GRi Business, Economics & Finance 20 –
03 - 2003
Takoradi (Western Region)
He was speaking at a meeting of
the executive committee of the Western Regional Council of Labour in Takoradi. Asamoah
said the TUC is committed to addressing poor incomes and income variations in
collaboration with the government and social partners through the Tripartite
Committee.
He said the union was collecting
data on income levels at workplaces to enable it actively participate in the
process. Asamoah said it was necessary to put in place a mechanism to ensure good
incomes so that workers could enjoy good pension.
Asamoah said democratic workers
participation in consultations and decision-making must be encouraged at all
levels to enhance good governance. He said the TUC had made critical observation
about provisions on casual labour in the proposed Labour Bill, which does not
adequately protect casual workers.
He said the union had asked that
the provisions be amended to ensure that casual labourers are not exploited. K.
Danso-Acheampong, legal and industrial relations
officer of the TUC, called on the government to pass a legislation to back the
enforcement of minimum wage because a lot of employers do not pay the minimum
wage.
The government should also pass
into law conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that the
country has rectified, he said. Danso-Acheampong said
these conventions could only be enforced and made legally binding when they are
passed into legislations. He said the new labour Bill would allow freedom of
association, which means workers, could join unions other than the TUC.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 March 2003-
Professor John Evans Atta Mills, National Democratic (NDC) Flag bearer on
Wednesday said his first priority when elected as President next year would be the
review of the multiple high taxes NPP government has introduced.
He told a press conference in
Prof Mills who dwelt on the
NPP'S 2003 budget at his first formal press conference after he was elected the
flag bearer in December last year, said there were many tax increases in the
Budget whose overall impact would be the imposition of extreme hardships on the
people,
"They include the increase
in the daily income tax paid by commercial transport operators which will
translate into higher transport fares, the upward revision of rates and fees
charged by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies for services
rendered to the public, the extension of the National Reconstruction Levy for
three more years, and the increase in duty on some imported products"
"The extension of the
National Reconstruction Levy for three more years is in particular a most
regressive step in fiscal policy. In
another breath, it extends the additional 10 percent National Reconstruction
Levy imposed on the Banks for another three years.
He asked, "when you take
away more of the funds available to the Banks for lending to the private sector
through the backdoor tax of the National Reconstruction Levy, how are they
expected to have money available for lending?"
Prof Mills said the government
sought to justify that by saying that 25 percent of the revenue so accrued
would go into setting up a venture capital fund and added that, that could
easily be arranged with the banks without recourse to additional taxation.
He said it was acknowledged
worldwide that high taxes and high fees and charges acted as disincentives to
the development of private business and that was why from 1986 to 2000 when he
was most of the time the Internal Revenue Commissioner (IRS) he had reduced corporate
and marginal tax rates from 65 percent to 30 per cent and customs tariffs were
similarly brought down.
Prof Mills said NDC MPs were
being advised to vote against the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) Debt Recovery Bill
that was currently before Parliament if it was to result in any higher prices
for petroleum products than those already announced.
He said "instead of
bringing petroleum prices down the 2003 Budget has introduced a new TOR Debt
Recovery levy that was likely to have the effect of adding 640 cedis to every
litre or 2,900 cedis to every gallon to the prices of all petroleum products
and if the bill was passed a gallon of petrol would sell at 23,000 cedis while
diesel and kerosene would sell at 20,500 cedis each.
He said the increases would not
only be too much for Ghanaians to bear but it was also unjustifiable for the
government to seek to impose a TOR debt recovery levy when taxes on petroleum
prices alone were to yield almost 1.78 trillion cedis of total government revenue
accounting for 8.3 percent of total revenue to be received in 2003.
There was 170 cedis per litre of
the prices of petroleum products built into the existing prices and were collected
and allegedly paid into an escrow account since
He said the Constitution
prohibited imposition of taxes without an act of parliament adding
"whether described as tax, levy, margin or whatever we find this amount,
which is not authorized by Parliament, we repeat our call on government to
refund this illegal levy to consumers through the simple expedient of selling
petroleum products at prices less by 170 cedis per litre for the quantity of
fuel that had been pumped out since January 17.
Prof Mills said there was a five
percent VAT increases built into the budget out of which 2.5 percent was to be
used as contributions to the National Health Insurance scheme.
