Fan Milk's revenues drop ahead of Abraaj takeover

The gross revenues of ice cream manufacturer, Fan Milk Ghana Limited (FML), dropped by 2.7 per cent in the first half of the year relative to the same period last year.

Its yet-to-be audited first half results, released last week, showed that revenues declined from GHC73.32 million in the first six months of 2012 to GHC71.42 in the same period this year.

This comes ahead of the propose takeover of Fan Milk's operations by Dubai-based equity investor, Abraaj Group, later this year.

The takeover was made possible through Abraaj's acquisition of a 100 per cent in Fan Milk International (FML), the parent company of FML earlier this year.

FMI owned about 56.6 per cent stake in FML, its Ghana subsidiary, but lost that following the conditional sale and purchase agreement it entered into with Abraaj, an equity investor that operates in emerging markets such as Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

Notwithstanding the slight decline in FML's gross revenues in the first six months of the year, its gross profit rose from GHC37.87 million in the first half of 2012 to GHC42.80 million in the period under review.

Its after tax profit also inched to GHC14.85 million from the 2012 first half figure of GHC13.05 million.GB

All-Time Capital launches bond fund for investors

ALL-Time Capital, an investment advisory service, established three years ago, has launched a mutual bond fund targeted at corporate and individual investors who are conscious of the risks associated with investments in the country.

The fund, the All-Time Bond Fund (ABF), is a medium to long-term fund investment instrument that will invest mainly in government and corporate bonds as well as in stable but high yielding money market instruments.

It has Stanbic Bank as its custodians and will be regulated by the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The Chief Executive Officer of All-Time Capital, Mr Peter A. Iliasu, said at the launch in Accra that the introduction of the ABF was part of the company's desire to bring well class investment banking services to its clients nationwide.

He said although All-Time Capital started as small company, about three years ago, its high caliber of service delivery had won it big clients in the industry within the short pace of time.

"Our staff know the market well, we have invested in state-the-art technology and that is reflecting in the service delivery," Mr Iliasu, formerly with the Export Development and Agricultural Fund (EDAIF), said.

The Manager of the ABF, Mr Aseye Akotia, explained at the launch that about 60 per cent of the fund's net assets would be invested in bonds and the remaining 40 in money market instruments.

Mr Akotia (left) and Mr Iliasu after the launch in Accra.

This categorisation, he said, is, however, not definite as prevailing circumstances can cause his outfit tot alter the amount of assets earmarked for each category.

Although there are promising returns on real estate sector, given the current yawning housing deficit, Mr Akotia said the fund will be investing a maximum of 10 per cent of its assets in that area due to the associated risks.

The initial public offer (IPO) of the fund is expected to run from July 31 to August 28 when individuals, fund managers and the investing public will have the opportunity to buy into it.

The IPO has five million shares and interested individuals and institutions can buy a minimum of GHC100 shares after which they qualify to buy in multiples of GHC50.

The expected average return on yields on the fund will be around 28 per cent, according to its Manager, and yields will can be redeemed without a fee charged.

HR seminar undergoes slight changes

The two-day seminar on Human Resource (HR) to be graced by world acclaimed HR person, Prof Dave Ulrich, has been  revised to a one day full seminar and a dinner with chief executive officers (CEOs) and top captains of business in the country.

The events now starts on the evening of July 30 at the La Palm Beach Hotel in Accra and continue on the following day with a full day seminar on human resource activities in Ghana. 

Prof Ulrich, who will be in the country for the first time, will be the guest speaker.

The seminar is part of the 'Strategic Management in Action' series and will be on the theme 'From Cost-Cutting to Value Creation: Driving Workplace Performance Through Best HR Practices".

The Project Manager for the summit, Madam Freda Addu, said the objective of the conference is to help shape the future of the HR practice in Ghana and Africa by examining the latest trends in the profession, define the contributions it makes to the success of businesses, and offer actionable ideas and tools needed to move it from a transactional role to a transformational one.

 The conference is also set to enlighten business and organisational leaders on how to create real and measurable value for their businesses though values, long term leadership plans and on how to attract and maintain the right talent.

2SL Limited and Corporate Aims Services Limited, both HR Advisors and Consultants are the organisers of the event.

TECNO launches Phantom PAD

TECNO Ghana has Phantom PAD to the range of devices it currently distributes in the country.

 The Phantom PAD offers is a combination of a phone and tablet with its features made to suit the customers.

It has a one slot for a SIM card device was unveiled at season two of the MTN Spoons Competition held at the Celebrity Golf Club in Sakumono.

The outgoing CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Michael Ikpoki, and TECNO Ghana CEO, Mr Maxwell Techie, jointly launched the device.

It is equipped with 4.2 Android Jellybean OS and a Quad Core 1.2 GHz CPU and supports both 2G and 3G networks.

It also comes with an 8.0 XGA Touchscreen, 5.0 MP Back Camera/2.0 MP Front Camera, Dual Camera and speakers, and has a 16GB ROM and 16 GB RAM, among other exciting features.

The Phantom PAD would be available in TECNO and Mobile Zone retail outlets, according to TECNO Ghana's CEO, and comes with a free 1200 MB worth of Data, spread across 6 months.

Techie added.

The launch of the new device comes months after the successful unveiling of the Phantom A earlier this year.

