts, economists and some of Ghana’s development partners as part of its launch, Dr Boakye said the interconnected nature of the current model in analysing and forecasting government policies made it a credible tool for forecasting.
He explained that unlike recent developments in the country’s economy such as the rebasing which saw services overtaking the agricultural sector, the emergence of oil production and the now inter-connected nature of the various sectors, macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models had failed to catch up with the trend, a situation he said was causing Ghana’s development partners to cast doubts on her macroeconomic statistics.
He said though other models existed prior to this current model, “those models were developed on sectorial bases and were basically not scientific” thereby adding to doubts over the authenticity or otherwise of data compiled from them.
He was thus hopeful that the current scientific nature of the macroeconomic model of the Ghanaian economic for policy scenario analysis and macroeconomic forecasting will serve as a mutual benefit to Ghana and her development partners.
“We also think the model will help minimise the incidence of our development partners imposing their policies on Ghana,” the MoFEP Technical Advisor on Macroeconomics added.
Macroeconomic forecasting and analysing models are benchmarks used as bases for analysing and predicting the effects of major government policies and economic decisions.
Ghana, until now, had been relying on inter-sectorial models developed by various local economists, many of which Dr Boakye said were unscientific and unreliable.
He described the model as one focused on policy issues and “reflects the most current developments in our economy”, therefore it will endear the model to policy analysts and development partners.
On why the model omitted the labour market despite the area’s increasing importance in policy issues (due to hiking unemployment), Dr Boakye said “it was my plan to include that sector in the model. Sadly, however, statistics on that sector does not exist and that made it impossible capturing it.”
He thus charged on the Ghana Statistical Service to compile statistics on the said areas to help research and the formulation of policies.
The model used the country’s economic policy data and statistics compiled from 1983 to 2010.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Finance and insuarnce services boom; Records 76 % growth in 2nd qtr
GROWTH in the financial services sector in the country picked up in the second quarter of the year, recovering from a 23.8 per cent decline in the second quarter of last year to an impressive 76 per cent growth rate in the second quarter of 2011.
The 76 per cent year-on-year growth in the financial and insurance sub-sector of the services sector is an impressive turn-around from the sub-sector’s unexpertant slump in growth in the second quarter of last year.
The 2011 second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the monetary value of goods and services produced in the country - figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service, indicated that the phenomenal growth in the financial and insurance sub-sector consequently caused the services sector to record a growth rate of 14 per cent in the period under review as against the 4.1 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2011.
The Head of the National Accounts and Economic Indicators at the Ghana Statistical Service, Mrs Bernice Serwah Ofosu-Baadu, explained to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that the growth in the sub-sector was mainly as a result of massive improvements in the loan recovery rates of financial service companies and clean premium books kept by insurance institutions in the country within the period under review.
The data we have show a tremendous improvement in the net income (the difference between interests received and interests paid) of the banks and insurance companies in the second quarter of 2011, as against the same quarter last year, Mrs Ofosu-Baadu said.
She, however, declined to give figures on the said rise but noted that the banks had the highest weight in that sub-sector.
According to her, the exact cause of the rise was difficult to explain since unlike agric, financial and insurance activities, especially regarding the interests received by these institutions, is not a seasonal event where we can say it was their season in the second quarter of 2011.
The hiking rate of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), which measures the rate at which loans from the banks to industry and businesses are recovered in the banking sector has being improving, declining fromm 20 per cent in 2010 to about 16 per cent within the second quarter of this year. Banks’ interest rates charged on loans, however, started declining within the period, with most of them taking retrospective effects.
Mrs Ofosu-Baadu said the reversal in the subsector’s growth rate was expected but we did not expect the growth to jump that high.
We actually cannot predict what will happen in the coming quarters; anything can happen as the financial and insurance activities have nothing to do with seasons, the head of national accounts and economic indicators said.
The 76 per cent year-on-year growth in the financial and insurance sub-sector of the services sector is an impressive turn-around from the sub-sector’s unexpertant slump in growth in the second quarter of last year.
The 2011 second quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - the monetary value of goods and services produced in the country - figures released by the Ghana Statistical Service, indicated that the phenomenal growth in the financial and insurance sub-sector consequently caused the services sector to record a growth rate of 14 per cent in the period under review as against the 4.1 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2011.
The Head of the National Accounts and Economic Indicators at the Ghana Statistical Service, Mrs Bernice Serwah Ofosu-Baadu, explained to the Daily Graphic in a telephone interview that the growth in the sub-sector was mainly as a result of massive improvements in the loan recovery rates of financial service companies and clean premium books kept by insurance institutions in the country within the period under review.
The data we have show a tremendous improvement in the net income (the difference between interests received and interests paid) of the banks and insurance companies in the second quarter of 2011, as against the same quarter last year, Mrs Ofosu-Baadu said.
She, however, declined to give figures on the said rise but noted that the banks had the highest weight in that sub-sector.
According to her, the exact cause of the rise was difficult to explain since unlike agric, financial and insurance activities, especially regarding the interests received by these institutions, is not a seasonal event where we can say it was their season in the second quarter of 2011.
The hiking rate of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs), which measures the rate at which loans from the banks to industry and businesses are recovered in the banking sector has being improving, declining fromm 20 per cent in 2010 to about 16 per cent within the second quarter of this year. Banks’ interest rates charged on loans, however, started declining within the period, with most of them taking retrospective effects.
Mrs Ofosu-Baadu said the reversal in the subsector’s growth rate was expected but we did not expect the growth to jump that high.
We actually cannot predict what will happen in the coming quarters; anything can happen as the financial and insurance activities have nothing to do with seasons, the head of national accounts and economic indicators said.
Economy records 34% growth
THE country’s economy recorded a 34-per cent growth rate in the second quarter of this year making it the highest second quarter growth rate in four years.