He said although it was
agreeable that government should contribute to the scheme, yet "we are
opposed to any backdoor increase in the rate of the VAT. "The
NPP as you are all aware opposed the introduction of the VAT at 17.5 percent
and forced its withdrawal. The NPP opposed its re-introduction at 10 percent
and its subsequent increases at 12.5 percent. For the same NPP to decide not
only to retain the tax once it finds itself in power but to increase it to the
original 17.5 percent, "is to say the least, hypocritical, deceitful and
an unconscionable."
Prof. Mills said knowing the
moral indefensibility of its position, the NPP government
did not have the courage to call VAT by its name in the budget but described it
as a contribution on expenditures and transactions.
Additionally, 2.5 percent of
workers contribution is also to be applied to the health Insurance scheme. Thus
under the pretext of the National Health Insurance Scheme, the NPP government
is reducing workers pension and at the same time decreasing the purchasing
power of Ghanaians through an increase in VAT.
The NDC Flag bearer said when
the NPP said that they were going to abolish the 'cash and carry system' they
did not say it was going to be at the expense of the workers and an increase in
VAT.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 March 2003-
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday said it was opposed to the
New Patriotic Party's (NPP's) plan to abolish private
lotteries since that would worsen the already unemployment situation and would
deprive many from their livelihoods.
The NDC said it was surprising
that the NPP should be pursuing a policy of nationalisation of the lottery
business in an era of privatisation and divestiture. Professor John Evans Atta
Mills, Flag bearer of the NDC at a press conference he held and diagnosed the
2003 Budget wondered what happened to the NPP'S Golden Age of Business and much
vaunted support for the private sector.
He said if the private lotto was
abolished it would drive the operators underground and the security measures
required to police the ban would not make it cost effective. "The
resultant effect will be the criminalisation of the large number of Ghanaians
who will be tempted to engage in this then illegal activity, diverting the
attention of the security agencies from legitimate security pursuits and
clogging the law courts with unproductive lotto cases.
"The evolution of the
banker to banker, which was one of the major reasons for the liberalisation of
the lottery business, shows that you cannot enforce a ban on the private lotto
business".
Prof Mills said the NDC was
opposed to the abolition of private lotto because it was inconsistent with the
NPP government's own appointment of a Games Commissioner who was supposed to regulate
competition within the industry.
He said for those reason the NDC
MPs were being advised to vote against the bill to restore the monopoly of the
Lottery Business to the state when the bill was introduced in Parliament.
"Should they fail and the
NPP majority passes the bill I wish to serve notices that the next NDC
government would introduce a new Bill to liberalise the Lottery industry and
allow for private participation in the Lottery business."
On wages for workers, Prof Mills
said it was regrettable that prices and costs went up in excess of 80 percent and
wage increase was 28 percent as announced in the budget. "Clearly, the
minimum wage is incapable of taking care of the very modest daily expenditure
of the average Ghanaian family.
"Meanwhile, we are yet to
know the salary adjustment for public and civil servants whose living
conditions are deteriorating under the weight of the transport fare hikes, the
rent increases, the rising cost of food, and all the other unconscionable
increases in the cost of living.
Prof Mills said the increases in
petroleum prices and VAT would shoot up electricity and water bills while
school fees would rise judging from the notice the Ghana National Association
of Private Schools GNAPS) have served that fees would go up in May this year.
He said "a bag of cement
now sells at 45,000 cedis, up from 20,000 cedis in 2000. Landlords have raised their rents and many
tenants who cannot afford to pay the higher rents are being ejected.
"The phenomenon of
homelessness is being added to the growing list of social problems that the NPP
Government is leaving behind for the NDC to come and solve", he said
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In a release issued in
Mensah urged the government to
meet all private lotto operators on the national, regional and zonal levels to discuss the payment of taxes. He also
suggested the reduction in the number of private lotto machines to two or three
to ensure effective monitoring for the purpose of the payment of taxes.
Mensah said the Department of
National Lotteries might not be able to absorb all private lotto writers,
operators and office staff adding that any programme to phase out private lotto
operations should be carefully assessed.
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The market index thus closed
mid-week trading higher at 1,621.10 points from 1,592.92 points on the back of
gains in GCB, Aluworks Ghana Limited (ALW) and SSB Bank Limited (SSB).
