The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, in collaboration with other sponsors have sponsored the training of journalists within the West African Sub-region on the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.
In all thirty journalists from the English speaking West Africa member states and French speaking member states are being hosted in Abuja Nigeria for this training programme.
Dr. Sacko Seydou programme officer competition and informal trade who represented the Commissioner for Trade in an interview with Ghanamps.com noted that the training will offer journalists selected within the West African sub-region the opportunity to better understand issues relating to AfCFTA and put them in a better position to communicate issue better to ECOWAS citizens and civil society on the trade agreement.
He said there is good opportunity for the region to enhance the integration process and the journalists should be the first point of contact to communicate to citizens of the member states and to the private sector.
“That is why we are having this training, to give them good background and information on the agreement for the Commission to fast track it and ensure that member states will be on the same page of understanding on what the two agreement can help us with the integration process”, he said.
He added that as a sub-region, we need to be very competitive, to take advantage of the whole process. We need to gain something, but if within our sub-region people do not know what is going on, then we will be lacking behind; our role now is to communicate”.
The ECOWAS Parliament at its plenary on Wednesday, November 30, 2022 during the ongoing 2022 Second Ordinary Session of the Parliament holding in Abuja from 24 Nov – December 18, 2022, adopted the report and recommendations for the ECOWAS Commission’s consolidated budget of UA418, 072,408 for 2023.
Presided by the Honourable Speaker, Dr. Sidie Mohamed Tunis, the Parliament also mandated the Speaker to convey the favourable opinion on the ECOWAS Commission’s Adhoc Committee report and recommendation to the Chairman of the Council of the Heads of State for consideration.
It would be recalled that the Administration and Finance Committee (AFC) of the ECOWAS Commission has earlier presented for the Parliament’s consideration a draft budget of Four Hundred and Twenty-Seven Million Unit of Account (UA 427,979,594) for 2023.
The Chairperson of the AFC, Cristina Pedreira who made the Presentation before Members of the Parliament’, said that the Committee came up with the draft budget and recommendations sequel to the 32nd Meeting of the AFC which held from November 14 – 21, 2022.
Meanwhile, the AFC report indicated a general appeal to member states to comply with the provisions of the ECOWAS Community Levy protocol to avoid imposition of the stipulated sanctions.
This elicited contributions at plenary by Parliamentarians who decried the lukewarm attitude of some member states with regard to non-payment by certain member states of community levies.
These taxes, it should be remembered, constitute between 70 and 90% of the Community budget and are levied by each Member State through a mechanism known as the “community levy” which is at a rate of 0. 5% imposed on goods from non-ECOWAS member states.
The parliamentarians denounced the attitude of certain countries which have not made any repayments since the beginning of this year 2022. They rose up against this state of affairs, considering that the States up to date with their contributions cannot, out of simple convenience, continue to pay instead of others.
Parliamentarians were surprised that Member States such as Burkina-Faso and Guinea are up to date with their dues while these countries are experiencing a military-political crisis that is disrupting their economies. On the other hand, they argue, countries that enjoy political and institutional stability are unable to honor their commitments to the community by paying back the community taxes that have been levied.
The parliamentarians then demanded that parliament deal with this situation urgently so that it does not happen again next year.
On this issue, Cape Verdean parliamentarians called on the parliament to use the mechanisms at its disposal to find a way out of this worrying situation.
Minister for Food and Agriculture, Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto has told Parliament the Eastern Region will host the National Farmers Day celebration on the theme, “Accelerating Agricultural Development Through Value Addition”.
According to him pursuant to Public Holidays Act, 2001 (Act 601), this year’s National Farmers’ Day, the 38th edition, falls on Friday, 2nd December, 2022.
In a statement on the floor of the House he noted that, preparations are feverishly underway to ensure a memorable and successful occasion the choice of the Eastern Region was based on a long-standing rotational principle for determining the venue of National Farmers’ Day celebrations in the country.
The theme aligns with government’s vision of modernizing and transforming agriculture, relevant objectives of the President’s Coordinated Programme of Socio-economic Development Policies, and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goals one(1) and two (2) which advocate the eradication of extreme Poverty in all forms and Zero Hunger respectively.
Mr. Speaker, the strategic intervention and the success of the Planting for Food and Jobs (PFI) campaign, speaks clearly to government’s relentless efforts of systematically addressing the long- standing problems of Ghana’s agriculture, he said.
The Horticultural sub-sector now has three new Greenhouse centres located at Dawhenya, Bodwiase and Akomadan in the Greater Accra, Central and Ashanti Regions respectively.
Others include the construction and rehabilitation of major irrigation schemes, feeder roads and 80(1000mt tons capacity) warehouses constructed throughout the country.
Dr. Owusu Afriyie told the House in 2019 the agriculture sector grew by 4.7% followed by 7.4% in 2020 and a record 8.4% in 2021. With the excellent rains this year we expect the substantial growth performance of recent years to be repeated this year 2022.
