Koala complies with regulations
Takoradi Port wins International Gold Award
Aflao cement factory to start full production by end of July
Nestle to lose 4.5 billion cedis from strike
Restructure old loans – Ghana Industries tells government
Koala complies with regulations
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 July 2002 - The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) on Tuesday assured the public that Koala Shopping Centre has complied with the regulations governing the sale of meat and food items. Following reports that the Centre was selling expired products, the Board instituted measures to ensure that the situation was rectified to protect consumers.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr E. K. Agyarko, Chief Executive of the FDB said it was in that light that the board temporarily closed down the centre's bakery at Abelemkpe for it to be fumigated, re-painted and cleaned.
It said the FDB supervised the work and it has re-opened the bakery while "The Company is being assisted to develop Standard Operative Procedures and to establish a good warehouse management system." The statement said the board's determination to work with Koala as well as carry out regular inspections of all other such facilities to ensure that products offered for sale in Ghana were wholesome was paramount.
It however, warned that any company found in violation would be duly prosecuted. The statement said some of the goods seized had bar codes on them instead of expiry dates and some too were labelled in foreign languages as well as food products that did not have the name of the manufacturers. It asked consumers to be pro-active and vigilant to rid the market of unwholesome products. The FDB said that it would continue to work with all stakeholders to protect consumers.
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Takoradi (Western Region) 10 July 2002 - The Takoradi Port has won an international gold award at the fourth international quality convention held in Geneva, Switzerland on 1 July. The "Century International Quality Era Award" was in recognition of Takoradi Port's commitment to quality, excellence, leadership, technology, innovation and total quality management.
Mr Nester Galley, Director of the Takoradi Port, said this at a press conference organised by the management of the Port on Monday to formally present the gold award to the workers as well as the public. He explained that the award was organised annually by the Business Initiative Directions (BID), an international organisation made up of experts and analysts of corporate image and quality programmes.
Mr Galley said the selection was based on a survey of 9,500 companies and experts all over the world. The criteria included customer satisfaction, communication strategies, benchmarking information, data processing, leadership, planning, human resources, continuing education, training process, production, financial outcome, business results and total quality management.
Mr Galley enumerated achievements of the Takoradi Port, saying, it is credited with the fastest ship turn round time of 1.5 days in the West African Sub-Region. "This means saving of time and cost for its customers," he said, adding that it was possible for shippers to clear goods within two days, provided the clearing documents were correct.
The Takoradi Port has one of the best security networks in the Sub-Region, Mr Galley said adding that vessel calls increased from 382 in 1992 to 493 in 2001 while cargoes through the port have also increased from 1.8 million tonnes to 3.4 million tonnes over the same period.
The port has also recorded similar improvement in both labour and ship productivity rates. Mr Galley noted that the international recognition that the Takoradi Port had gained as a gold winner among other achievements so far were enough evidence to debunk the wrong perception that "Takoradi Port is dying".
The Director said the port would further improve its productivity levels through equipment availability and reduction in the cost of doing business. He entreated the company's workers and partners to streamline their operations to enhance customer satisfaction and quality service.
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Aflao (Volta Region) 10 July 2002 - The 20 million-dollar Diamond Cement Factory at Aflao would start test production next week in preparation for a full capacity production by the end of July.
This followed the successful installation of the various equipment on the production line including the packaging plant, cement silo, grinding mill, bucket elevators, dumper hoppers, among other machines. The Ghana News Agency reports Mr Chitti Badu, Managing Director of the Company as saying on Monday that the successful completion of the production line was a major breakthrough for the company and the country.
He said test production was in progress with a skeleton workforce of 50 men adding that after its completion, the workforce would be increased to between 300 and 400. Haulage of clinker, the main raw material from the Tabligbo Mines in Togo by road through the Aflao border began 12 days ago.
Mr Badu said the construction of a rail line for the haulage of clinker from Tabligbo to the factory would be constructed "at all cost." At present, the company is putting finishing touches to the structures of the administration block.
Mr Badu described the Ghanaian market for cement as "enterprising", adding that the company was exploring other areas to enhance marketing of its products. The company currently sells about 50,000 tonnes of cement to the Ghanaian public.
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Abokobi (Greater Accra) 10 July 2002 - Mr Samuel Dsane, Manager of Abokobi Rural Bank on Tuesday called on the Bank of Ghana and law enforcement agencies to strictly enforce the law on the issuance of dud cheques in the country.