The change in the year to date
fixed at 16.18 per cent while total shares traded more than doubled from
101,900 to 268,300 shares in a trade that saw only five equities offloading
their shares.
ALW sold the highest of 196,200
followed by GCB with 43,000. SSB Bank sold 27,500 with Metaloplastica
Market capitalisation ended the
day up at 7,439.33 billion cedis from 7,370.97 billion cedis registered on
Monday. In the broader market, there were three price changes - all positive. ALW
gained the highest of 800 cedis to finish trading at 4,300 cedis while GCB and
SSB rose by 169 and 100 cedis to close at 5,000 cedis and 6,000 cedis
respectively.
The following are the last
prices of listed equities in cedis:
ABL 420
AGC 28,500
ALW 4,300 +800
BAT 1,102
CFAO 67
CPC 630
EIC 5,005
FML 2,009
GBL 520
GCB 5,000 +169
GGL 1,203
HFC 1,205
MGL 257
MLC 280
MOGL 19,751
PAF 750
PBC 390
PZ 2,016
SCB 30,001
SPPC 390
SSB 6,000 +100
SWL 285
TBL 4,900
UNIL 5,150
CMLT 460
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Accra (Greater Accra) 20 March 2003-
Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister for Manpower Development and Employment, on
Wednesday said lack of data and poor records keeping were two major challenges
facing the Ministry.
"This has made planning for
labour issues, which is a priority to the Ministry, very difficult and
inefficient even though we have a set-up for the collection and keeping of
data," she said when Madam Mary Carlina Yates, United
States Ambassador, paid a courtesy called on her.
Mrs Bannerman also spoke on
issues such as work and occupational health hazards, child trafficking, the
minimum wage and skills training, and told the Ambassador that government had
taken in taken measures to address the problems.
Mrs Bannerman said under the
Factory Inspection Division, government was making every effort through the
enactment of laws to ensure that every worker was safe from all forms of
occupational hazards.
She, however, noted that most
places, such as industries and big companies, lacked efficient industrial
equipment and safety devices to ensure maximum safety. Mrs Bannerman said such
safety mechanisms were needed to attract investment and expand the industrial
base in the country.
On child trafficking, Mrs Bannerman
said the issue had assumed a very serious dimension where some of the children
were being forced into prostitution along routes within the ECOWAS sub region.
She attributed the causes to
poverty, lack of education and vision on the part of some parents for their
children's future. "Its is a good thing that Ghana has identified child
trafficking-prone areas, which means that we have to intensify education on its
menace in order to put in measures to curb it once and for all."
She said the Ministry was undertaking
basic skills training for unemployed youth to provide them with the needed
skills that would meet demands of the job market.
"One thing we have
identified about these young people with vocational training skills is that
they lack ability to market their goods, hence most find it difficult to
sustain their business due to irregular flow of capital.
"One of the Ministry's
programme objective is to ensure that some of these
products manufactured by the various categorised groups of trainees would be
marketed internationally."
The
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Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,467.64 cedis
8,651.00 cedis
Pound
Swiss Franc 6,112.46 6,241.92
Canadian Dollar 5,734.55 5,855.53
Danish Kroner 1,210.48 1,236.40
Japanese Yen 71.29 72.81
South African
Euro 8,990.69 9,182.70
CFA Franc 13.71 14.00
Naira 67.62
69.08
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Sogakope (Volta Region)
The Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) would build the facility by the end of this year,
Dr Bernard Kwasi Glover, Executive Director of the
Ghana Ostrich Products Company, told a group of journalists during a visit to
his four hectare ostrich farm.
The farm that he started two
years ago at Kpotame-Tefle has 500 birds and he is
building a restaurant to make the farm to serve as an eco-tourism attraction. He
said the skin of the ostrich is used to manufacture ladies bags and sandals
while an ostrich egg serves 30 people at a meal.
Dr Glover, who is also the
Executive Director of Villa Cisneros Resort, said the meat is good because of
its low cholesterol content. ''Currently the company supplies ostrich sausages
to super markets and restaurants in
He said the abattoir would
enable the Association to enter the Ghanaian market fully since a lot of people
now preferred ostrich meat to others. Dr Glover praised the Ministry of Food
and Agriculture for developing special interest in ostrich farming and provided
two incubators at a cost of 24,000 dollars for the company.
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