A 7.2-per cent growth rate recorded in the second quarter of 2007, was until now the highest second quarter growth rate in the country’s statistical history.
The jump in the year-on-year (comparing 2010 second growth outlook with 2011 second quarter growth) growth rate in the economy from 5.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2010 to the current 34 per cent was mainly pushed by revenues from oil production which started late last year.
Growth in the economy has thus picked up tremendously in the second quarter of this year after the seasonality of agriculture and the habitually sluggish nature of industry in the first four months of every year pulled the 2011 first quarter growth rate to 30.6 per cent.
Consequently, the monetary value of goods and services produced in the country, otherwise known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), within the second quarter of 2011 now stands at GH¢6,816 million as against the GH¢5,107.3 million recorded in the second quarter of 2010. The quarter-on-quarter GDP, however, recorded a dip, moving from GH¢7,118.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 to the current GH¢6,816million.
Announcing the second quarter GDP figures in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said the mining and quarrying (including oil production) sub-sector “contributed significantly” to the increase in economic activities in the second quarter of this year.
On the sector-by-sector outlook, the industry sector became the main contributor to the economy, recording a growth rate of 84.2 per cent as against agric’s 30.3 per cent growth rate in the second quarter.
The services sector, however, recorded a 14 per cent decline in growth in the quarter under review.
The Government Statistician explained that “the strong growth in the mining and quarrying sub-sector is reflected in the mineral production of gold, oil and quarrying”.
With regard to the manufacturing sector, Dr Bediako said manufacturing of wood, petroleum, chemicals, motor vehicles and furniture helped push the sector’s growth rate upward while that of agric was as a result of growth in crops “led mainly by increases in cocoa production”.
She, however, discounted perceptions that the agric sector was being weakened by the commencement of oil production in the country, explaining that the massive growth rate in the industry sector buoyed by oil “is overshadowing growth in the agric sector”.
The 2011 second quarter growth rate of 34 per cent comes at a time the World Bank and Standard Bank (the parent bank of Stanbic Bank Ghana) respectively predicted a 20 and 16.3 per cent growth rate for Ghana’s economy as against the government’s end-year growth target of about 14 per cent.
The two institutions which said Ghana now had the fastest-growing economy in the world, based their predictions mainly on the streaming of oil resources into the country’s revenue basket, which was expected to spearhead development.
A 7.2-per cent growth rate recorded in the second quarter of 2007, was until now the highest second quarter growth rate in the country’s statistical history.
The jump in the year-on-year (comparing 2010 second growth outlook with 2011 second quarter growth) growth rate in the economy from 5.2 per cent in the second quarter of 2010 to the current 34 per cent was mainly pushed by revenues from oil production which started late last year.
 |
| Dr Kwabena Duffuor, Minsiter, Finance and Econmic Planning |
Consequently, the monetary value of goods and services produced in the country, otherwise known as Gross Domestic Product (GDP), within the second quarter of 2011 now stands at GH¢6,816 million as against the GH¢5,107.3 million recorded in the second quarter of 2010. The quarter-on-quarter GDP, however, recorded a dip, moving from GH¢7,118.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2010 to the current GH¢6,816million.
Announcing the second quarter GDP figures in Accra yesterday, the Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said the mining and quarrying (including oil production) sub-sector “contributed significantly” to the increase in economic activities in the second quarter of this year.
 |
| Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician |
On the sector-by-sector outlook, the industry sector became the main contributor to the economy, recording a growth rate of 84.2 per cent as against agric’s 30.3 per cent growth rate in the second quarter.
The services sector, however, recorded a 14 per cent decline in growth in the quarter under review.
The Government Statistician explained that “the strong growth in the mining and quarrying sub-sector is reflected in the mineral production of gold, oil and quarrying”.
With regard to the manufacturing sector, Dr Bediako said manufacturing of wood, petroleum, chemicals, motor vehicles and furniture helped push the sector’s growth rate upward while that of agric was as a result of growth in crops “led mainly by increases in cocoa production”.
She, however, discounted perceptions that the agric sector was being weakened by the commencement of oil production in the country, explaining that the massive growth rate in the industry sector buoyed by oil “is overshadowing growth in the agric sector”.
The 2011 second quarter growth rate of 34 per cent comes at a time the World Bank and Standard Bank (the parent bank of Stanbic Bank Ghana) respectively predicted a 20 and 16.3 per cent growth rate for Ghana’s economy as against the government’s end-year growth target of about 14 per cent.
The two institutions which said Ghana now had the fastest-growing economy in the world, based their predictions mainly on the streaming of oil resources into the country’s revenue basket, which was expected to spearhead development.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
LPG shortage: Consumers, suppliers count loses, EPA count trees
While the just ended acute shortage of Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) in the system caught consumers and suppliers of the product counting their losses and seeking alternatives, officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are caught counting the number of trees that could have been felled and used for charcoal. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare looks at the frustrations of the agency.
THE rising demand for charcoal as an alternative to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) on the market has set officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) worrying over the number of trees that would be felled for charcoal.
A Principal Programmes Officer at the agency, Mrs Florence Agyei told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in an interview on the concerns of EPA over the reported hiking demand for charcoal, especially as an alternative to the fluctuating supply of LPG that the EPA fear the situation could lead to an abusive felling of trees in the nation’s already depleting forests for charcoal production to meet any unexpected demands.
The EPA’s concerns trails earlier ones by the Forestry Commission which feared a continues shortage of LPG in the market could likely push the demand for charcoal and firewood leading to illegal felling of trees for firewood and charcoal production and their attendant negative effects on the environment.
According to Mrs Agyei, rising demand for charcoal in the country had the tendency of causing charcoal producers to fell more trees and do more burning “and these lead to environmental related problems such as bush fires and deforestations.
“Once charcoal usage increases, there is the tendency for people to also increase production by cutting and burning more trees as a way of meeting this demand and this is what the EPA is worried of,” Mrs Agyei noted.
