Board of Inquiry is proper-Akorli
Fund would help nation realise her vision-Abodakpi
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 June 2000
Mr Moses Asaga, Deputy Minister of Finance, on Wednesday told Parliament that the "money transfer system" has not registered much negative impact on the economy but may have affected the operations of the forex bureaux.
He said the method is depriving the forex bureaux of foreign currency formerly generated from such remittance at competitive rates, and the refusal of the banks to give beneficiaries the foreign currencies reduces their liberty to exchange them at competitive rates in the open market.
Mr Asaga, who was responding to parliamentary questions, said the transfer system as it operates by the banking systems serves as an indication of economic progress when compared with the old methods of effecting transfers from abroad.
Mr Alex Kwaku Kwarankye, NPP-Asante Akim South, had wanted to know the impact of transfer of foreign monies into the country through financial institutions has on the economy.
He said the system apart from encouraging inflow of foreign currencies to supplement foreign currencies obtained from commodity exports, loans, grants and such other invisible earnings, it is the fastest and most efficient means by which foreign exchange reach beneficiaries.
The Deputy Minister said in the 1999 fiscal year, for example, four local banks raked in over 160 million dollars.
Answering a question on the reasons for revoking operating licences of 105 forex bureaux in 1999, Mr Asaga said the Bank of Ghana (BOG) took the action because they did not conform to certain rules.
He cited voluntary closure, non-submission of returns as required by BOG regulations as some of the reasons for the closure.
Others were failure to pay the required mandatory minimum deposit, illegal transfers and months of in-activity - dormancy for one year and over.
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 June 2000
Mr Steve Akorli, Deputy Minister of Roads and Transport on Wednesday described the inquiry ordered into the recent Airlink plane crash as private, internal and appropriate in the present circumstances.
He said the recommendations of the board would determine whether the government should appoint another group to delve further into the matter.
The Deputy Minister was reacting to an advice from Parliament asking for the appointment of a more independent board to look at the matter.
The law making body's approach was necessitated by a statement made by Nana Akufo Addo, the Minority Spokesman on Legal and Constitutional Affairs that called for the dissolution of the nine-member board mandated to look into the crash because the majority of the members were linked to interested parties.
The member expressed doubts about the impartiality of members since they may hesitate to make public any act of negligence that may come from their respective ends.
"The present inquiry, in its present format, risks attracting the charge, already canvassed in the independent media of a 'cover-up'."
The member's statement attracted debate as the two sides engaged themselves in hot exchanges.
The Majority said they sympathised with the statement but would not countenance the member's allusion to the impropriety of the board.
Mr Justice D. F. Annan, Speaker, had to step in to calm nerves by asking the leadership to bargain for a compromise on the matter since it was a serious national affair.
On June 5, Airlink Flight 200 from Tamale to Accra with 52 passengers, crashed at the Kotoka International Airport whilst attempting to land, killing six passengers instantly and one later at the 37 Hospital.
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 June 2000
Mr Dan Abodakpi, Minister of Trade and Industry, on Wednesday lauded Parliament’s support for the establishment of the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) saying it would "help us in our bid to make 16 billion dollars from export annually soon"
"The fund is unique since it will deal with two key factors that affect our performance as exporters that is - development and researching and the guaranteeing of credits to finance exports"
Mr Abodakpi, who was concluding a parliamentary debate on the establishment of the proposed EDIF, said Ghana makes an average of 404 million dollars annually from exports.
He assured members that funds gathered into the fund would not fall into bad hands but would be used for its intended purposes.
"Sufficient safeguards will be worked into the bill to make it more attractive before we pass it eventually."
The Minister defended the role of the President in the appointment of the board that would operate the fund, saying there is no way the fund could be turned into a resource that would nourish the businesses of members and sympathisers of a particular political party.
Some Minority members had expressed fears that such a practice may turn the fund into a monopoly of a particular political party.
On the question of wealth creation, he said the government chalked a lot of success in that area.
"Wealth has been created and more is being created."
GRi../