GRi Business, Economics & Finance 30 –
04 - 2003
Saudi Prince expresses interest in
Ambassador Hotel
Ghana's Securities Industry
Improvement in economy should reflect
Public sector Entrepreneurs urged to design
Saudi Prince expresses interest in
Ambassador Hotel
Accra (Greater Accra)
Prince Alwaleed, who was conducted round the site of the
Hotel in
The once vibrant Ambassador Hotel, built in 1957 as one of
the major state-owned hospitality plants, ceased to operate in the 1980s. The
State, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Grace Investments
and Ghana Reinsurance Company were until recently the owners.
Prince Alwaleed expressed the hope that the evaluation of
the project, negotiations and other deals would be finalised for reconstruction
work to be completed within two years. Obetsebi-Lamptey, who later told
Journalists that the project would attract an investment of between 30 million
dollars and 40 million dollars, told the Prince that the government was
interested in clearing all impediments within a reasonable time to revamp the
hotel.
He said the Government was looking for strategic investors
to speed up the establishment of hospitality plants to create jobs and increase
earnings from the tourism sector, adding that all efforts would be made to
restore Ambassador Hotel to its former glory as a classy hotel.
He said, considering the status of Prince Alwaleed in
international business, he was encouraged by his interest in
"He is a major player in business and we are excited to
have him here. The business community gravitate towards where their compatriots
and it is possible that others would follow him here," he said. The
48-year old Prince, who is leading a 22-member business delegation on a
three-day exploratory investment visit, is the Chairman of the Saudi-based
Kingdom Holding Company.
His business holding cover Banking, Estate Development,
Hospitality, Telecom, Agriculture, Information Technology, Broadcasting, Media,
Entertainment, Travel, Automotive Manufacturing and other businesses.
George Amoako Temeng, an Official of SSNIT, said the
reconstruction of Ambassador Hotel would light up the nightlife of its
environs, Down Town Accra, which at present becomes virtually dead in the
evening. He said tourists like to enjoy the nightlife of a city, but there was
little to offer now.
Prince Alwaleed, who leaves
Grace Investments took over the interest of Samed and
invited SSNIT and Ghana Reinsurance and thus bringing the investment portfolio
to SSNIT, 57 per cent; GOG, 27 per cent; Grace investments, 11 per cent and
Ghana Reinsurance five per cent.
Before selling its interest Samed had carried out some
renovation works but since it withdrew no further development took place thus
compelling the government to re-possess it according to a release from
Amoako-Temeng, made available to the Ghana News Agency.
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Dr Sam Mensah, Chief Executive Officer of SEM Financial
Group Limited, who announced the novel shareholding efforts, said the modern
trend in the industry "is that shares are held in electronic depositories
so that a share is merely an electronic record."
Dr Mensah was speaking on Thursday at a roundtable
discussion in
Dr Mensah said Section 46 (1) of the Companies Code required
that 'each issued share in a company shall be distinguished by a definite
number' "except that 46(2) allows numbering of shares to be dispensed with
when issues are fully paid for."
He said that allowed for fungibility in the secondary
markets as all shares traded in the secondary market are fully paid for, and
pointed out that Section 50(1) imposes obligations for the issue of share
certificates under the common seal of the company indicating among other
things, number of shares held, the amount of money paid and name and address of
the registered holder.
Dr Mensah said the new law must dispense with the requirement for numbering individual shares, amend the definition of debenture to allow electronic recording of indebtedness of the company to suffice as a debenture, and thereby dispense of the requirement for a written document to be issued.
It must also specifically provide that the registers of
members and debenture holders can be kept in electronic form. Dr Mensah queried
if the Annual Report, which was an important disclosure requirement of
companies should be satisfied by posting it on a website or through an
electronic mail under the new Companies Code.
He said the mandate of the new Companies Code was too
limited to achieve the important public policy objectives with respect to
business regulation, and added that what was needed was a much broader mandate
from Government.
Dr Mensah said the revision of the Ghanaian Companies Code
should be informed by best practices elsewhere in the world. He recommended a
high-powered group in the form of a Commission to undertake the Company Law
Reform, under Article 278 of the Constitution, or a broad-based National Steering
Committee on Company Law Reform appointed by the President with a clearly
defined mandate to develop proposals for the Company Law Reform.
Justice V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe, an expert on Company Law, and
one of the drafters of the 1963 Companies Code, noted that the Ghanaian
particular situation should be taken into account to review the Company Code
without a wholesale replication of existing models outside.
He called for adequate re-sourcing of the Registrar
General's Department and mechanisation to speed up its work. Dr Kwaku Addeah,
Legal Department, Bank of Ghana, said there appeared to be a fundamental flaw
in the existing Company Code as it treated both small and big companies equally
and demanded the same requirements for registration.
He said it was time to look at the needs of small companies
and identify the critical issues that affected them and to make appropriate
recommendations to eliminate the problems of unilateral application of the
requirements of both small and big companies.
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Improvement in economy should reflect
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 April 2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday
appealed to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to review
their economic policies so that their implementation will reflect in the lives
of the people.
He said: "It was normal for the two institutions to
praise the government on its economic policies though those policies were not
in interest of the people." Politicians are more concerned about
improvement in the lives of the people they serve and not commendation for the
implementation of World Bank and IMF policies", President Kufuor said.
He said this when Dr Abass Mirakhor, the IMF Executive
Director for
Bredenkamp, Assistant Director, Africa Department and Head
of IMF Mission in
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Public sector Entrepreneurs urged to design
Takoradi (Western Region) 30 April 2003- The Ghana Business Linkages Challenges
Fund G-BLCF, an initiative of the Department for International Development
(DFID) of the United Kingdom, was launched at Takoradi on Tuesday.
Grants for the G-BLCF, which is managed by
He said G-BCLF linkages were meant to ensure competitiveness,
reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development. Diaba said so far 34,200
pounds sterling had been disbursed to three organisations in the tomato and
chemical industry since the fund was established a year ago.
He cautioned that projects that are not commercially viable
to reduce poverty in their respective communities would not benefit from the
fund. Diaba called on public sector entrepreneurs to design their own business
plans and reduce their dependence on consultants. Participants, mostly business
people, called on Deloitte & Touche to expand its training programme to
enable more Ghanaian businesses to benefit from the fund.
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