She, however admitted that the agency was yet to confirm if indeed more trees have been felled and burnt since “that increasing demand could have been met by an old stock of charcoal.”
Demand for charcoal in most cities nation-wide had increased as more and more domestic users of LPG sought alternatives to gas following the product’s fluctuating supply in the system. The fluctuating supply of LPG re-emerged mid last month after an earlier one was contained late last year.
The rising demand had consequently sent prices of the product escalating, rising from GH¢12 about four months ago to currently sell between GH¢17 and GH¢19 in some major cities country-wide.
“If we had the mandate, we would have regulated charcoal production because of its direct impact on the environment but we don’t have that mandate,” Mrs Agyei said adding that charcoal production had now become a big time business and a major source of income to most people causing the producers to go all length to get the raw material (wood).
“That is our problem; these producers use wood from trees for their work, trees they did not plant or even replace after the felling,” Mrs Agyei noted.
CONSUMERS, SUPPLIERS COUNT LOSSES
Statistics from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), local wholesalers of LPG show that daily demand for the product had doubled from 500 metric tonnes to 1,000 metric tonnes over the past few years, a phenomenon the refinery said is traceable to commercial vehicles increasing switch from petrol or diesel to LPG usage.
The refinery has thus upped production to between 800 and 1,000 metric tonnes per day and stepped up LPG import from an initial 2,000 and 3,000 metric tonnes per week to between 5,000 and 6,000 metric tonnes per week as it strategises to meet this hiking demand.
TOR’s weak financial stands and its lack of adequate storage facilities is, however not helping matters.
Most industry watchers had attributed the yet to be stabilised LPG shortage to TOR’s inability to under take maximum production or acquire the needed storage facilities for an upped import.
The refinery, has meanwhile blamed the shortage, which caused various losses to consumers and suppliers alike on an unexpected rise in LPG usage by commercial vehicles.
Whatever be the cause, commercial and domestic consumers of the product are calling for a realistic strategy that could make LPG shortage a thing of the past.
An official of a major Oil Marketing Company and wholesaler of LPG admitted to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on condition of anonymity that the shortage caused losses to his company but added that the risk associated nature of LPG had made the said company to do less dealings in it.
“It is not even how much we as a company lost as a result of that shortage but to what extend was everybody affected; how many domestic and commercial users lost what due to this problem,” the source said.
The source would, however not say if the fluatuating nature of LPG supplies in the country would cause his company to limit its business in that area except to say “we don’t even do much business in that area because of the sector’s associated risks.”
For now, the source said what consumers nad suppliers of LPG wanted is not a strategy that would address the fluctuating supply in a short term but “one that would tackle the problem now and forever.”
THE rising demand for charcoal as an alternative to Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) on the market has set officials of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) worrying over the number of trees that would be felled for charcoal.
A Principal Programmes Officer at the agency, Mrs Florence Agyei told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in an interview on the concerns of EPA over the reported hiking demand for charcoal, especially as an alternative to the fluctuating supply of LPG that the EPA fear the situation could lead to an abusive felling of trees in the nation’s already depleting forests for charcoal production to meet any unexpected demands.
The EPA’s concerns trails earlier ones by the Forestry Commission which feared a continues shortage of LPG in the market could likely push the demand for charcoal and firewood leading to illegal felling of trees for firewood and charcoal production and their attendant negative effects on the environment.
According to Mrs Agyei, rising demand for charcoal in the country had the tendency of causing charcoal producers to fell more trees and do more burning “and these lead to environmental related problems such as bush fires and deforestations.
“Once charcoal usage increases, there is the tendency for people to also increase production by cutting and burning more trees as a way of meeting this demand and this is what the EPA is worried of,” Mrs Agyei noted.
She, however admitted that the agency was yet to confirm if indeed more trees have been felled and burnt since “that increasing demand could have been met by an old stock of charcoal.”
Demand for charcoal in most cities nation-wide had increased as more and more domestic users of LPG sought alternatives to gas following the product’s fluctuating supply in the system. The fluctuating supply of LPG re-emerged mid last month after an earlier one was contained late last year.
The rising demand had consequently sent prices of the product escalating, rising from GH¢12 about four months ago to currently sell between GH¢17 and GH¢19 in some major cities country-wide.
“If we had the mandate, we would have regulated charcoal production because of its direct impact on the environment but we don’t have that mandate,” Mrs Agyei said adding that charcoal production had now become a big time business and a major source of income to most people causing the producers to go all length to get the raw material (wood).
“That is our problem; these producers use wood from trees for their work, trees they did not plant or even replace after the felling,” Mrs Agyei noted.
CONSUMERS, SUPPLIERS COUNT LOSSES
Statistics from the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), local wholesalers of LPG show that daily demand for the product had doubled from 500 metric tonnes to 1,000 metric tonnes over the past few years, a phenomenon the refinery said is traceable to commercial vehicles increasing switch from petrol or diesel to LPG usage.
The refinery has thus upped production to between 800 and 1,000 metric tonnes per day and stepped up LPG import from an initial 2,000 and 3,000 metric tonnes per week to between 5,000 and 6,000 metric tonnes per week as it strategises to meet this hiking demand.
TOR’s weak financial stands and its lack of adequate storage facilities is, however not helping matters.
Most industry watchers had attributed the yet to be stabilised LPG shortage to TOR’s inability to under take maximum production or acquire the needed storage facilities for an upped import.
The refinery, has meanwhile blamed the shortage, which caused various losses to consumers and suppliers alike on an unexpected rise in LPG usage by commercial vehicles.
Whatever be the cause, commercial and domestic consumers of the product are calling for a realistic strategy that could make LPG shortage a thing of the past.
An official of a major Oil Marketing Company and wholesaler of LPG admitted to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS on condition of anonymity that the shortage caused losses to his company but added that the risk associated nature of LPG had made the said company to do less dealings in it.
