Kofi Ahovi

By Kofi AHOVI The government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI), has begun measures to ensure that the Rural Enterprises Project (REP) goes nationwide to facilitate efforts being made to develop those areas. Based on the evidence of the impact that the project was making in the areas of skills development, micro enterprise establishment and employment creation in the rural areas, the government has requested the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) to scale-up the project into a national programme that will cover the remaining rural districts and municipalities of the country. Currently the project is undertaken in only 66 out of the 170 districts in the country. The request received a very positive consideration by IFAD and an interim evaluation mission was fielded in July, this year, to assess the performance of the project. The findings of the interim evaluation mission were highly satisfactory to both IFAD and the government and, on that basis, an ...

By Kofi AHOVI The Trades Union Congress (TUC) wants government to focus especially on job creation in its budget for 2011 fiscal year. According to the TUC, the umbrella organization for labor in Ghana, government would have to move away from its inflation targeting policy to an employment targeting strategy in the next year budget, which would be presented by the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning to Parliament next month. The TUC made these suggestions in proposals to be submitted to the Finance Minister as part of inputs for next year’s budget. In the document, dubbed “It’s time to create decent jobs for Ghanaians,” the Congress wants clear, measurable targets for employment creation on a region by region and district by district basis. According to the TUC, government must assess its performance mainly on the number of jobs created during the year and refrain from using inflation as the main indicator of its performance. It argues that the unemployment challenge facing the c...

Countries across the world are recouping huge interest from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Kofi Ahovi examines Ghana’s efforts in doing same to maximize wealth. Ghana has the potential to create more wealth from Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) if only efforts being made to establish and strengthen it are adhered to and executed accordingly. Presently, the country is struggling to protect its industries, particularly the textile industry, because the designs and cloths used are imitated outside and brought in cheaply to compete with what is produced in the country. Today, out of more than 20 textile industries in Ghana since independence, only five are managing to keep their heads above water. The US Department of Commerce has also estimated that counterfeit goods, including music, movies, electronic goods, food stuffs, automotive parts and pharmaceuticals, among many other things, account for seven percent of all global trade. This equated to almost US$350 billion in lost reve...

By Kofi Ahovi Members of the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) will soon have the opportunity to meet with the Presidency twice yearly to discuss issues relating to the development of the economy. The first of such meetings was held with the Vice-President, John Dramani Mahama, last week. The owners of private businesses are also expected to engage President John Evans Atta Mills with their concerns and challenges. According to PEF, they are hoping to use such encounters to advance the cause of the private sector. PEF believes that the Presidency stands the chance of benefiting directly from the experiences of business managers in the country which can foster policy formulation in the private sector. PEF expects to use the next meeting, which is yet to be scheduled, to discuss in detail issues relating to the implementation of both the Industrial Policy and the Private Sector Development Strategy II, which were both okayed by cabinet last month. The PSDS II sets out a course for gove...

By Kofi AHOVI British Airways recently sponsored some journalists from selected media houses in Ghana to the United Kingdom for a short visit ranging from three to 10 days. The trip was to enable the journalists to acquire firsthand knowledge about British Airways’ (BA) Terminal 5 which was established in 2008. The journalists were treated to the best of BA from the beginning to the end of the trip. First, the journalists, numbering five, were treated to business class services, Club World. Club World has a 25% wider, more comfortable seat that reclines to a fully flat bed adapting to one’s need and giving flexibility whether working, sleeping, eating or relaxing. The in-seat power combined with comfortable design makes working onboard much easier. Club World longhaul business class is designed around the passenger. From the moment passenger arrives at the airport to the moment he/she leaves, BA’s Club World ensures that everything is just as the passenger had wished. The latest Club ...

By Kofi AHOVI The Ghana Shippers’ Authority (GSA) has held its sixth maritime law seminar for justices of the superior courts of judicature in Ghana. The seminar was to abreast the judges on recent developments with respect to maritime laws both locally and internationally. It also offered opportunity for the exchange of ideas and information for the enrichment of maritime law practice in Ghana. Some of the areas covered during the seminar include international law of marine collisions, adopting the Alternative Dispute Resolution in the settlement of international maritime trade and transport disputes, the law of towage and pilotage and the Rotterdam rule- a new international conversion. The Minister of Transport, Hon. Mike Hammah, during the opening ceremony, called on the judiciary to work in harmony to ensure that Ghana maintains a competitive position in the West Africa sub-region with regard to international trade. “Ghana must also develop a strong and knowledgeable judiciary th...

By Kofi AHOVI Ghana scored 54 points out of a total budget transparency rating score on a 100-point scale in the 2010 Open Budget Survey (OBS), earning the country a grade "C" criteria, the highest ranking in West Africa. The OBS, which is an initiative of the International Budget Partnership (IBP) and produced bi-annually, uses internationally recognized criteria to give each country a transparency score on a 100-point scale called the Open Budget Index (OBI). The survey report, which is also being launched in 94 countries worldwide, indicates that on the global front, 74 out of 94 countries assessed failed to meet basic standards of transparency and accountability when it comes to their national budgets, with the worst performers, including China, Saudi Arabia, Equatorial Guinea, Senegal and newly democratic Iraq, a situation which is found to be in sharp contrast in respect to their national incomes. Dr. Yakubu Zachariah, Programme Director of the Integrated So...