Posted:The Chronicle | Friday, May 15, 2009
By Charles Takyi-Boadu
Vice President John Dramani Mahama is optimistic of the government’s ability to lift Ghana’s struggling economy from its present state. According to him, they are working hard to reverse what he described as the ‘serious deterioration’ in the economic fortunes that his party inherited.
He gave this assurance in a speech read on his behalf by Trade and Industry Minister, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, at the 15th Anniversary celebration of Strategic Communications Africa (Stratcom Africa) in Accra on Wednesday.
“We are bringing down the huge budget deficit that reached record levels that have never been seen in the Ghanaian economy,” he said.
He believes this can be achieved through austere measures, as announced by Finance Minister, Dr. Kwame Duffuor, in his maiden budget presentation to Parliament.
For this reason, he was confident that his government would be able to bring down the deficit, and restore the health of the economy.
This, according to him, was what would enable local enterprisesto have access to cheaper credit, stressing “the credit needs of smaller scale enterprises, in particular, are occupying centre stage for the government of President Mills.”
He consequently encouraged local enterprises to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the rapidly developing oil and gas industry in Ghana, to better their lot.
“We cannot accept that out of the billions of dollars to be invested in the exploration and development stages of a large project like the Jubilee project, only a small share goes to local enterprises,” he said, and encouraged Ghanaians “to be active in pursuing opportunities in this sector.”
The Vice President, however, had a word of advice for those who may have interests. “We should not do this by being passive fronts or agents for foreign companies. We must work to create local enterprises, even if it is not easy in the beginning.”
That way, he said, the benefits of the country’s natural resources would accrue to its people, and not the foreigners who are descending on the Western Region in their numbers.
Mr. Mahama cautioned foreign partners involved in developing the Jubilee fields, to endeavour to stick to the rules of the game, by strictly conforming to the provisions of laws that were passed in 1980’s by the Provisional National Defdence Council (PNDC) to regulate petroleum exploration, which requires that preference be given to using local goods and services, and that Ghanaians be employed at all levels of the operations, once they have the requisite expertise.
To him, the challenge was for Ghanaians to show their capabilities and exhibit the highest levels of professionalism, whether as welders, rig workers, engineers, financial or administrative staff, in order to lay claim to the job positions that are being created.
On her part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Stratcom Africa, Esther Amba Numaba Cobbah, urged her colleagues in the communications industry to rise up to the challenge, to ensure that they scale new heights of effectiveness in what they do.
“As we see with athletes, the raising of the bar inspires people to new levels of effort and achievement. We train harder to make us able to break that old record,” she emphasised.
Through self-discipline and with a sense of responsibility to the nation, she urged her colleagues to rise to new heights of performance.
She identified one of the major challenges in the country’s communications industry, as the rush to produce materials such as brochures, without determining what the real communication need was.
This, according to her, could lead to the wasting of resources, and therefore advised those in the communications industry to device new and innovative methods in meeting the demands of their clients.
Though she admits there have been challenges over the years, the CEO said one thing that kept the company going, was the determination to maintain a good reputation.
Ms. Cobbah took the opportunity to express her profound gratitude to all stakeholders in the industry, especially Stratcom’s numerous clients, staff and the media, for helping to build a brand name for themselves.
Present were government ministers and business tycoons, including Bernard Mensah, a partner of the United Kingdom-based Goldman Sachs, who was the Guest Speaker.
Barbara Sika Baeta, Founder and Managing Director of Flair Catering Services, chaired the programme.
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