“It is not even how much we as a company lost as a result of that shortage but to what extend was everybody affected; how many domestic and commercial users lost what due to this problem,” the source said.
The source would, however not say if the fluatuating nature of LPG supplies in the country would cause his company to limit its business in that area except to say “we don’t even do much business in that area because of the sector’s associated risks.”
For now, the source said what consumers nad suppliers of LPG wanted is not a strategy that would address the fluctuating supply in a short term but “one that would tackle the problem now and forever.”
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Shut today, revive tommorrow - A case of self assessment in enterprenuership
In a country where employemnt opportunities for the teaming youth are unavailable, opting for potentially self-employed courses in the nation’s tertiary institutions is an initiative worth championing, writes Maxwell Adombila Akalaare.
AFTER young Ms Mavis Tamakloe graduated with an HND in Fashions and Textiles from the Kumasi Polytechnic in 2002, the urge on her to go into enterprenuership started pushing from within. This urge caused her to set up her My Time Garments Enterprise in Madina to craft African wares from locally produced fabrics for both males and females.
But two years into running the business, Ms Tamakloe said the difficulties in the sector caused her to shut down for awhile.
Taking the GRAPHIC BUSINESS through events leading to the setting up of her My Time Garments at Madina, near the Social Welfare in Accra, Ms Tamakloe said “I later realised my designs were not moving fast as I had expected, partly because I wasn’t having the right equipment and resources to produce to meet customers expectations.”
Aside the lack of resources to acquire the necessary equipment for optimum production, Ms Tamakloe said “I also lacked the practical experience on the job and more importantly, the contacts and links for my products”.
Though Ms Tamakloe agreed those start-up challenges were daring enough to get her part ways with entreprenuership, she said “I did not give up” but rather took a strategic decision that has today become the bedrock of her enterprise.
“If you are fresh from the classroom, there are a lot of things that you always would not know. You normally do not know how to get customers and what those customers want. This job is not about what you the designer wants but want the customer desires,” Ms Tamakloe observed.
As a result, she said “I decided to stop running my own business for sometime to enable me work with another fashion designer, Esuru Garments so that I could acquire the needed experiences and resources needed to run my business.”
“In this world, if you know what you want and work hard towards it, you will always get there,” Ms Tamakloe stated adding that it was her commitment to riviving and running her business that dominated her mind at the time she was working at Esuru Garments.
With her temporarily abandoned enterprise still in mind, Ms Tamakloe said she thus adopted necessary steps including saving the little monies she received to enable her revive her business.
“I was using my off days to do extra jobs that could earn me extra income. I ‘m also good in braiding of hair and thus used that experience to generate additional income,” she memorised.
Two years after, Ms Tamakloe said her extra duties and income as well as her commitment to savings paid off leading to the successful rejuvination of her My Time Garments.
Currently, she said her garment enterprise at Madina produces all kinds of female and male wares from fabrics that are occassionally matched with beads.
In addition to the garment manufacturing, Ms Tamakloe said the enterprise also operates a hair salon named My Time Beauty Salon.
GOOD WORK SPEAKS
Ghana’s fashion industry is virtually saturated following the frequent springing up of fashion houses that offer almsot the same services.
Despite this development which many would have expected to benefit the rising number of fashion lovers in the country, most fashion lovers still have a course to complain; the designs are the same, they lack proper finishing and quality and can therefore not match their foreign competitors.
But not all the designers are the same as some have an urge for detail, an instinct to send a message and a desire to make a mark.
According to Ms Tamakloe, her My Time Garments is one of such few fashion designs currently hoping to put professional touches in whatever wares it produces.
With her three-year old classroom knowledge in fashion and texties at the Kumasi poly, two years learning under a renowned fashion designer and now eight years into running her fashion shop, Ms Tamakloe said “I have now gained enough experience that keeps reflecting in the products I produce.
“Even my former employer do bring me orders to do for her at a fee simply because she knows I can do it better.”
She added that though her crafted wares are currently sold and marketed within Accra, her good works had earned her customers outside Accra.
WAKE THE SLEEPING TEXTILE COMPANIES
On the challenges confronting the country’s textile industry and the designers, Ms Tamakloe said “it is difficult getting the fabrics that we normally need and that delays our work.”
She also mentioned the fluatuating nature of cotton, the raw material from which fabrics are made as another major challenge.
“Sometime ago, the issue of no cotton in the system brought about lean supply of fabrics in the country and this caused most fashion companies to run out of materials”, she recounted adding that the situation had even led to the collapse of some textile companies in the country.
She thus called on the relevant authorities to increase cotton production in the country “so that some of the sleeping textile companies could wake up and produce to meet the high demand in the system.”
THE FUTURE AND HER ADVICE
In the near future, Ms Tamakloe said “I want to separate My Time Garments from My Time Hair Salon and make the two operate as separate entities.”
She also hopes to come up with a school that could search for and train street children on fashion designs and hair salon activities, an area she said was dear to her heart.
On her adivce to colleague women and enterprenuers, Ms Tamakloe said “let us strive to be tactful in whatever we do, let’s work hard and be commited to our job.
To Ms Tamakloe, “If you are able to work hard and become exceptional, you will always make a mark in life.”
AFTER young Ms Mavis Tamakloe graduated with an HND in Fashions and Textiles from the Kumasi Polytechnic in 2002, the urge on her to go into enterprenuership started pushing from within. This urge caused her to set up her My Time Garments Enterprise in Madina to craft African wares from locally produced fabrics for both males and females.
But two years into running the business, Ms Tamakloe said the difficulties in the sector caused her to shut down for awhile.
