Govt has competence to handle economic challenges — Vice-President John Mahama

Page 21: Daily Graphic, January 15, 2009.
Story: Albert K. Salia
THE Vice-President, Mr John Mahama, has assured Ghanaians and the business community that the government has the will, ability and competence to overcome the economic challenges confronting the nation.
He said it had a clear understanding of the challenges ahead and would adopt prudent policies, better policy co-ordination and better management of the economy to justify the confidence placed in it by Ghanaians.
Addressing the annual Unilever Corporate Dinner in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Mahama said the challenge facing the government was putting in place urgent stabilisation measures to arrest an economy that was in danger of going into a tail spin.
He noted that the Mills administration was aware of the challenges of the recession that had hit many industrialised and developed countries which would obviously affect the levels of assistance that would be available to the country from its development partners and foreign direct investment.
Mr Mahama, however, said the NDC did not anticipate to develop the Ghanaian economy mainly from resources from the country’s development partners and foreign direct investment.
“While acknowledging that these are important sources of funding, it behoves us to think our way through our challenges and come up with innovative programmes, including cutting waste and increasing productivity, that will help us to lead Ghana to a middle-income status by the year 2020,” he said.
Mr Mahama said the government’s intention was to focus on improving and restoring macro-economic stability.
He said it recognised the need to ensure resource mobilisation to support accelerated economic development and gave the assurance that its resource mobilisation would not conflict with the NDC’s commitment to reduce taxes as outlined in its manifesto.
He explained that the tax reduction policies of the government were being proposed with a view to reducing the cost of doing business and improving productivity, adding, “We are in a position to make up for the loss in revenue by the productivity increase that such measures will stimulate and additional revenue generated from other existing tax instruments.”
Mr Mahama said the government was aware of the major challenges confronting Ghanaian industries, including inadequate, expensive and unreliable supply of power, unfair competition in the global market and the absence of a national strategic vision for industry.
Other challenges, he said, were the high cost of production due to the cost build up from the payment of upfront/input taxes, lack of access to appropriate financing and obsolete technology and the transfer of technology.
The Vice-President reminded industry of the NDC’s pledge to strengthen the linkages among industry, research and development institutions.
“This will be carried out with a view to investing in research activities that will be of practical application, foster improvement in productivity and enhance the growth of industry,” he said.
According to him, the government would also support the duty-free importation of production inputs on the same basis for the free zone establishments to make local industry more competitive.
Mr Mahama said the government was also aware that the development of the industrial and manufacturing sector was key to generating the jobs that were required for Ghanaian youth and the country’s accelerated economic growth.
He said it was conscious of the fact that the only way to achieve that objective was to promote increased consultation between the government and the business community to design and implement programmes and policy initiatives to yield results.
He said the government would, therefore, support existing and emerging business associations and use the consultation as effective platforms for channelling support to the formal and informal private sectors.
“We will establish a framework for constant dialogue and consultation with business associations on government’s policies and programmes which impact on business,” he said, and reminded the business community of a memorandum of understanding President Mills signed to that effect when he made a presentation to the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI).
The Vice-President said the government would also work with business associations to improve the institutional capacity of businesses in the areas of general business management, entrepreneurship, the adoption of appropriate technologies and other forms of support to make Ghanaian businesses competitive.
Mr Mahama stated that the government intended to review and reform the existing regulatory environment, in consultation with the business community, to ensure that it became business friendly and compatible with accelerated growth objectives.
“We also have in mind plans to collaborate with tertiary institutions to design, develop and provide entrepreneurship development skills, the aim of which is to instil in graduates of these institutions the spirit of entrepreneurship that spurs the creation of new businesses and the growth and expansion of the economy,” he added.
According to him, the government intended to establish a Youth Entrepreneurial Development Programme to encourage graduates of the universities, polytechnics and other tertiary institutions to set up their own businesses.
Mr Mahama, however, reminded the business community that as a social democratic party, “the NDC believes that there is the need for an activist state”.
He said it was the belief of the government that the historical and contemporary role of the state in facilitating growth and development for the attainment of broad-based prosperity was instructive and compelling and Ghana could not be an exception to that process.
He said it was also important that the public service machinery was re-oriented to make it an efficient agency for national development and active supporter of the efforts of the business sector.
Mr Mahama said the NDC campaigned on four points, namely, investing in people, investing in jobs, investing in the economy and maintaining a transparent and accountable government for a better Ghana.
He urged Ghanaians to put the elections behind them and join the government in moving the country forward.
“We invite you to join us in building our nation and creating prosperity for all that was at the foundation of our campaign commitments. We believe that working with you, we will be successful in this endeavour and ask that God continues to richly bless our homeland Ghana,” he concluded, to thunderous applause.
The Chief Executive of Unilever, Mr Charles Cofie, congratulated Prof J.E.A. Mills on his election as President of the country and expressed the hope that the government and industry would collaborate to create jobs and wealth.
He thanked the company’s corporate partners for their support during the past year.