GRi Business,
Economics & Finance 02 – 01 - 2003
Accra (Greater Accra) 02 January
2003- Professor Ernest Aryeetey, a Development
Economist, on Tuesday said the country's current economic growth rate of five
per cent could not eliminate widespread poverty or ensure sustainable national
development.
Prof. Aryeetey,
who is also the Director of the
He was contributing to a
symposium on "Promoting economic growth through industrial peace," at
the 54th
The
Prof.Aryeetey said
although
He called for effective capacity
building for workers, decentralisation of economic policies and a well informed
labour movement to make informed decisions about economic issues.
Prof.Aryeetey said called for policies that
would go beyond macro reforms although there was evidence that some of the
reforms had been productive.
Mr Kwasi
Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General of the Trade Union
Congress, called for equity and fairness in the distribution of benefits that
accrued from economic activity to ensure industrial peace.
He said workers should not be
treated as an appendage of the productive process and stressed the need for the
improvement of labour-management relations whilst management must promote the
ingenuity of workers.
Mr Adu-Amankwah
said the deficit in determining the conditions of service of workers, stressful
work organisations, autocratic management, low income levels, poor retiring
benefits and severance awards were among factors that led to industrial unrest.
He tasked authorities to be
committed to trade union activities and put in place mechanisms that would make
them viable.
Mrs Irene Duncan -Adanusa, General Secretary of the Ghana National
Association of Teachers called for continuous dialogue between workers and
management to ensure the speedy implementation of decisions that had been at
the centre of labour disputes.
Mrs Duncan -Adanusah
emphasised the need for teacher-trainees to be exposed to training and access
to information technology to keep them abreast with the times.
Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Executive Director, African Association for
Health, Environment and Development, who chaired the symposium
noted that there were 225 strikes involving 22,000 workers with about two
million man-hours wasted between 1995-2000.
She called for effective
collaboration between workers and management to ensure industrial peace to
facilitate economic growth.
GRi…/
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Association (LICOBAG) on Tuesday
expressed concern about the extent to which Licensed Buying Companies (LBC)
were purchasing cocoa with cash instead of the Akuafo
cheque and asked them to adhere strictly to the regulation of paying with the
cheque.
A statement signed by Nana Amo Adade Boamah,
President of LICOBAG said they had noted that even if a cheque was used, some
field staff issued it in the name of one person, invariably the Purchasing
Clerk himself, on behalf of farmers. He then cashed the cheque and shared the
money among the beneficiary farmers.
"The Association wishes to
draw the attention of the management of all LBCs to
the fact that both modes of payment mentioned above are in contravention of
government's laid down method of cocoa purchases," the statement said.
The Association pointed out that
it was for very good reasons that the Akuafo cheque
system was introduced as a means of paying farmers for their cocoa. "Apart
from inculcating in the farmer the saving habit, it also provides a good source
of record keeping which goes to help at any time to determine what each farmer
has sold to government.
"Such a record may become
very essential for the farmer in his direct dealings with the COCOBOD, other
appropriate agencies and even the banks," he said.
The statement advised all
farmers to insist on being paid with the Akuafo
cheque issued in the individual farmer's own name.
The Association asked the
management of every LBC to direct all their operational staff to assist farmers
in this regard by strictly adhering to the laid down regulation of paying for
any cocoa purchased by them through the Akuafo
cheque.
The statement said the
Association was aware of the occasional problems some farmers encountered when
cashing their cheques and was in discussion with the banks to ensure easy and
quick encashment of cheques by the farmers.
It cautioned all field staff of LBCs to desist from issuing the cheques when they were not
certain that their expected cash transfer had been lodged in their respective
accounts.
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Currency
Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,255.91 cedis 8,447.91 cedis
Pound
Swiss Franc 5,937.58
6,075.97
Canadian Dollar 5,239.87
5,362.29
Danish Kroner 1,163.91
1,190.92
Japanese Yen 69.58 71.19
South African
Euro
8,642.16 8,844.10
CFA Franc 13.17 13.48
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