Ofosu-Ampofo commits himself

…to help building beads, artefacts market
Posted: The Chronicle | Monday, October 12, 2009

By Charles Takyi - Boadu


The Eastern Regional Minister, Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, has committed himself to helping build and establish a permanent beads and artefacts market in the heart of the region, Koforidua.
The construction of the market, which would be sited near the Centre for National Culture in Koforidua, is expected to begin in earnest next year. On completion, the market is expected to provide facilities for the sale of artefacts to help develop Ghana, and the region’s already struggling tourism industry.

Mr Ofosu-Ampofo made this commitment when members of the National and Eastern Regional Executives of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), and the Consultant of the association on the ‘Using the media to strengthen business advocacy’ project, Mr Kwasi Afriyie-Badu of KAB Governance Consult, called on him last week.

The group was at the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) to seek assurances from the Regional Minister and the RCC to continue with the arrangements made by the GJA and the RCC, for the promotion of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs), as a way of promoting economic development and creating employment in the region, under the previous government.

Under his leadership, Mr Ofosu-Ampofo promised that the RCC would continue with all the arrangements reached under the project, with his predecessor. This, according to him, was the reason for which the RCC supported the Eastern Regional Beads Makers Association and the Aburi Wood Cavers group during the just-ended United Nations World Tourism Conference, which was held in Ghana.

Two of the organisers were said to have benefited under the project, to exhibit at the pavilion of the region at the conference.

Furthermore, the Regional Minister said after 20 years of decentralisation, district and municipal assemblies needed to move from only providing service, to the economic development of their districts and municipalities.

On his part, the General Secretary of the GJA, Bright Blewu, said the association decided to embark on the project, because they identified SMEs as an area that could support in the economic development of the country.

Ever since the project started, he said, media focus on the challenges of SMEs was on the increase, stressing that this was a good sign for the progress of Ghana as a country.

The project Consultant, Kwasi Afriyie-Badu, however appealed to the Regional Minister to draw the attention of the district and municipal assemblies to engage in the preparation of their fee-fixing resolutions and their development programmes.

In spite of the existence of the Public Procurement Law, he noted that district and municipal assemblies could find a way to generate business for the SMEs in their areas, and thus appealed to the RCC to consider the inclusion of representatives of the SMEs to the assemblies during the selection of government appointees.