Tourism Authority targets GH₵ 8million from Tourism Levy

Although the implementation of theTourism Levy is still in the bud, MaxwellAdombila Akalaare reports that the levy could serve as a cash cow for the development of the local tourism industry if implemented properly


REVENUES from the Tourism Levy would amount to over GH₵ 8million by October this year,estimates from the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) has shown.
The estimated amount is expected to come from some 457 star-rated hotels – hotelswith exceptional services and facilities beyond the normal bed and breakfast – identifiednation-wide.
Thedeputy CEO of the Tourism Authority, Mr Samson Donkor disclosed this in aninterview.
He told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra that the authority has since October 1, 2012– when the levy took off – to January 8 this year collected GH₵240,254 from 38of such hotels.
Those hotels have so far complied with the collection and payment requirements of thelevy, Mr Donkor added.
The Tourism Levy is one per cent of a person’s total expenditure at a tourismenterprise such as a hotel, conference center, beach, drinking spot amongothers. It is to be collected by the operators of the enterprise in questionand later forwarded to the GTA, the regulator of the local tourism industry.
Although 273 star-rated hotels have so far registered to collect the levy, the deputyCEO at the Tourism Authority said only 38 of them have dully complied with thecollection.
Theauthority is currently using persuasion and dialogue to get the rest to complydespite having the power to prosecute the defaulters, Mr Donkor said.
“Itis early days yet and we don’t want to rush into applying sanctions. We want toproceed with the implementation gradually so that we can get every stakeholderto buy into it,” he explained.
“But if we are able to get the rest on board, our estimates show that in three months’time, we should be able to get GH₵ 3million.”
“And by October this year – one year into the implementation – that figure should rise to GH₵ 8million or GH₵ 9million,” he added.
Further estimates, he said, showed that the star-rated facilities would account for morethan 80 per cent of the total amount to be collected from the levy hence theauthority’s resolve to deal with them first and tactically.
Hospitalityservice providers such as hotels, conference centers, beach operators andrestaurants which are affected by the levy are to register with the GTA toenable them deduct the necessary amount from their patrons’ expenses and later payit into a common account, the Tourism Levy Account.
Thedeputy CEO explained that the authority selected the Agriculture DevelopmentBank (ADB) as the receiving bank to receive all payments arising from the levy.
Consequently,Mr Donkor said the that special account at the ADB has been shared with allfacilities registered to collect the levy on GTA’s behalf.
Eachregistered facility is, however, given a distinct number with which it uses tomake payments into the account, the deputy CEO said.
“Thesystem is such that we can sit here (referring to GTA’s offices) and monitorwho is making payments and who is not,” Mr Donkor said.
Onif the authority intends bringing more banks to receive the levy on its behalf,the deputy CEO answered in the negative, explaining that “we have been advised thatif we spread it, it will not accumulate enough interest for us.”
Thelevy is one of the sources of funding to the newly created Tourism DevelopmentFund captured in the revised Tourism Act, 2011, (Act 817).
According to the act, monies from the fund would beused for the marketing, promotion and development of tourist sites and relatedinfrastructure, building the capacity of stakeholders in the sector and fundingof research works in tourism among others.
Although the implementation of the levy wasenvisaged to come with some resistance from hospitality service providers andthe general public, the deputy CEO of the Tourism Authority said the affectedinstitutions have so far cooperated fully.
“Response wise, I don’t think we’ve had a lot ofdifficulty. The hotels are familiar with a levy like this because it is done inadvance countries where branches of these hotels are located.”
“It is the lower market that will have a problemwith it,” Mr Donkor said, in reference drinking spots, restaurants, beaches andthe likes.
He called on the relevant stakeholders to cooperatewith the authority in easing the challenges associated with the implementationand collection process, noting that “this levy could not have come at a bettertime.”
“If we are able to make it work, it will helpdevelop the sector and all will benefit,” Dr Donkor said.
While commending the logic behind the introductionof the levy, the General Manager of the Coconut Grove Regency Hotel in Accra,Mr Ralph Ayitey, said the Tourism Authority ought to use money accruing fromthe levy to develop the sector instead of limiting it to the institution.
“For me as a manager, I’m ok with it. The problem,however, is what will the money be used for?”
“The Tourism Authority should not see it as a fundfor them to use in developing themselves to the neglect of key things such ashuman resource development, provision of access roads to tourist sites andconstant electricity and water supply to hotels,” Mr Ayitey said.GB

Thirst in the midst of abundance?

This water has been gushing out of a burst pipeline at Kwashieman in Accra for more than a week now.
Attempts by the residents, including this reporter, to get officials of the Ghana Urban Water Company Limited (GUWCL) to patch the leakage failed as they would either not answer the calls or promise to come only to fail.
And this is not the first time. Similar leakages and bursts in the present and nearby pipelines have occurred more than five separate times only in this year.
But while this treated water waste into gutters and subsequently muddy nearby areas, thousands of people, including some neighbours of the burst pipelines, continue to live without water.
Some of those neighbours are now relying on the bubbling water from the ground to meet their individual water needs as they still struggle to cope with life in the national capital without a stable source of water for domestic consumption.
Is this not a clear sign of thirst in the midst of abundance?
There could be enough water for all if only the authorities in charge of this life-anchor resource acted with a sense of responsiveness.
Picture: MAXWELL ADOMBILA AKALAARE

Trashes for cash - Innovative way of dealing with plastic waste

A social enterprise with interest in protecting the environment is making real cash from trashes. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare writes on how the innovative skills of the enterprise is endearing used sachet water bags and other plastic materials


On daily basis, over 60 self-motivated workers of the Trashy Bags Project, a social enterprise, often gather at the ground floor of a one storey building at Dzorwulo in Accra washing, disinfecting, drying and stitching flatten pieces of used sachet water bags and other plastic waste into nice bags for sale.

They have been doing that since 2008 and have so far collected and sewed over 30 million bags of sachet water into some 350 assorted types of shopping, travelling and school bags, laptop, ipad and tablet sleeves among others.

With 70 pieces of the plastic sachet water at hand, employees of the venture are able to make a shopping bag which, when not in use, could be folded into a lady’s purse. But when ready for shopping, the recycled material could carry as much as 20 kilos of materials.

