GRi Business, Economics
& Finance 12 - 08 - 2003
Seminar for African Parliamentarians opens
Support women's efforts-Business Network
Jake visits Bird sanctuary
Seminar for African Parliamentarians opens
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - Senior Minister Joseph Henry Mensah on Monday reminded African Parliamentarians to ensure value for money in their dealings.
Addressing a four-day Regional Seminar for Public Accounts Committees of African Parliamentarians in Accra, Mr Mensah cautioned them against the misuse of resources, saying, "tax money is not personal money".
He said there was the need for Parliamentarians to have a firm grasp of financial policies to avoid the clogging of issues.
Mensah, Leader of Government Economic Team, said the preparation of annual budgets often started around August and added that both the Executive and Legislature should be interested in their end products.
He said there was the need to end petty and grand corruption, pointing out that Ghana was in the process of putting in new measures to ensure accountability in the use of public funds.
The Senior Minister stressed the need for continuing education for Parliamentarians to equip them to handle public funds efficiently.
Peter Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament, said there was the overwhelming need to enhance the capacity of Parliamentary structures and organs to exercise their oversight functions over the Executive.
The Speaker said there was a mismatch in the level of resources available to the Executive compared to the Legislature because the Executive did not commit adequate resources to the Legislature to discharge its functions.
"There is need for critical steps to address this imbalance as quickly as possible and to provide Parliaments in Africa with the wherewithal to enable them to discharge their constitutional functions effectively," Adjetey said.
The seminar is organised jointly by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the World Bank Institute and it is on the theme: "The Budget Cycle, Oversight and Public Accounts Committees".
It would, among other things, provide a platform for Members of Parliament to exchange ideas and experiences with one another and, therefore, provide a better understanding of the budgetary cycle in the Parliaments of the region.
It will also discuss the budget presentation and the processes it follows
through Parliament; examine the role and status of poverty reduction policies;
the processes of oversight and implications of the budgetary cycle.
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Support women's efforts-Business Network
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - The West African Business Network (WABNET) on Monday advocated a regional capacity building and networking to support women's efforts to overcome barriers to business development and regional trade.
WABNET, a non-governmental organization that promotes integration of businesses in the sub-region, also stressed the need for governments to address the barriers of trade that included problems in communications, transport and customs procedures.
Comfort Ocran, Publicity Officer of WABNET, commenting on the outcome of the Executive Committee and National Coordinators' Workshop, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk in Accra that the Network was keen on developing these linkages in order to overcome the unbearable barriers to regional trade.
It was also to reinforce regional partnership with governmental and non-governmental agencies.
This was the focus of the recent workshop we held in the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, where we sought to develop a Strategic Development Plan for the 15 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
She said that a meeting was held with Drammane Coulibaly, Executive Secretary of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought in the Sahel.
At the meeting, Mrs Ocran said, WABNET highlighted issues concerning food security and the important role Ghana plays in the supply of food for the landlocked countries.
WABNET was formed in Bamako, Mali in August 2001. Esinam Akywe-Djamson, First
Vice-President of WABNET, and Mrs Yvonne Laryea, National Coordinator of WABNET,
Ghana attended the workshop.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - The Minister of Tourism and Modernisation of the Capital City, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey at the weekend visited Xavi in the Akatsi District of the Volta Region, which is a bird sanctuary and home of a mysterious baobab tree.
A statement issued in Accra on Monday by the Ministry said the chiefs and people of the town held a durbar in honour of the Minister, who is on a familiarisation visit to the Volta region.
The statement said the Chief of the town Togbi Avoka IV told the Minister that it was the first time a Minister of State had ever visited the town, which is a tourist attraction.
Obetsebi-Lamptey said the visit confirmed to him that Ghana was a "bird watcher's paradise", adding that his visit to other parts of the country had exposed him to the enormous potential of tourism in Ghana.
He referred to the huge benefits to be reaped from tourism and said this was the basis of its elevation by President John Agyekum Kufuor as one of the three key areas to provide the impetus to Ghana's economic growth.
He advised communities with tourist attractions to jealously guard, nurture
and promote them into major attractions to become major generators of wealth for
themselves and the nation.
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