Taking the GRAPHIC BUSINESS through events leading to the setting up of her My Time Garments at Madina, near the Social Welfare in Accra, Ms Tamakloe said “I later realised my designs were not moving fast as I had expected, partly because I wasn’t having the right equipment and resources to produce to meet customers expectations.”
 |
| Ms Tamakaloe talks to the Graphic Business's Maxwell Adombila Akalaare about her enterprise |
Aside the lack of resources to acquire the necessary equipment for optimum production, Ms Tamakloe said “I also lacked the practical experience on the job and more importantly, the contacts and links for my products”.
Though Ms Tamakloe agreed those start-up challenges were daring enough to get her part ways with entreprenuership, she said “I did not give up” but rather took a strategic decision that has today become the bedrock of her enterprise.
“If you are fresh from the classroom, there are a lot of things that you always would not know. You normally do not know how to get customers and what those customers want. This job is not about what you the designer wants but want the customer desires,” Ms Tamakloe observed.
As a result, she said “I decided to stop running my own business for sometime to enable me work with another fashion designer, Esuru Garments so that I could acquire the needed experiences and resources needed to run my business.”
“In this world, if you know what you want and work hard towards it, you will always get there,” Ms Tamakloe stated adding that it was her commitment to riviving and running her business that dominated her mind at the time she was working at Esuru Garments.
With her temporarily abandoned enterprise still in mind, Ms Tamakloe said she thus adopted necessary steps including saving the little monies she received to enable her revive her business.
 |
| Check me and my stuffs out, says Ms Mavis |
“I was using my off days to do extra jobs that could earn me extra income. I ‘m also good in braiding of hair and thus used that experience to generate additional income,” she memorised.
Two years after, Ms Tamakloe said her extra duties and income as well as her commitment to savings paid off leading to the successful rejuvination of her My Time Garments.
Currently, she said her garment enterprise at Madina produces all kinds of female and male wares from fabrics that are occassionally matched with beads.
In addition to the garment manufacturing, Ms Tamakloe said the enterprise also operates a hair salon named My Time Beauty Salon.
GOOD WORK SPEAKS
Ghana’s fashion industry is virtually saturated following the frequent springing up of fashion houses that offer almsot the same services.
Despite this development which many would have expected to benefit the rising number of fashion lovers in the country, most fashion lovers still have a course to complain; the designs are the same, they lack proper finishing and quality and can therefore not match their foreign competitors.
But not all the designers are the same as some have an urge for detail, an instinct to send a message and a desire to make a mark.
According to Ms Tamakloe, her My Time Garments is one of such few fashion designs currently hoping to put professional touches in whatever wares it produces.
With her three-year old classroom knowledge in fashion and texties at the Kumasi poly, two years learning under a renowned fashion designer and now eight years into running her fashion shop, Ms Tamakloe said “I have now gained enough experience that keeps reflecting in the products I produce.
“Even my former employer do bring me orders to do for her at a fee simply because she knows I can do it better.”
She added that though her crafted wares are currently sold and marketed within Accra, her good works had earned her customers outside Accra.
WAKE THE SLEEPING TEXTILE COMPANIES
On the challenges confronting the country’s textile industry and the designers, Ms Tamakloe said “it is difficult getting the fabrics that we normally need and that delays our work.”
She also mentioned the fluatuating nature of cotton, the raw material from which fabrics are made as another major challenge.
“Sometime ago, the issue of no cotton in the system brought about lean supply of fabrics in the country and this caused most fashion companies to run out of materials”, she recounted adding that the situation had even led to the collapse of some textile companies in the country.
She thus called on the relevant authorities to increase cotton production in the country “so that some of the sleeping textile companies could wake up and produce to meet the high demand in the system.”
THE FUTURE AND HER ADVICE
In the near future, Ms Tamakloe said “I want to separate My Time Garments from My Time Hair Salon and make the two operate as separate entities.”
She also hopes to come up with a school that could search for and train street children on fashion designs and hair salon activities, an area she said was dear to her heart.
On her adivce to colleague women and enterprenuers, Ms Tamakloe said “let us strive to be tactful in whatever we do, let’s work hard and be commited to our job.
To Ms Tamakloe, “If you are able to work hard and become exceptional, you will always make a mark in life.”
 |
| The chat continues |
Ms Mavis Tamakloe is on timlouise@yahoo.co.uk
Govt proposes housing fund
GOVERNMENT has given a hint of its intention to channel money from property and rent taxes and import duties on building materials into a housing fund.
The fund, when established, is also expected to receive money from linkages fees which contractors pay to undertake major commercial projects in the country.
The Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, made this known during the inauguration of two and three bedroom terrance houses constructed by an indigenous real estate developer, Blue Rose Limited, at Budumburam in the Central Region.
Such a move, according to Dr Ahmed, forms part of the government’s “two pronged approach towards mobilising funds, both domestically and internationally, to support the country’s housing sector.”
The second approach, he said,was the benefit that will accrue to the country for being accepted as a member of Shelter Afrique, Africa’s mortage provider, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Shelter Afrique has since granted the country’s real estate industry a US$60 million loan, a facility real estate developers have started applying to access.
Dr Ahmed said the setting up of the Housing Fund and Ghana’s membership with Shelter Afrique formed part of moves by the government to get a steady income source for housing providers in the country and a wider objective of closing the widening housing deficit.
The country currently has an estimated 1.5 million housing deficits, much of which is concentrated in the cities.
The deficit, which is expected to continue growing if nothing concrete is done, has thus placed an onerous responsibility on the government and other housing stakeholders.
“The problem of housing deficit is real and requires practical considerations and solutions,” the deputy minister said, noting that the government was currently aiming at using the proposed National Housing Policy to holistically address all these challenges emanating from the country’s housing deficit.
He mentioned finance as one of the major bottlenecks currently denying real estate developers the opportunity to engage in “below-market price housing” for millions of Ghanaians.
“In view of this, a Housing Fund is being proposed to produce a steady stream of below-market price housing,” Dr Ahmed said.