The group’s source of motivation, according to the Director of Projects at Trashy Bags, Mr Elvis Aboluah, is their individual desire to clean the environment using an innovative strategy that returns some cash to the enterprise and those engaged in particular.

“We realised that it is not that simple telling people not to litter. But once they are made to understand that there is value in gathering plastics rather than throwing them around, then the tendency is that those people will stop littering.”

“That was the whole idea behind Trashy Bags Project,” Mr Aboluah, 36, told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra.

And that has worked, thanks to the novelty of Mr Stuart Gold, a British volunteer who doubles as an advocate of the environment.

Prior to coming out with his Trashy Bags Project, Mr Gold was championing a climate change initiative titled ‘Stop Killing Us.’ The momentum on that project has since dropped as Mr Gold and his team shifts focus from educating people to preserve the environment to giving them an economic opportunity to gather plastic litter for cash or at best, stop littering.

The plastic menace

In the early 1990s through to the 2000s, many households that owed refrigerators in the country took to the bagging and selling of iced water in plain oblong plastics to its teeming fans nation-wide.

Although the idea made chilled water readily available to the low and middle income earners, it sparked an environmental problem nation-wide as most people often threw the plastics indiscriminately without regard to the fact that they take approximately 100 years to biodegrade.

Although many thought the phasing out of the iced water which was followed by the introduction of the 500 millilitre bagged water would help reduce the plastic mess, it has rather added on to the extent of complicating the problem.

Currently, Trashy Bags estimate that one out of every two Ghanaians take sachet water daily and that brings the estimated daily consumption of the product to 14 million. About 25 million people currently live in the country, according to the 2010 Population and Housing Census.

Thus, over 14 million pieces of sachet water bags find their way out daily, most of which are left in the open.

Although information on plastic waste recycling in the country is scanty, the Trashy Bags Project said about two per cent of the plastic consumed is recycled. “What happens to the remaining 98 per cent,” the enterprise asked on its website.

In an apparent response, Mr Aboluah said “that is why there is the need for a new mind set towards littering in this country. What most people do not know is that these plastics take more than 100 years to biodegrade, and by then, they would have caused a lot of harm to the environment,” he added.

Rescuing a million to produce millions

Although the raw material for Trashy Bags’ products is everywhere, getting them is challenging as most people shy from collecting or gathering plastic sachet bags. Many people are used to littering, a challenge the Trashy Bags Project is fighting to reduce.

The Project Director said his outfit currently pays GH¢0.70 for every kilo (120 pieces) of used plastic sachet water bags, an amount he said has motivated many people to pick and gather plastic waste for the enterprise.

“When we started, it was difficult getting the materials but that is no longer the case. We now get more than enough because, gradually, people are beginning to realise the economic value of used plastic sachet bags. So, instead of littering after use, they gather them. Some even bring them in trucks and that shows how people are adapting to our message,” Mr Aboluah said.

The project recently produced 1,000 bags, each made from 35 pieces of used 500 millilitre sachet water bags, for participants at the just ended West Africa Clean Energy and Environment (WACEE) Exhibition and Conference in Accra.

“That means about 35,000 plastic sachet water bags were collected from the system. Now, you can imagine what that means to the environment,” he said.

He added that his outfit was now aiming at producing one million of the purse-like shopping bags for retail in markets throughout the country.

“And if we succeed, then we would have collected over seven million plastic sachet water bags from the system and that is remarkable,” he noted. Each of those bags is produced from 70 pieces of the sachet.

The New product

In addition to rescuing plastic waste and turning them into lovely items, the Trashy Bags Project found a way of making good use of publicity fliers and billboard marts.

“If you go round the country, you realise that everybody is advertising. But when the advert is no longer in use, then the story ends there because the advertising agency as well as the company do not need the flier or mart and that creates another environmental problem,” said Mr Aboluah.

“So we thought of it and realised that we could make something nice from these stuffs,” he added.

He said the enterprise, as a result, has struck a deal with big corporate institutions and advertising agencies to supply them with used fliers to turn them into bags.

These bags, pretty and stylish in look, are proudly displayed at the group’s head office at Dzorwulo in Accra.

But unlike the plastic sachets, Mr Aboluah said Trashy Bags is not paying for the fliers and billboard marts because there is the tendency that people will go ripping off people’s banners just to make money.

The challenge

“For us, the focus is not about making a fortune but on making an impact on the environment,” Mr Aboluah said, disagreeing that his outfit was profiting from plastic trashes.

“Here, we do everything manually and that increases the cost yet we still keep our prices down,” he said, adding that “we are more of a social enterprise than a profit making institution.”

“As a result, we price our products low, knowing that the more people buy them, the more litter they take off the environment,” he said.

To the business community and general public, Mr Abluah said “it is okay to do business but when we do, please let’s remember the environment. After all, what kind of businesses will we be doing if we allow it to hurt the environment, the very place in which our products come from,” he asked.GB

Sachet water production - A thriving business with health implications

The sachet water business is growing in leaps and bounds but the issue of quality and regulation still remain unresolved. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare writes.

On a daily basis, 16-year-old Mary Azane criss-crosses vehicles, motorbikes and her colleague street hawkers and pedestrians on the Kwashieman stretch of the N1Highway in Accra, selling sachet water to a variety of road users.

She has been doing that for the past three years to cater for part of her expenses in school.

To Mary, a form two student of the St Luke Anglican Junior High School at Kwashieman, sachet water, popularly called pure water, has been a blessing.

“Because I sell it, I have been able to buy some books and dresses for myself and that reduces the burden on my parents,” she said.

Mary is one of the many young and grown up people across the country whom sachet water production has helped, by way of employment.

