Ghana calls for swift integration
Ministry to spend 6.5 billion cedis on Tema roads
Ghana calls for swift integration
Accra (Greater Accra) 24th December 99
Ghana on Thursday urged ECOWAS member states to be fully committed to the organisation rather than sticking on to smaller clubs within the community.
Mr. Victor Gbeho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was speaking at a press conference after a two-day consultative talks between Ghana and Nigeria said, it is the only way by which the future of the sub-region could be guaranteed and secured.
He said "with the current trend of globalisation, it will be very difficult, almost impossible for us, even Ghana and Nigeria, to make it in the next century, if we do not integrate our economies."
The meeting of officials of the two countries is to adopt strategies for the fast-track implementation of agreements reached at the 22nd ECOWAS Summit in Lome, Togo recently.
Mr Gbeho said the consultative meeting was at the instance of President Jerry John Rawlings and General Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.
"The sub-regional integration is critical to the integration of the continent, generally. An example of this is seen in the efforts of SADEC to revive the East African Community".
Mr Gbeho said, after 25 years of ECOWAS the organisation has not achieved most of its objectives because the needs of the ordinary people have not been met.
The Foreign Minister said Ghana and Nigeria have taken the lead. " We are not dictating what should be done towards integration in the sub-region".
The lead of the two is very important as they together control 59 per cent of the total population, account for 67 per cent of total GDP and 59 per cent of the export trade within the region.
They are also responsible for 50 per cent of the imports.
He expressed great optimism about the decisions that were arrived at during the two-day talks in Accra that seek to integrate Ghana and Nigeria by rail, road, air and sea while creating institutional structures such as the West African Court of Justice.
Mr Gbeho said Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria could not give economic integration a boost because UEMOA, the rival monetary zone was in the way.
"It is in this direction that Ghana and Nigeria are leading the way to the creation of a second monetary zone, which will come into effect (2000) before the ECOWAS mandated period of 2004".
Mr Osei Kuma, Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana, said the efforts of the two states is consistent with the plans already agreed upon by ECOWAS and should receive the push of all.
He said the move towards a single currency would benefit UEMOA countries more since they would then not have to deal with eight other different currencies.
Mr Gbeho said a special compensation fund will be set up to cater for the countries that may lose out on revenue when physical borders are removed and so have no means of getting revenue.
"Two schools of thought are in the pipeline. One is for the IMF and the EU to provide funds for the purpose and the other for member states to raise their own funds from a levy of 0.5 per cent on imports into their countries.
(UEMOA =Monetary Union of French Speaking West African States that use the CFA Franc. IMF = International Monetary Fund. EU = European Union. SADEC =South African Development Commission).
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Ministry to spend 6.5 billion cedis on Tema roads.
Tema (Greater Accra) 24 Dec. '99
The Ministry of Roads and Transport has proposed to spend 6.5 billion cedis to maintain roads within the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) area.
Mr Edward Salia, the Sector Minister, disclosed this in Tema on Wednesday, when he addressed members of the TMA at its third ordinary meeting of the second session.
He said the amount would come from the road fund, but explained that the proposal could only be realised only if Parliament increased the fuel levy for the Road Fund next year.
"Out of this money, 3.1 billion cedis will be spent on drainage works, 100 million cedis on resealing, 1.6 billion cedis on resurfacing and 1.4 billion cedis on rehabilitation."
Mr Salia said this is aside a loan of 20.9 million dollars contracted by the government, and passed by Parliament on Tuesday.
Part of this money would be spent on the rehabilitation of a number of vital roads in the municipality.
The roads earmarked are the road between Ashaiman and Tema, including the widening of the Motorway Underpass, Manhean road from Tema city through the fishing harbour to the new township and VALCO road, from Akosombo road through industrial area.
Mr Salia said the TMA would also benefit from projects to be undertaken by the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) and Department of Feeder Roads.
He asked the assembly to invite all departments and agencies under the Ministry and brief them on their programmes and projects.
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CEPS exceed revenue target.
Kumasi (Ashanti), 24th December 99
The Kumasi sector of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) collected 65 billion cedis out of the national target of 1.5 trillion cedis at the end of November, 4.4 billion cedis more than the projected target for the whole year.
Miss Yaa Kesewa Amponsah, Acting Assistant Commissioner of CEPS, who announced this on Thursday at an end of year get-together in Kumasi, said this means all revenue collected in December is additional bonus.
Miss Amponsah commended the officers for their selfless devotion to duty, hard work and excellent performance.
She said the Fourth Battalion of Infantry, assisted in no small measure in the attainment of the excellent performance.
Nii Okine Adjei, Commissioner of CEPS in a speech read on his behalf observed that the institution has undergone tremendous changes over the past years.
He pointed out that in the year under review, some amount of transformation in management and administrative policies brought about the achievement of the goals of CEPS as a revenue collecting institution and a trade facilitator.
Nii Adjei said the World Bank would assist in training the personnel and advised them to work hard, develop closer working relations with sister agencies and organisations whose activities have impact on their operations.
Six officers were honoured for their dedication and outstanding performance.
They are Mr Dominic A. Owusu, Collector, Mr S. K. Yeboah, Chief Collector, Mr S. F. Boateng, Assistant Collector, Mr Seidu Adam, Assistant Collector, Mr Francis Baidoo, Junior Assistant Collector and Mr Daniel Agorsor, Junior Assistant Collector
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