Management of SPPC locks out workers
Government introducing bills to regulate
banking system
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 07 May 2003 - The government is introducing new regulatory initiatives to ensure efficient operation in the banking and payment system in the country. To this end, a new payment system, cheque and anti-money laundering bills which are currently being discussed by cabinet, will soon be put before parliament for approval.
Dr Joe Amoako-Tuffuor, Co-ordinator, Consultative Group Secretariat at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, who announced this, said the initiatives were intended to build the banking infrastructure and enhance the operations of the banking and payment system.
He was addressing the opening ceremony of the first Ashanti Regional Financial Services Exhibition in Kumasi on Tuesday. The three-day exhibition, dubbed: "Money 2003", which is being organised under the auspices of the Manhyia Palace and sponsored by the Home Finance Company, is aimed at bringing the financial service providers and the public together to interact and find possible ways of supporting industrial and business growth in the region.
Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said the government was also strengthening the existing regulatory framework by bringing in new banking law, new companies code, new procurement law and new financial administration law, as a means to improve the way financial affairs were conducted in the country and increase public confidence in the management of the nation's economy.
He described the country's banking industry, which had a total asset base of two billion dollars and a total deposit of $1.4bn between 1997 and 2002, as the smallest in the sub-Saharan Africa.
This, Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said, had made it impossible for local banks to syndicate and pool resources to finance large credit deals and investment projects. Dr. Amoako-Tuffuor said initiatives taken by the government in rural areas were expected to expand the private sector and transform the rural economies through modernised agriculture and agro-processing businesses.
These changes were bound to bring new opportunities for rural financial markets and increased demand for financial services. Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said the challenge now was whether the banking industry saw the emerging demand and was prepared to be a catalyst as well as taking advantages of the new opportunities.
He deplored the high banking charges, which were discouraging banking in the country and urged banks to initiate measures that would make their services appealing to the people. He also appealed to the banks to take the initiative to evolve effective nurturing programmes to assist potentially viable small and medium scale enterprises to expand their activities.
Oheneba Agyeman Badu, the Atipimhene of Kumasi, who opened the exhibition, pledged the support of the Manhyia Palace to the banks in the region to ensure their growth and expansion.
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Ho (Volta Region) 07 May 2003 - Customers of the Ghana Telecom (GT) in the Volta Region owe the company more than 1.5bn cedis, Douglas Wagba, Volta Regional Head of the company said in an interview.
He said about half of the money was owed by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which had paid nothing since January this year. Wagba said the company, constrained by the fact that some of the debtor agencies played vital roles for which telephone facilities were extremely important, continued to offer them the services without payment.
Wagba said the government's promise to pay 40bn cedis to clear the arrears of the MDAs was yet to be fulfilled. He said the company had instituted legal action against defaulting clients in the Ketu District to redeem the debts, saying: "The exercise will be extended to the whole region."
On the operations of the company in the region, Mr. Wagba said out of an exchange capacity of 12,220 lines, 6,780 had been connected. He said Hohoe had the largest exchange with 5,000 lines out of which, 1,200 had been connected adding, that a programme aimed at connecting 3,500 lines would begin this month.
Wagba said the Jasikan and Kadjebi Districts would benefit from 30 lines each from the Hohoe exchange as temporary measure, while plans were being finalised to install a system to serve the northern part of the region.
He said the company would supply a 400 capacity Wireless Local Loop (WILL) equipment in towns and villages within 40 kilometres radius of Hohoe. Wagba said company had installed 221 pay phones in the region and this would be increased to 500 by the end of September.
He said the patronage of the Company's pre-paid card was tremendous and advised customers with 'phobia' for high bills to use the card to regulate themselves. Wagba expressed concern over the tampering with pay phones by unscrupulous people who push strange objects into them to cheat.
He said a self-correcting mechanism of the system as a result of such tampering resulted in customers losing their units faster than normal. Wagba, therefore, urged members of the public to be vigilant and report such people to the Police.
On what assistance the company could give to Internet operators to stay in business in the region, Wagba asked such operators to seek approval from the National Communications Authority (NCA) before establishing their businesses.
He said most Internet operators in the region had failed to register with the company and were therefore not benefiting from its special dispensations.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 07 May 2003 - The management of the Supper Paper Products Company (SPPC) has since Friday locked out the over 300 employees for going on an illegal strike.
Sources close to the local union said the workers on April 30 started a strike action to demand increase in their wages since they were about to open negotiations on the collective Bargaining Agreement.
It said the workers complained about "feet dragging" on the part of management and without waiting for their local union to address the issues with management, laid down their tools.
The workers now report behind the factory gate, to stand under trees, hoping that they would be called to start work, and when GNA visited the factory, they were seen in groups. In an interview, Morgan Antewini, ICU Regional Officer for Tema told GNA that efforts are being made to meet the management.
Meanwhile, armed policemen have been detailed to guard the factory. Efforts to meet the Managing Director or his deputy, proved futile, except that GNA was told that management was meeting the board of directors at the head office in Accra to discuss the issue.
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