Day: June 4, 2023

The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has called for the recalculation of the Value Added Tax (VAT) on raw materials that are unavailable in the country to reduce the cost of production.

The current calculation of VAT, which included the basic VAT and six per cent on the total goods, coupled with high utility charges, were crippling local production and industrialisation, it said.

Mr Tsonam Akpeloo, the Chairman of the Association, said this at a breakfast meeting organised by the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre in Tema.

He said the high cost of production in Ghana was making competition with other countries in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) cumbersome.

‘What we’re asking for is a situation where they can take off some of the duties on the raw materials that we don’t have in Ghana, to make it easier to be productive when producing in Ghana,’ he said.

For the country to achieve development and make efficient use of the AfCFTA, it needed to champion the competitiveness and interests of the local industries…’ Mr Akpeloo said.

Policies must be clear on the ban of imported goods, the same of which were produced locally, to ensure that Ghanaians consumed what they produced, he said.

‘The President of Nigeria made it a point that you cannot import rice; every rice that is consumed in Nigeria has to be grown locally. It was a very painful policy; people suffered; the quality initially was so terrible, but they had to endure; as I speak to you, they are reaching self-sufficiency in rice production,’ Mr Akpeloo noted.

He said Nigeria’s decision had compelled investors to settle and invest in rice farming in that country, and that Ghana could take a cue from that and make her laws clear regarding the importation of goods that were locally produced.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Delta Airlines, in collaboration with Junior Achievement (JA), has presented awards to participants of this year’s innovation camp challenge.

The participants, made up of 65 students from 13 universities, were grouped into 10 teams for the competition.

It was attended by students mostly from universities, in Accra, and held at the, Academic City.

Team Four emerged winners, team Five came in second, and team Two placed third.

The awardees were presented with medals, gifts, and certificates for their performances.

The participants were to develop a solution to a challenge: ‘How can modern technology be used to improve the overall customer experience of Airlines from booking to arrival’?

The evaluation criteria for the judges included understanding of the challenge, originality of the solution, feasibility of the solution, structure of presentation, presentation skills, teamwork, and handling of questions and answers.

Ms Eloina Baddoo, Sales and Marketing Manager, Delta Airlines, Ghana, Cote D’Ivoire, and Liberia, commended the students for their efforts, saying, ‘those who did not win are winners in their own right.’

She said the feedback from the judges was not to discourage them but to prepare them for the workforce in the future.

She advised the teams to keep in touch, form a strong bond beyond the camp, and share ideas for future projects.

The event, she explained, encouraged young people to find solutions to real-life business situations and enhance skills for the future workforce, including creativity, critical thinking, teamwork, and problem solving.

She encouraged the participants to take advantage of the opportunity to engage resource persons and their colleagues to learn new ideas for their career improvement.

Ms Baddoo said Delta Air Lines remained committed to investing in the next generation of leaders and hoped their personal and professional development would be significantly impacted throughout the sessions.

She said Delta Air Lines supported 32 JA chapters across five continents to teach students about financial literacy, work readiness, and entrepreneurship.

For his part, Mr Abeiku Greene, Executive Director, Junior Achievement Ghana, encouraged the students to embrace the power of innovation by unleasing their creative thinking for success.

He admonished the students to leverage collaboration to get the most out of the workshop, adding that partnership resulted in excellence.

Mr Greene advised them to develop an entrepreneurial mindset to be self-employed and ensure resilience in the pursuit of their career aspirations.

Junior Achievement Africa, part of JA Worldwide, is one of Africa’s largest organizations working on youth economic empowerment.

Mr Isaac Aboah, facilitator for the Design Thinking Session, introduced the students to concepts of innovation and hands-on experiential activities to apply their skills to real-life case studies.

He said it was imperative to work together to produce better outcomes and to ‘think outside the box’ to solve a problem.

The one-day business simulation workshop was to encourage creativity, critical thinking, teamwork and problem solving as the young people put forward solutions to real-life business situations.

Delta team members were available to support JA Africa’s team and provide coaching and mentoring to the students throughout the day.

The workshop on innovation and design thinking was led by a resource person from the Technology and Innovation Centre at Academic City.

Through real-life case studies and hands-on experiential activities, the workshop challenged students to use their thinking faculties and think outside the box.

They learned to approach problems from different perspectives, recognise multiple solutions, and collaborate effectively in teams.