He also challenged members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) to construct quality but affordable houses for Ghanaians, noting that though the ministry was adopting strategies to reduce the housing deficit, it would not countenance with shoddy work from estate developers.
That aside, Dr Ahmed said “building right is also a pre-requisite for attracting support from the finance and insurance companies. Most of all, building right is in the interest of the end user for which this is a life-time investment.”
He also challenged the country’s financial institutions to reduce their interest rates to “about 14 per cent to help motivate estate developers to construct more houses.”
The GREDA has meanwhile welcomed the proposed setting up the Housing Fund, describing it as a laudable idea that could help address the country’s housing deficits.
The President of the association, Dr Alexander Tweneboa, told the Daily Graphic during the inauguration of the Blue Rose houses that the association had been looking forward to such an initiative.
“This is a laudable idea and all that we at GREDA can do is to look forward to its fruition,” Dr Tweneboa said.
He said the country’s inability to come up with a sustainable housing policy over the years has accounted for the widening housing deficit.
The president is, however, hoping that the current proposal by the government would stand the test of time.
“Something definitely needs to be done to stimulate the housing sector; to motivate real estate developers to construct affordable houses for Ghanaians,” Dr Tweneboah added.
The fund, when established, is also expected to receive money from linkages fees which contractors pay to undertake major commercial projects in the country.
The Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, made this known during the inauguration of two and three bedroom terrance houses constructed by an indigenous real estate developer, Blue Rose Limited, at Budumburam in the Central Region.
Such a move, according to Dr Ahmed, forms part of the government’s “two pronged approach towards mobilising funds, both domestically and internationally, to support the country’s housing sector.”
The second approach, he said,was the benefit that will accrue to the country for being accepted as a member of Shelter Afrique, Africa’s mortage provider, with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.
Shelter Afrique has since granted the country’s real estate industry a US$60 million loan, a facility real estate developers have started applying to access.
Dr Ahmed said the setting up of the Housing Fund and Ghana’s membership with Shelter Afrique formed part of moves by the government to get a steady income source for housing providers in the country and a wider objective of closing the widening housing deficit.
The country currently has an estimated 1.5 million housing deficits, much of which is concentrated in the cities.
The deficit, which is expected to continue growing if nothing concrete is done, has thus placed an onerous responsibility on the government and other housing stakeholders.
“The problem of housing deficit is real and requires practical considerations and solutions,” the deputy minister said, noting that the government was currently aiming at using the proposed National Housing Policy to holistically address all these challenges emanating from the country’s housing deficit.
He mentioned finance as one of the major bottlenecks currently denying real estate developers the opportunity to engage in “below-market price housing” for millions of Ghanaians.
“In view of this, a Housing Fund is being proposed to produce a steady stream of below-market price housing,” Dr Ahmed said.
He also challenged members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) to construct quality but affordable houses for Ghanaians, noting that though the ministry was adopting strategies to reduce the housing deficit, it would not countenance with shoddy work from estate developers.
That aside, Dr Ahmed said “building right is also a pre-requisite for attracting support from the finance and insurance companies. Most of all, building right is in the interest of the end user for which this is a life-time investment.”
He also challenged the country’s financial institutions to reduce their interest rates to “about 14 per cent to help motivate estate developers to construct more houses.”
The GREDA has meanwhile welcomed the proposed setting up the Housing Fund, describing it as a laudable idea that could help address the country’s housing deficits.
The President of the association, Dr Alexander Tweneboa, told the Daily Graphic during the inauguration of the Blue Rose houses that the association had been looking forward to such an initiative.
“This is a laudable idea and all that we at GREDA can do is to look forward to its fruition,” Dr Tweneboa said.
He said the country’s inability to come up with a sustainable housing policy over the years has accounted for the widening housing deficit.
The president is, however, hoping that the current proposal by the government would stand the test of time.
“Something definitely needs to be done to stimulate the housing sector; to motivate real estate developers to construct affordable houses for Ghanaians,” Dr Tweneboah added.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Finance officers must go beyond the figures
THE Sub-Saharan African Director of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Mr Jamil Ampomah, has tasked Chief Finance Officers (CFOs) to stop what he terms as “hiding behind the numbers” and broaden their horizons to enable them create value for their respective businesses.
He consequently urged them to go beyond managing the financial accounts and risks of their companies alone and contribute to “business strategy while acting as a ‘guardian of the company’s brand both internally and externally.”
Mr Ampomah made the call when he addressed a forum organised by the ACCA, on the theme ‘Accountant for Business Roundtable Discussion,’ in Accra.
“The role of the CFO has transformed and expanded well beyond a traditional focus on finance accounting and reporting responsibilities,” Mr Ampomah said, and added that companies all over the world expected toady’s CFO to act as the “gatekeepers, especially when managers have projects or investment ideas to pitch.”
He identified the need for finance professionals and CFOs to act as ‘standard bearers’ of integrity for their businesses in addition to being relied on by their business leaders to manage and mitigate risks as the most daring roles currently expected from the CFO.
On the relevance of managing risks within companies, the director said the ACCA “believes that risks needs to be better identified and managed than they have been in the past.
He explained that current trends in the corporate world had made it necessary for risk managers and CFOs for that matter to first recognise the existence of behavioural risks as “being crucial to the process of risk management.
“Risk management also needs to be seen within the wider framework of good corporate governance,” he added.
The programme which torched on risk assesments and management, the role of the CFO in taking an investment decision among others had companies finance directors and consultants, managing directors and chief accountants as its guest discussants.
The roundtable discussion also gave members the opportunity to debate on the yet to be implemented integrated reporting which when implemented, would see finance officials of companies integrating financial and non-financial information in their company’s end of year financial reports.
It was attended by the ACCA’s sub-Saharan members, including those in Ghana.
He consequently urged them to go beyond managing the financial accounts and risks of their companies alone and contribute to “business strategy while acting as a ‘guardian of the company’s brand both internally and externally.”