The sources of employment – the production, packaging, distribution, retailing and selling process – however hectic they might be, have helped cushion the burden of many while easing the rising unemployment burden on the country.

The water needs of many have also lessened.

Thanks to the 500 millilitre bagged sachet water, many people are now able to access and drink filtered and packaged water even in cars just by offering 10 Ghana pesewas in return for one.

The product has also grown many businesses and nurtured many more entrepreneurs, with some taking it as a stepping stone to venture into related areas such as commercial bottling and manufacturing of water dispensers for sale.

“Sachet water production is currently one of the biggest small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country,” Mr Kofi Essel, Head of Inspectorate Department at the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), said in an interview.

These notwithstanding, issues of consumer safety and disposal of the sachet after drinking still remain unresolved.

CONSUMER SAFETY

Ever since sachet water was innovated to replace iced water, which was then packaged in plain oblong plastics for sale, many people have rushed into its production and distribution.

Unfortunately however, majority of such people have little or no knowledge and experience in the production of water on commercial quantities.

"Sachet water production is becoming more of pensioners' job," Mr Essel told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS.

"You see, because the job requires simple equipment such as water filter machines and source of water, people think they can easily go into it but that shouldn't be the case. Sachet water production goes beyond that," he said.

Although all sachet water producers are, by law, required to obtain and constantly renew operational certificates from the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) and the FDB, majority of them have not lived up to that expectation, making it difficult for the two institutions to determine the quality or otherwise of their products.

“They rather hide and produce. Some people have this habit of turning their boy’s quarters into sachet water production factories and are producing only in the night.”

“Now, tell me, how do you expect FDB to trace these people,” Mr Essel asked, wrinkling his eye browns in apparent disappointment.

The Head of the Public Relations Department at the GSA, Mr Kofi Amposah-Bediako, said in an interview that such goods are only seen “when they are brought to the market. When that happens, we confiscate and destroy the water,” he added.

In 2011 for instance, over 100 sachet water production factories were closed down by a team of FDB and GSA officials for operating illegally.

And many more could have followed if the two institutions continued with the exercise.

To Mr Amposah-Bediako, however, his outfit and the FDB are doing their best under the current circumstances. But more still needed to be done, he admitted.

THE GHANAIAN PROBLEM

A sizeable number of the sachet water brands in the country, especially those in the hinterlands, are produced, distributed and consumed on the blind side of the GSA and the FDB – the institutions mandated to protect consumers against shoddy goods.

Such brands are normally without the GSA and FDB labels. The said labels, consisting of numbers and symbols, are meant to show approval of the product in question by the two.

Three of those ‘illegally produced’ sachet waters were seen by this reporter at Kantamanto, a slum in Accra and Nsawam. Their sachets had neither FDB nor Standards Authority labels.

Attempts to trace the sources failed as there were no contact numbers on the respective sachets. The sellers could not also help matters. They only pointed to kiosks and stores retailing a variety of sachet water in bags.

“In cases like these, what can you do,” Mr Amposah-Bediako asked in apparent loss of hope.

“You see, people are just not cooperative. Most of these products are produced by people who are known in their communities yet nobody is ready to volunteer information on their actions,” he said.

Beyond the hide and seek that has characterised the production and distribution of the sachet water country-wide, both the FDB and GSA officials said people also needed to be more health conscious with regards to ‘pure water’ consumption.

“Ghanaians are not health conscious. If we were, we would have stopped drinking water that is not approved by the authority and if we do that, producers will have no option than to stop,” Mr Amposah-Bediako said.

THE CONSEQUENCES

Early last year, the country awoke to news of a cholera outbreak in the national capital, Accra. That was unprecedented, given that Ghana is thought to have come of age to be attacked by diseases emanating from improper hygienic conditions.

But it happened. As at the middle of 2012, the outbreak had spread nation-wide, claiming over 60 lives and threatening over 4,000 more people, according to reports from the Ghana Health Service at the time.

Many health officers, including the Public Health Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), blamed the outbreak partly on the production and sale of pure water.

“Nobody knows how wholesome their source of water is. We don’t also know the health status of the producers and the sellers and that is a problem,” the Director, Dr Simpson Boateng, said in a recent interview.

The department sometimes undertakes unannounced visits to sachet water production sites and according to Dr Boateng, “there are interesting stories from such visits.”

“Some of these sachet waters are produced under very unhygienic conditions” he stressed, declining to give details.

He also faulted sachet water vendors, including hawkers like Mary, for helping spread unwholesome water that results in cholera outbreaks.

“The vendors expose the water to several unhygienic conditions. When they visit the toilet or urinal, do they wash their hands before using their bare hands to give the water to customers,” he asked.




Although Mary, the sachet water hawker at Kwashieman, said she washes her hands with soap and water after visiting the toilet and urinal, she failed to show where she stored the soap and water while she sold the water.

When pressed harder, she pointed to her house, about 100 meters from the street, as the place she washes her hands at.

BEST QUALITY CHECK

The FDB and the Standards Authority are overwhelmed as far as the regulation of sachet water production is concerned and their officials, Mr Essel and Amposah-Bediako admitted to that.

But while they struggle to bring sanity into the business, the two are also calling for a conscious effort from the populace towards their individual health needs.

“If you don’t patronise these sub-standard waters, they won’t produce again. In fact, the best quality check is boycott by consumers,” Mr Amposah-Bediako said.

Until that best quality check is implemented by all, many sub-standard sachet water factories will spring up and flourish to the detriment of people’s health.

This investigation was sponsored by Programme For African Investigation Reporting ( PAIR)

Border dispute doesn’t distract us – Kosmos

KOSMOS Energy Ghana says it is not distracted by the raging maritime border dispute between Ghana and neighbouring Cote d’Ivoire as it continues to develop some of its oil blocks in the disputed area.