This would restore confidence in the use of personal cheques and help reduce the occasional printing of large sums of higher denominations and prevent the difficulties of carrying huge sums of cash for business transactions. He said: "Financial transaction other than the issuance of physical cash could be enhanced to reduce the pressure on the cedi only if the laws criminalizing dud cheques are tightened and enforced."
Mr Dsane explained that the Central Bank must explore and encourage the use of bank's draft, visa card, personal cheques, and develop other forms of financial transactions to reduce the circulation of large volume of physical cash.
He said the usage of physical cash in modern business transactions was unattractive and a highly risky venture in view of the recent highway robberies and the volume of cash involved due to the rapid depreciation of the cedi.
Banks and the business community needed to mount public education and sensitisation on monetary transaction other than usage of physical cash to reduce risk and to also build up confidence in the issuance and acceptability of non-physical cash as legal tender.
Mr Dsane, who was a former Operations Manager of Barclays Bank, Ghana, Limited, suggested that the refusal to accept non-physical cash as legal tender should also be made a criminal offence to force the business community to recognise and use it.
He called for the popularisation of the cedi, explaining that the American dollar had assumed world recognition more than other valued currencies because the US system worked, promoted and developed a psychological value for the dollar.
On operations of the bank, Mr Dsane noted that the Abokobi Rural Bank had developed a 'Susu' micro saving product to encourage people within its operational areas to save and also have access to credit facilities to promote their businesses. The scheme known as 'ABOSIKA ensures that within three months of joining the scheme, the contributor qualifies to be granted a loan with the upper ceiling of six times the total monthly contribution.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 10 July 2002-The strike action embarked upon by workers of Nestle Ghana Limited entered its third day on Wednesday and it is likely to cost the company about 4.5 billion cedis, a source from Ghana Employers Association (GEA) is reported by the Ghana News Agency as saying.
The source said the striking workers, who have locked out the Management since Monday, were causing Nestle to loose 1.5 billion cedis daily, "at a period when many industries cannot break even."
The Executive of GEA has initiated action to resolve the impasse between the Management and the workers, represented by the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU). Nestle's 500 workforce withdrew their services on Monday to back demands for an enhanced Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Sources from GEA and ICU have confirmed that Nestle Management had agreed to open the stalled negotiations for Collective Bargaining Agreement. They described as unfortunate the Management's publication of the negotiations even though it was inconclusive.
The workers were expected to resume full production on Wednesday, but the ICU and the Management were divided on how to proceed, especially with the thorny issue of the workers losing pay for the number of days that they did not work. Meanwhile, the GEA, the Management and the ICU would meet the Minister of Manpower Development on Wednesday, to complete discussions so that workers could resume work by tomorrow.
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Akropong (Ashanti Region) 10 July 2002- The Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has called on the government to restructure old loans members owed the banks to create a leeway for a fresh start. AGI said: "This is the only way industries can survive."
AGI also suggested to the government to restructure the banks, particularly the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) to revert to their original status as development banks. "If this were done these two banks can begin to perform their original roles of helping industries and the agriculture sector to develop and grow."
This was the outcome of discussions a team of AGI Council members held with Mr Kwabena Darko, Chairman of Darko Farms Limited, during a visit to the company as part of the team's visit to some industries in Kumasi on Monday. The team led by Mrs Elizabeth Joyce Villas, AGI President, included Mr
Samuel A. Apenteng, Second Vice-President, Mr Attah Nyamekye, treasurer and Mr Cletus Kosiba, Director of Policy and Communications.
The visit was to afford the Council the opportunity to know at first hand problems industries faced in Kumasi, how best to assist them and how they were responding to the declaration of the Golden Age of Business.
Mrs Villas said what industry needed now was capital and that there was the need for government and industry to discuss the best way to assist industry to obtain long-term loans since the era of short and medium term loans were over.
She said the government was taking too long to rescue distressed industries. ''The situation is so grave that if something is not done about it immediately, by the time help comes, either the industries would have collapsed or sold out by creditors.'' Mrs Villas said Ghana and Nigeria were the only countries in the West Africa Sub-Region where indigenous people were involved in industry and as such everything possible must be done to sustain it.
Mr Darko reiterated the need for government to find out why the private sector was not borrowing and why the banks on their part were not prepared to take part in the disbursement of loans to industry at 15 per cent interest. He said distressed industries were not to blame for their present predicament but bad governance in the past, adding that industries should, therefore, not be made to suffer.
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