Mr Ampomah made the call when he addressed a forum organised by the ACCA, on the theme ‘Accountant for Business Roundtable Discussion,’ in Accra.
“The role of the CFO has transformed and expanded well beyond a traditional focus on finance accounting and reporting responsibilities,” Mr Ampomah said, and added that companies all over the world expected toady’s CFO to act as the “gatekeepers, especially when managers have projects or investment ideas to pitch.”
He identified the need for finance professionals and CFOs to act as ‘standard bearers’ of integrity for their businesses in addition to being relied on by their business leaders to manage and mitigate risks as the most daring roles currently expected from the CFO.
On the relevance of managing risks within companies, the director said the ACCA “believes that risks needs to be better identified and managed than they have been in the past.
He explained that current trends in the corporate world had made it necessary for risk managers and CFOs for that matter to first recognise the existence of behavioural risks as “being crucial to the process of risk management.
“Risk management also needs to be seen within the wider framework of good corporate governance,” he added.
The programme which torched on risk assesments and management, the role of the CFO in taking an investment decision among others had companies finance directors and consultants, managing directors and chief accountants as its guest discussants.
The roundtable discussion also gave members the opportunity to debate on the yet to be implemented integrated reporting which when implemented, would see finance officials of companies integrating financial and non-financial information in their company’s end of year financial reports.
It was attended by the ACCA’s sub-Saharan members, including those in Ghana.
Friday, September 2, 2011
Two downplay misuse of cyanide
The Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM) and the International Cyanide Management Institute (ICMI), lead players in the implementation and auditing of the International Cyanide Management Code have downplayed suggestions that the ICMI’s inability to apply full sanctions on its defaulting members makes full compliance to the code a mere formality.
Madam Joyce Aryee, CEO of the GCM and Mr Norm Greenwald, Vice President and Secretary of the ICMI told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that member companies’ desire to attain and maintain clean records on issues regarding cyanide spillage was enough to get them comply with the demands of the code.
The institute is a global body of gold mining, cyanide producing and transporting companies that aims at meeting the demands of the International Cyanide Management Code’s specifications for companies.
Companies seeking to join the institute normally does that on a voluntary basis, an arrangement that is said to possibly tie the hands of the institute especially when it comes to issues of punishing defaulting members.
The institute’s current punishment for non compliance to the code is delisting the said company from the group, a punishment Madam Aryee and Mr Greenwald said was harsh enough to get members comply with the code.
The two spoke to the paper after addressing participants at a workshop jointly organised by the chamber and the institute on the implementation and auditing of the International Cyanide Management Code in Accra.
The one-day workshop was aimed at assisting gold mining companies, cyanide producers and transporters as well as other stakeholders in the mining business with requisite information on the demands of the code.
“Punishment is not only about fining defaulting members to pay certain amounts of money, it is about the reputation that these companies need from the public. Remember they have shareholders world-wide and would always want to maintain a good image in the eyes of thier shareholders by sticking to what they said they are doing,” the GCM CEO said.
She observed that people world-wide had awoken to issues regarding the environment “and would not take it kindly to a company that said it is a member of the ICMI and for that matter practicing and implementing safe cyanide procedures only to be seen going contrary to that.
Madam Aryee was however confident that companies that have subscribed to the code both in Ghana and globally would live-up to expectations when it comes to the implementation of the code.
According to her almost all the gold mining and cyanide producing and transporting companies in the country have signed onto the code “except those that have just started pouring gold.”
Madam Aryee was meanwhile hopeful that such companies would soon come on board “and conform to this internationally acceptable best practice for cyanide management.”
Expressing his views on the ability of the ICMI to get its volunteered members to comply with the code, Mr Greenwald also said “our power is the public’s ability to judge which company said it is doing what but not doing that.
“I think it is a big disincentive for a company to say it is doing something (abiding by the demands of the code) and has thus become a member of the institute only to be ejected for not doing that thin.”
The International Cyanide Management Code was developed in 2005 as a wake-up call to the Romania cyanide spillage around that period and to also serve as an industry voluntary program for gold mining companies world-wide. It currently has 102 companies in 45 countries, including those in Ghana signing onto it.
Madam Joyce Aryee, CEO of the GCM and Mr Norm Greenwald, Vice President and Secretary of the ICMI told the Daily Graphic in separate interviews that member companies’ desire to attain and maintain clean records on issues regarding cyanide spillage was enough to get them comply with the demands of the code.
The institute is a global body of gold mining, cyanide producing and transporting companies that aims at meeting the demands of the International Cyanide Management Code’s specifications for companies.
Companies seeking to join the institute normally does that on a voluntary basis, an arrangement that is said to possibly tie the hands of the institute especially when it comes to issues of punishing defaulting members.
The institute’s current punishment for non compliance to the code is delisting the said company from the group, a punishment Madam Aryee and Mr Greenwald said was harsh enough to get members comply with the code.
The two spoke to the paper after addressing participants at a workshop jointly organised by the chamber and the institute on the implementation and auditing of the International Cyanide Management Code in Accra.
The one-day workshop was aimed at assisting gold mining companies, cyanide producers and transporters as well as other stakeholders in the mining business with requisite information on the demands of the code.
“Punishment is not only about fining defaulting members to pay certain amounts of money, it is about the reputation that these companies need from the public. Remember they have shareholders world-wide and would always want to maintain a good image in the eyes of thier shareholders by sticking to what they said they are doing,” the GCM CEO said.
She observed that people world-wide had awoken to issues regarding the environment “and would not take it kindly to a company that said it is a member of the ICMI and for that matter practicing and implementing safe cyanide procedures only to be seen going contrary to that.
 |
| Madam Joyce Aryee (with microphone), CEO of the Ghana Chamber of Mines. |
Madam Aryee was however confident that companies that have subscribed to the code both in Ghana and globally would live-up to expectations when it comes to the implementation of the code.