The company said once the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not restrained Ghana and the oil exploration and production companies that she licensed from working on the area “then the place belongs to Ghana.”

The Communications Manager of Kosmos Ghana, Mrs Ruth Adashie, made these remarks in an interaction with some journalists in Accra.

Her interaction formed part of an oil, gas and mining (OGM) training programme for the journalists. The programme is an initiative of the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) with Penplusbytes, an ICT journalism training institution, as the local partner.

Mrs Adashie said, the dispute “has not affected our work at all.”

If it had, she said “we would have laid down our tools and wait to see what government would say but that is not the case.

“Once the ICC has not put an injunction on Ghana, then what it means is that Ghana still owes that portion of the sea and we have no cause to worry,” she emphasised.

Cote d’Ivoire has been laying ownership claim to the billions of barrels of oil and cubic feet of gas reserves reportedly found in the deep waters near the coast of Ghana.

Although the border dispute had existed for a long time, it was reignited around 2010 – the year that Ghana made significant discoveries and also commenced commercial production of oil and gas within the disputed area and Jubilee Field respectively.

Seismic data from the Ghana National petroleum Corporation (GNPC), the regulator of the country’s upstream petroleum sector, currently show that the disputed area covers portions of the Jubilee Field, Tweneboa, Enyenra, the Owo discoveries, West Tano-1X find and the Deep water Tano Block, all found in the west coast of Ghana’s territorial waters.

GNPC had already allocated some of those blocks to some oil companies, including Kosmos, to explore and develop for commercial oil production.

Kosmos Energy’s largest stake in the country, the deep water Tano discovery, is located in the disputed area, according to Mrs Adashie.

Thus, with Cote d’Ivoire still pushing its ownership claim, indications were that oil exploration and production companies such as Kosmos that have blocks within the disputed area would be distracted from continuing to work on their blocks.

That is, however, not the case with Kosmos, said the company’s Communications Manager.

“To us at Kosmos, it is work as usual,” she said but admitted that it was the Ghana government that could say otherwise.

“Once government has not said anything, then we believe that the area is for Ghana,” she said.

Touching on the Jubilee Field where Kosmos is a partner, Mrs Adashie said her outfit was confident daily output would climb further after moving from 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) earlier this year to currently average at 83,000bpd.

Kosmos, she said was, however, not happy with the wide media publicity devoted to Tullow, the operator, on issues concerning the field.

“Tullow has been taking all the glory and the other partners are left in the dark,” she bemoaned, noting that “all we ask of is equal publicity be given to all of us.”  

'If I die, I die for gold, says galamsey operator

The risk of being killed by a collapsing pit is not enough to scare off James Yemouk alias Boutique from hunting for gold at Gbane in the Upper East region. Once he is alive and energetic, Boutique says his search for gold must continue. Maxwell Adombila Akalaare looks at his daily itinerary as a miner 

It has been more than five years now since 30-year-old James Yemouk alias Boutique fell in love with his current profession of skimming for gold in the belly of the earth at Gbane, a farming community in the newly created Talensi District in the Upper East region.

Although Boutique can attempt quantifying the value of his more than five-year toil beneath and on the earth, he told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that he has lost count of the number of people who died in his presence while chasing gold underground.

Death, he said no longer scares him and his colleagues engaged in galamsey activities at Obuasi, one of the mining sites in the Gbane community.

“A lot of our colleagues have died from collapsing pits here. I cannot tell the number but I know that death is now normal to all of us here,” he said in Taleng, the dialect of the Talensi people.

Boutique 'washing' crashed rocks for gold debris at the site

“We sometimes pull the dead aside and continue the work because the work itself is a ‘do and die affair,” Boutique added.

LEARNING THE TRICKS

Boutique is one of the young energetic folks from the district and beyond who have taken to the pursuit for gold using man-powered tools. Their areas of operation are normally within some gold reserve sites mostly found in low lying areas across the Talensi District, the region and the entire country.

There, the methods used in extracting the gold plated rocks from about 85 meters down the earth are rudimentary and man powered.

Except the underground drenching and blasting of hard rocks where diesel powered drenchers and blasters are sparsely used, Boutique said everything from digging on the surface to breaking hard rocks at about 60-85 meters down the earth is done using a pick axe, shovel, chisel, hammer and moil – a man-powered drill.

Given the destructive nature of their practice on the environment, the concessions of large scale miners and on their lives, various personalities and institutions have for long mounted pressure against them and their galamsey activities.

Less success has, however, been achieved as the practice continuous to rise.

Although dozens of Boutique’s colleagues have died attempting to scoop gold from the earth, nothing shows that the spate of illegal small scale mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’, will ease soon.

The Ghana National Association of Small Scale Miners (GNASSM), the umbrella body of licenced small scale miners once galamsey operators, currently boasts of over 8,000 members nation-wide. The association’s General Secretary, Mr Oliver Rivers, recently told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS in Accra that there are twice as many of its members presently engaged in illegal mining nation-wide.

A lin-up of basins of crashed gold-plated rocks ready for grinding 

More people are joining than exiting the job at Gbane, said Boutique who spends his day plotting strategies to use in scooping gold underground.

“When I first came here some five years ago, less people engaged in this activity. But now, the number is increasing and almost every young person wants to mine for gold. That is obvious because the prospects are good,” he said.

Recounting his first days in the business to the GRAPHIC BUSINESS at the site, Boutique who is married and a father of two, said “going down to mine for gold is like boarding a plane at first.

“It is scary at first, very dark and the temperature, abnormal. You often wonder if you will be able to come out again but once you return to earth from your first trip down, then you heave a sigh of relief and yearn to go down again.