Following the workshop, the students were divided into teams and presented with real business challenges faced by Delta Air Lines.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, Member of Parliament (MP) for Korle Klottey, says the Government’s initiatives and programmes geared towards youth development in the country are not changing the lives of the youth.

‘They are propaganda. They have all the nice words; youth in Agric, YouStart, etc, but these are not changing the lives of our young people,’ she said.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said this during a lecture to mark the 44th Anniversary of the June 4 uprising at Hohoe in the Volta Region, on the theme: ‘Saving our Democracy: The spirit of June 4.’

She said the Government must recognise the aspirations of the youth and channel its policies to meet those aspirations instead of ‘forcing people to do what sounds nice on paper. This is not how you build a nation’.

The country’s democracy, which was 30 years and running, was built on a foundation of discipline, integrity, accountability and transparency, she said.

Dr Agyeman-Rawlings urged members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to be proud of their heritage, have the courage to fight injustice and not be divided, especially on tribal or religious grounds.

Mr Governs Kwame Agbodza, MP for Adaklu and Minority Chief Whip, said party members must uphold the vision of the founders and sacrifice to ensure the NDC won power in 2024.

He said the 2024 general election would not be a challenging task if the members believed in the June 4 uprising.

Mr Samuel Ablakwa Okudzeto, the North Tongu MP, said the NDC must work hard to reclaim the Hohoe Parliamentary Seat from the New Patriotic Party.

The young people in the party must reflect on the story of courage and sacrifice of late former President Jerry John Rawlings and speak against injustice and destruction to make the necessary impact, he said.

Mr Eric Bortey, the General Secretary, June 4th Movement, said the celebration helped the citizens to know the history of the NDC adding that the factors that led to the uprising included high cost of goods and services, which were still persistent.

Alhaji Farouk Gyamodie, the Volta Regional Chairman, June 4 Movement, said bad governance, political arrogance, corruption, shortage of commodities and tribalism were some events that led to the June 4 uprising.

‘The period of Supreme Military Council (SMC) I and II was full of misery. Ghanaians were looking and waiting patiently for a messiah.’

He said basic commodities such as matches, sugar, soap, toilet rolls, which were in short supply, were given new baptismal names as ‘essential commodities.’

‘The story of June 4 must be told daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.’

Aside the declaration and celebration of Independence on March 6, 1957, the only event that brought joy to all Ghanaians was the June 4 uprising, Mr Antwi Bosiako, a member of the June 4 Movement, said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Fertilizer Platform Ghana (FPG) has held discussions with Mr Bryan Acheampong, Minister for Food and Agriculture, over an enhanced Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) for the year 2023.

The FPG, in a working visit to the Minister, led by Mr Ernest Osei-Assibey, Co-Chair for Public Sector and Richmond Dogbe, Co-Chair for Private Sector, discussed issues confronting the fertilizer sector in Ghana, including revision to PFJ implementation and reinstatement of fertilizer tax exemptions.

Mr Ernest Osei-Assibey, in his address, said, the FPG would review fertilizer products that had been introduced for the PFJ since 2018 to determine their suitability for achieving the programme’s targets.

He also recommended to the Minister to facilitate the ongoing initiatives of the fertilizer sector which include the development and revision of soil maps across the country.

‘The soil amendment’s programmes in areas, particularly identified as acidic and incorporating such soil amendment products in government programmes that supplies fertilizers to farmers is paramount,’ Mr Osei-Assibey said.

He also said there was the need to encourage more the composite application of inorganic and organic fertilizers to increase yields while maintaining quality.

Mr Bryan Acheampong, in his response, said the Programme had been revised, emphasizing that the ‘Enhanced PFJ’ had a new approach that would take the form of cooperative farming where inputs would be distributed through aggregators to nuclear farmers groups.

‘The new model which has financial institutions, Ghana Commodity Exchange, Input dealers and farmers on one ‘Ghana Agricultural Platform’ will enable the repayment of input suppliers in a short time (4-6 months) for the supply of their inputs to support the programme,’ he said.

The Minister said there had been a plan in place to pay off arrears owed input suppliers for the past two to three years, which had been one of the drawbacks of the existing programme.

Modalities of the programme would be that the market would be allowed to operate freely, farmers’ choice of fertilizer would be respected and supply made through an aggregator that would be selected and profiled by a technical team.

A bank guarantee system would be used and aggregators would be expected to off-take the produce and supply to the Buffer stock or Ghana Commodity exchange.

Source: Ghana News Agency