According to her almost all the gold mining and cyanide producing and transporting companies in the country have signed onto the code “except those that have just started pouring gold.”
Madam Aryee was meanwhile hopeful that such companies would soon come on board “and conform to this internationally acceptable best practice for cyanide management.”
Expressing his views on the ability of the ICMI to get its volunteered members to comply with the code, Mr Greenwald also said “our power is the public’s ability to judge which company said it is doing what but not doing that.
“I think it is a big disincentive for a company to say it is doing something (abiding by the demands of the code) and has thus become a member of the institute only to be ejected for not doing that thin.”
The International Cyanide Management Code was developed in 2005 as a wake-up call to the Romania cyanide spillage around that period and to also serve as an industry voluntary program for gold mining companies world-wide. It currently has 102 companies in 45 countries, including those in Ghana signing onto it.
Take anti-money laudering serious, Ghana tell WAMI
GHANA’s Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) has called on the West African Monetary Institute (WAMI), the body responsible for the implementation of a common payment and settlement criteria for the institute’s member countries, to include anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing strategies in its operations
The centre has, thus, called on the Central Banks of the respective member countries, including Ghana’s Bank of Ghana, to tighten the screws on acts bordering on internal and external money laundering and terror financing using their respective country’s financial and banking platforms.
Contributing to a discussion on the current state of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) during the first Swift Business Forum for the WAMZ member countries in Accra, Mr Edward M. Musey of the FIC said the WAMI ought to include a money laundering and counter terrorism financing in its cards.
“We are currently witnessing an increase in terrorism financing and money laundering activities using our financial institutions,” Mr Musey said noting that the financial institutions within the zone would now have to be keener on the source of funds coming into their country and the destinations of those leaving their economic borders.
“I think the WAMI would have to include ways of tackling the development even before its common payment and settlement systems for the zone become operational for its members”.
“We have seen what happened in Nigeria some few days ago in addition to the few issues of money laundering activities heard here and there,” Mr Musey said and added that the institute needed to immediately devise ways of tackling money laundering and countering terror financing strategies that could infiltrate its system should it become operational.
Responding to the suggestion, the Deputy Governors of both Nigeria and The Gambia and an official at Bank of Ghana’s Banking and Supervision Department said their respective banks and countries were currently well- equipped to deal with such issues boardering on money laundering and terrorism financing.
They, however, contended that the WAMZ, as a future economy block, needed a common platform to deal with such issues.
The WAMZ is an integration of selected West African countries with an aim to establish a common economic and monetary union for its current six member countries, the establishment of a West African Central Bank and a Financial Supervisory Authority and a common currency for the zone.
As a result, the member countries have currently been tasked to develop a common payment and settlement platform for their internal banking and financial institutions prior to the implementation of the zone’s core objectives.
While that of Nigeria and Ghana are virtually on the verge of completing conversion criteria towards meeting the zone’s agreed settlement system for member countries, those of The Gambia and Sierra Leone are yet to put up any meaningful foundation.
A deputy Governor at The Gambia’s Central Bank, Mrs Sara Savage-Samba, said at the forum that “while the speakers of Ghana and Nigeria are saying they have this and they have that,unfortunately, we in The Gambia do not have anything yet” but promised to work harder in achieving the set goals.
She cited lack of participation and the unwillingness of her country’s banking community to make financial commitments towards the implementation of the payment and settlement system as a drawback.
The centre has, thus, called on the Central Banks of the respective member countries, including Ghana’s Bank of Ghana, to tighten the screws on acts bordering on internal and external money laundering and terror financing using their respective country’s financial and banking platforms.
Contributing to a discussion on the current state of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) during the first Swift Business Forum for the WAMZ member countries in Accra, Mr Edward M. Musey of the FIC said the WAMI ought to include a money laundering and counter terrorism financing in its cards.
“We are currently witnessing an increase in terrorism financing and money laundering activities using our financial institutions,” Mr Musey said noting that the financial institutions within the zone would now have to be keener on the source of funds coming into their country and the destinations of those leaving their economic borders.
“I think the WAMI would have to include ways of tackling the development even before its common payment and settlement systems for the zone become operational for its members”.
“We have seen what happened in Nigeria some few days ago in addition to the few issues of money laundering activities heard here and there,” Mr Musey said and added that the institute needed to immediately devise ways of tackling money laundering and countering terror financing strategies that could infiltrate its system should it become operational.
Responding to the suggestion, the Deputy Governors of both Nigeria and The Gambia and an official at Bank of Ghana’s Banking and Supervision Department said their respective banks and countries were currently well- equipped to deal with such issues boardering on money laundering and terrorism financing.
 |
| Dr Amissah Arthur is the Governor of Ghana's Central Bank. |
They, however, contended that the WAMZ, as a future economy block, needed a common platform to deal with such issues.
The WAMZ is an integration of selected West African countries with an aim to establish a common economic and monetary union for its current six member countries, the establishment of a West African Central Bank and a Financial Supervisory Authority and a common currency for the zone.
As a result, the member countries have currently been tasked to develop a common payment and settlement platform for their internal banking and financial institutions prior to the implementation of the zone’s core objectives.
While that of Nigeria and Ghana are virtually on the verge of completing conversion criteria towards meeting the zone’s agreed settlement system for member countries, those of The Gambia and Sierra Leone are yet to put up any meaningful foundation.
A deputy Governor at The Gambia’s Central Bank, Mrs Sara Savage-Samba, said at the forum that “while the speakers of Ghana and Nigeria are saying they have this and they have that,unfortunately, we in The Gambia do not have anything yet” but promised to work harder in achieving the set goals.
She cited lack of participation and the unwillingness of her country’s banking community to make financial commitments towards the implementation of the payment and settlement system as a drawback.
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