“After two or more successful attempts, then everything become normal to you such that you even wish to be doing it more often,” he said smiling. 

REAPING THE GAINS  

According to Boutique, a daily hustle at the site can return “more than GHC1,500.

“You can also labour for nothing such that you will have to borrow to eat that day,” he added.

On the benefits of his job, Boutique said “because of the work, I have money and can eat whatever dish I desire.

“Whenever I get to the house, my children and siblings run to me and I am able to give them money for their school items and upkeep. That alone gladdens my heart,” he said soberly.

Thanks to his bravery and skill to descend crudely dug mine pits, Boutique added that he has been able to build and roof six mud houses for himself and his extended family.

In most parts of the Talensi District and other communities in the region, a zinc roofed house is an asset cherished by all, especially the young uneducated. Mud houses roofed by thatch are considered colonial and thus despised.

DYING FOR GOLD

Although Boutique admits the risks in his profession, he said he is not willing to stop as long as he is energetic.

At the site, energy is of essence as much of the job is manpowered. The guys there were tough in body and openly displayed their muscular shoulders and chests

On the issue of death, Boutique said “this is my job from which I eat.

“If I refuse to work, I will have to go begging and that is not good for a young man like me,” he added and disagreed that his previous job of carrying loads for people in return for money popularly known as ‘kayayei’ was better than the current.

“There is no money in kayayei yet people use to despise us a lot.

“Here, just 0.8 grams of the ore fetches about GHC60 to GHC80. That is a lot of money and could have been my one or two month’s earnings as a Kayayei person down south.

“The only thing with this job (galamsey) is the fear of being killed or injured but that is okay because if I die, I die looking for money which is the gold,” Boutique said laughing.

PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT

However prosperous the illegal gold mine business is, Boutique said he would not allow his children into it given the need to educate them.

“It is risky and unwise. People have been cheating me because of my illiteracy. I do not want that to happen to my children again,” he said.

Boutique also admitted that he would one day have to retire from the work as his energy cannot carry-on forever.

But before doing that he said he would have to find a permanent source of living for himself and his family of eight of which he is the bread winner.

Although Boutique admitted the need to regularise galamsey operations in the district, he said his current financial stand was not strong enough to start a joint process towards owing a concession.

He thus appealed to the government and other interested parties to help them with capital and implements as “most of us have fallen in love with the job.

“We do it with our hearts and if they help us, the business will improve and we will be able to mine more gold for the country,” he added.

Boutique is his 'off duty' mode

On his nickname, he said “it is because I only wear dresses bought from the boutique that is how come my friends call me Boutique.”

ABL lobbies for tax exemptions

THE Accra Brewery Limited (ABL) could soon brew cassava beer in the country if its negotiation with the government for tax exemptions is successful.

Cassava beer (currently brewed in South Africa by SAB Miller – ABL’s parent company) is a very exciting one to us and we will not mind brewing it in Ghana too,” the Managing Director, Mr Greg Metcalf, said in an interview.

The MD, however, said replicating the beer in the country “will depend on government’s support for it because at the end of the day, the product will have to be affordable to the final consumers.”

He spoke to the paper shortly after members of the International Finance and Economic Journalists (IFEJ) toured a 1,000 hector litre brewing plant that produces ABL’s latest brand of beer – the Chibuku Shake Shake.

Chibuku Shake Shake, SAB Miller’s East African replica in the country, is currently enjoying excise duty due to its 100 per cent use of locally produced materials such as sorghum, maize and guinea corn.

Mr Gregory Metcalf, MD, ABL

“We are already in discussions with the government to see if it can support us with an excise regime to brew cassava beer and make it affordable to the local market,” the MD said but declined to comment on the government’s posture to the company’s request

“Those discussions are still in their early stage s and the government is listening,” he noted.  

Checks at the Trade and Industry Ministry showed that the company was indeed asking for a tax incentive on the commercial consumption of cassava, the main ingredient in SAB Miller’s cassava beer currently brewed and widely patronised in South Africa and other southern African countries.

ABL’s push for an excise duty on the commercial consumption of cassava produced in the country comes months after the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffour, announced in the government’s 2012 Budget Statement that brewing companies that increased their consumption of local raw materials could enjoy tax incentives, including excise on the final goods in question.

At the end, Mr Metcalf said “brewing cassava beer in Ghana will be exciting and we like to do it. That, however, depends on the support we will get from the government”.

                                                         

Air transport still safest – GCAA

THE Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has called on the travelling public, especially patrons of air transport, not to be discouraged by the recent plane crashes that killed 10 people in the country and several others in other countries recently.

The Director-General of the authority, Air Cadre Kwame Mamphey (Rtd), who gave the appeal in an interview, said despite the happenings, air transport still remained the safest among all the other means of transport in the country

“That crash was an unfortunate incident and the GCAA grieves with the victims’ families and friends.

Air Cdre Kwame Mamphey, DG, GCAA

“But it should not discourage our country men and women from travelling by air because air transport is still the safest means among the rest,” the DG said.

On Saturday, June 2, ten persons died on the spot when a cargo flight belonging to Nigeria-based Allied Airlines crashed into a passenger vehicle near the El-Wal Sports Stadium in Accra while struggling to land.

Although all four crew members of the Boeing 727-200 were reported to have sustained some injuries, all persons on board the commercial vehicle died.

Barely a day after Ghana’s crash, reports had it that a Boeing MD-83 also operated by Dana Air in Nigeria ploughed into a printing works and residential building in neighbouring Nigeria killing about 153 people including the crew members, all passengers on the plane and others in the buildings at the time of the incident.

Similar crashes have also been reported in other countries of late where causalities are said to have been recorded.

An air transport patron and staff of the Graphic Communications Group Limited said of the crashes that “these incidents are really worrying. They raise questions over one’s safety while up in the flight.”

However genuine those fears may be, the DG of the GCAA said travelling by air still remains the safest, fastest and most comfortable means of transport.

“I don’t want to compare this crash to other incidents on the road or even compare the two because people already know what happens on our roads almost every day,” Air Cadre Mamphey said.

He further assured the travelling public of the authority’s resolve to ensure passenger and crew safety at all times.

“Safety has been our hallmark and that is what we will be working at achieving. The public should be rest assured that the GCAA is up to the task as it has always being in ensuring that there is safety in the air always,” he added.

Read more insightful aviation stories and articles on a special supplement on the aviation industry in our June 26 edition.

                                                                                                      

Evoque celebrates Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee

PHC MOTORS, local distributors of Range Rover and other prestige branded vehicles in the country, have launched a 30-day campaign aimed at luring more people to patronise and be abreast with the Range Rover Evoque currently on sale at the company’s showroom in Accra.

The promotion which begun on June 1, is to, among other things, enable the company and the Evoque in particular share in Queen Elizabeth’s 60^th years reign as queen of England.

The Deputy Sales Manager at PHC Motors, Mr Anthony Torsu, said in an interview that the move would also give the brand the opportunity to relish in its image as a British car.

“Range Rover is essentially a British car. That is why we came out with this special promotion for our clients to coincide with the Queen’s Silver Jubilee,” he said.

As part of the promotion, patrons of the Evoque vehicle, a smaller make-up of the Range Rover Suv, will be offered a 20,000 kilometer free service, including parts and services, within the 30-day period that the campaign will run.

The Range Rover Evoque

“We are also offering the car to people at a competitive price as long as the promotion runs,” Mr Torson said but declined to mention the price.

“It is obviously a downward review in line with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee but it’s a competitive price compared to the ones offered in the market,” he added.

The Range Rover Evogue was unveiled in 2011 as a smaller make of the Range Rover Suv. It has since received favourable patronage in the country and globally.

PHC Motors for instance sold about 20 of them in the country in 2011 and is now aiming at selling 40 to 50 in 2012.

“Evoque is doing just well. It seems to be holding on to its name and the patronage from clients has been impressive too,” the Divisional Manager of PHC Motors, Mr Leslie Ephson, said in a separate interview.

He added that the company intended to adopt more customer-centered initiatives and intensify after sales services in a bit to achieve its target of wining more clients for the numerous brands of vehicles that it currently distributes in the country.

Ghana could miss MDGs on hunger – Report

Story: Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

GHANA’s failure to halve poverty and reduce hunger in the three northern regions, as in the case of the other regions, could prevent the country from meeting the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG on hunger, a new report on the MDGs has showed.

The report which written by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) and the United Nations System in the country further found that the three regions accounted for more than 55 per cent of the nation’s poor as of 2006.

“On the contrary, only one out of every 10 poor people in Ghana comes from the Ashanti Region. Four regions – the Western, Central, Greater Accra and Eastern regions – account for less than 5 per cent each of national poverty while the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions contribute 6 per cent and 8 per cent respectively to national poverty,” the report which was published this month added.

It observed that although Ghana has over the years managed to halve extreme poverty from 36.5 per cent to 18.2 per cent between 1991 and 2006, “the three northern savannah regions and food crop farmers have not benefited from this.”

Poverty levels in these areas have ranged between 52 and 88 per cent – far higher than the national average of 18.2 per cent, the report said.

The findings would, among other things, constitute the subject of discussion at the 2012 Consultative Group Meeting and Multi-Donor Budget Support (MDBS) Annual Review which begins in Accra today to Wednesday.

The report which was published under the theme: ‘Achieving the MDGs with Equity in Ghana: Unmasking the Issues Behind the Averages’ looked at the country’s progress towards attaining the MDGs on or before the 2015 deadline.

The MDGS are a set of eight targets that was devised and adopted by the United Nations and majority of its member countries in 2000 as progress benchmarks for developing countries in the areas of poverty and hunger reduction, health, education, access to water among others.

Since their take-off in September 2000, various countries, their development partners and the UN in particular have often mooted development policies towards them as each country is tasked to meet all the eight goals by 2015.

With the 2015 deadline now inching closer, concerns are that the widening socio-economic gaps between Northern Ghana and rural farmers in general and the wealthy southern dwellers could derail the nation’s efforts at achieving the goals, especially in the area of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

“Ghana’s performance in eradicating poverty has been quite remarkable at the national level and urban areas,” the report stated.

It however said the socio-economic inequalities, poverty incidence and its depth across the 10 regions “are worrying.”

According to the report, the incidence of poverty in the three northern regions remained “very high and far above the national average.

Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture

“The Northern Region managed to reduce upper poverty incidence from 63 per cent in 1991 to 52 per cent in 2006 while Upper East recorded an increase from 67 per cent to 70 per cent over the same period,” it said.

Although poverty incidence in the Upper West had declined from 88 per cent in 1991 to 84 per cent in 1999, the report found that the rate rose again to 88 per cent in 2006, thus raising concerns over the sustainability and depth of poverty reduction strategies in these areas.           

Given that poverty and hunger has rippling implications on the country’s ability to meet the other MDGs, the report recommended that strategies aimed at reducing poverty and hunger be tailored towards the areas lagging behind.

“The high incidence of poverty in the three northern regions and among food crop farmers at the national level and in rural areas should engage the attention of policy makers and relevant stakeholders.

“Strategies to further reduce poverty therefore need to account for geographical, gender and socio-economic disparities in poverty incidence,” it further recommended.

T'di Port expansion will reduce shipping cost – Shippers

THE Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) –the umbrella body of shippers in the country – has welcomed moves by the government to expand the Takoradi Port in response to the rising volumes of number of vessel and cargo traffic.

The authority is hoping that the expansion works, if completed successfully, will help ease traffic congestions, fast track loading and offloading activities at the port and consequently lessen the cost of shipping which has been linked to congestion and pressure on limited port facilities.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GSA, Dr Kofi Mbiah said in an interview that “shippers are happy to hear that the government has secured funds to expand the port.  We are keenly interested in seeing the expansion take place,” he added.

Concerns from shippers and port authorities over limited facilities at the Takoradi Port despite increasing volumes of business there prompted the government to allocate part of the US$3 billion loan contracted from China last year to the GPHA to, among other things, deepen the draft, extend the port’s seawall to about 1,000 metres and separate containerised cargo from bulk cargo operations.

The move is expected to lessen pressure on the port while upgrade its facilities to the levels of an international port capable of handling all kinds of trade including oil exports.

Although the Takoradi Port was constructed in the late 1920s mainly as a shipment destination for cocoa beans abroad, continuous pressure on the Tema Port has caused it to undertake other maritime activities either than cocoa shipment.

 Data from the Ghana Ports and Highway Authority (GHPA) also indicate that trading activities at the port have been rising over the past few years. Container traffic to the port rose from about 47,828 in 2009 to 56,598 in 2011 with cargo vessel traffic also moving from 956 vessels in 2009 to 1,798 in 2011 on the back of oil production at the Jubilee Field and the general rise in shipment to and from the country.

“The port is really congested,” Dr Mbiah said explaining that cargo vessels and containers at the port had often swelled into the land and coastline leading to unusual delays in clearing and shipment of goods.

“We the commercial shippers are always competing with oil vessels for space,” the CEO added.

The result, he said has been a rise in the cost of shipping given that “the more days a hired commercial container or vessel stays at the port, the more cost the shipper in question incurs.”

Thus, shippers in the country are hoping that the successful completion of the expansion works will help ease these frustrations and lower the cost of shipping to the benefit of the industry and the country as a whole, Dr Mbiah said.

Economy reels under imports

As imports into the country surge, growth in key sectors of industry slows, reports Maxwell Adombila Akalaare

IMPORTS into the country within the first three months of 2012 overran exports by 2.5 million metric tons, further exposing the dull state of the country’s industrial sector and the import-dependent nature of the national economy.

The items imported within the period included furniture, used clothes, manufacturing equipment and raw materials, beverages, foodstuffs among others.

Statistics from the Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) showed that out of the over 4.9 million metric tons of goods registered at the ports in the first quarter, about 3.7 million metric tons were imports. That represented 76 per cent of the period’s total trade compared to about 1.2 million tons, representing 24 per cent, which were exports.

The data indicates that the drop in exports over imports within the first quarter of 2012 is three per centage points higher than the one recorded in the first quarter of 2011. Imports in the first quarter of 2011 constituted about 73 per cent (3.5 million tons) of total throughput which was about 4.2 million tons at the time.

“The trend is worrying,” bemoaned the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GSA, Dr Kofi Mbiah. “We need to implement tunnel initiatives; specialised economic policies that are focused and directed towards stimulating growth in selected areas of the manufacturing sector while limiting imports in the long term,” Dr Mbiah said.

Dr Kofi Mbiah, CEO, GSA

Although less patronage for local fabrics is currently crashing local textile companies out of business, imports of foreign textiles, cloths, yarn and second hand clothing has over the years been on a consistent rise.

Statistics on the country’s trade pattern showed that a total of 199,331 metric tons of second hand clothing, foreign textiles, yarn and cloth were imported into the country in 2010 alone. That figure meanwhile jumped to 263,986 metric tons in 2011, a year that witnessed massive employee layouts in most local textile companies nation-wide as the industry struggled to contain the effects of less patronage of their products.

The General Secretary of the Textiles, Garment and Leather Employees Union (TEGLEU), Mr Abraham Koomson, once told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS that “the influx of pirated textiles into the country is killing the local textile industry.

“That trend is denying the state of revenues and employment opportunities,” he said.

Local textile companies which were employing about 25,000 people are now employing less than 3,000 people, a development the Shippers’ Authority CEO said was a signal of how a country’s high taste for imports could be injurious to its local economy.

“Encouraging imports kill the economy slowly. It makes the country and the manufacturing sector in particular worse off,” he said.

A statement issued by the latest IMF mission to the country said in part that “despite buoyant exports, the (country’s) current account deficits exceeded 9 percent of GDP in 2011 on account of high import growth.”

According to the statement, the “rapid depreciation of the cedi in the first five months of this year has begun to feed into domestic prices, a development Dr Mbiah of the GSA said could be blamed on high imports.

“People normally argue that importing used items does not take away foreign exchange but limiting those imports also stimulates industrialisation, stabilises the local currency and generates job opportunities in the long run,” Dr Mbiah observed.

Most people, he said “just have taste for foreign goods, be them furniture or clothing and once you allow that taste to fester, then you can expect the economy to suffer in the long run.

Dr Mbiah recommended the implementation of “selective tariff regimes that will help discourage the importation of particular items so as to promote growth in local businesses.

“We must initiate tunnel-like policies; those that are directed and focused on specific sectors of the economic. We could even use tariffs to discourage imports of items that fall within those sectors.

“Once we do that, then we can give ourselves some targets that indigenous businesses must have a firm control over those areas by a certain time and work towards achieving those targets. If we do that, then we can be sure of achieving a longer aim of limiting imports to save local industries,” the GSA CEO added.

He, however, admitted that the economy at its current state was not “resilient enough” to manufacture to feed its populace.

But added that “that is why we must set targets for ourselves. We can start from somewhere. It doesn’t have to be an overnight thing.”