Whiles, the strongest growth in recent years have increased the share of agriculture sector in Ghana’s GDP from 18% in 2016 to 22% by 2021. These impressive results were posted by the sector against all odds, when multiple external shocks and unfavourable external global conditions had impacted virtually every economy including Ghana.
Supply chains had been badly disrupted resulting in acute shortage in critical inputs like fertilizers, the Animal sector which had been badly hit by diseases such as swine flu and the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, while farmlands were also being destroyed by galamsey activities, he stated.
“Mr. Speaker, we in government recognize that the impressive performance of the agricultural sector is largely due to sacrifices and the tireless efforts of our heroic farmers. As a people, the least we can do therefore is to continue to celebrate and reward our farmers with rising farm productivity and incomes”.
The Minority in parliament on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 insisted that the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta be made to be present in the House before the commencement of debate on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government.
Deputy Minority Whip, Ahmed Ibrahim, raised the issue when the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin called for the debate to start.
The Minority Whip was not pleased at all that the Finance Minister presented the budget to the House but failed to be present to take their input.
Minority Leader
“Mr. Speaker it is only appropriate that the Finance Minister must be here,. Mr. Speaker, if he is not ready to do the job he must let the House know. He must be here for us to make our input but he is not here. We are in a critical stage as a country and we want to treat our suggestions in a form of debate”.
He insisted that the alternative views would come from the Minority side and stated that “our views cannot just be said without being considered”.
For him, the Minority took serious concerns about the absence of the finance Minister in the House.
His argument was supported by other members of the Minority including the Ranking member on the Finance Committee, Ato Forson who said the attitude of the Finance Minister towards the House was becoming too much. “Mr. Speaker, the practice where minsters of finance present budget and failed to collect input should not be entertained. It is becoming too much from this Finance Minister.
He argued that “you cannot read a budget and fail to solicit input to improve it going forward. Mr. Speaker, this is unbecoming of our minister responsible for finance, and we should not entertain it”.
The Minority even called on the Speaker not to allow the debate to start unless the finance minister appears.
However, the Leader of Government Business, and Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu clarified that the Minister of Finance sought permission from the Speaker and leadership of the House that for some reasons he was not going to be available to attend to the debate in the House as he was travelling outside the country to represent the country. As such the two deputies are present in the House to take the necessary notes of the contributions of members.
This was corroborated by the Speaker and confirmed that the Finance Minister duly sought permission to be absent.
The first day of debate on the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of government lacks the energy from the Majority side of the House.
The Majority that is supposed to push the agenda of government appears not too keen in the debate as their turn-up was so low.
Even the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu had course to mock at the Leader of the House for the low turn-up from his colleagues and asked him to take charge of his people.
The usual cheers and support that characterized previous debate was completely nonexistent from the Majority side.
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria H. E. Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed the commitment of his country to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with the support of its partners to keep the sub-region peaceful, secure and politically stable.
According to him in this regard, Nigeria remains committed to supporting ECOWAS to restore democratic rule in Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
He made this remarks on Monday, November 28, 2022 in Abuja at the opening of the second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament when he gave his message as a distinguished guest.
And added that sustenance of democracy and rule of law should remain the norm in the West Africa sub-region, ahead of multiple political activities in some member states including Nigeria, where there will be general elections in February and March of 2023.
“Let me seize this opportunity to reiterate my commitment to free, fair and transparent elections and smooth transitions. This is one legacy that I want my administration to bequeath, not only to Nigeria, but to the region as a whole”, he said.
Also at the regional level, Sierra Leone and Liberia are also preparing for elections. As in the past, Nigeria is ready to stand by any country in the region that is committed to organising free and fair elections.
On the issue of election of Members of the ECOWAS Parliament by Direct Universal Suffrage, he recounted that he gave Nigeria’s assurance to support the process, provided it is conducted with minimum or even at no cost at all, to the Community.
“Let me underscore that the ECOWAS Parliament can only fulfill its true mandate when it has a set of directly elected and dedicated Members. I believe that a membership of the ECOWAS Parliament, not drawn from serving members of Parliaments of Member States, would be a good step towards injecting our regional integration with new energy and initiative”.
As a country that believes strongly in regional integration and cooperation, he emphasize that Nigeria will continue to support all the ECOWAS Institutions domiciled within the country. And their pledge to construct a new permanent headquarters for this Parliament remains as irrevocable and strong as ever.
“I had hoped for the completion and formal commissioning of the project before leaving office. The , desire to create an ECOWAS complex, housing the Commission, the Parliament and the Court all in one arena, led to the delay”.
He said has been informed of the harmonization in drawings and other technicalities have been concluded and that the ground-breaking ceremony of the ECOWAS Commission’s headquarters to be constructed by the Government of the Peoples Republic of China has been scheduled to take place on 5th December 2022.
“ The vision of the founding fathers of ECOWAS was to have a West Africa that is integrated economically with harmonized policies and enjoying free movement of persons, goods and services, as well as seamless right to establishment. We must continue to strive harder to attain those objectives”, he emphasised.
Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament Rt. Hon Alban Kingsford Sumana Bagbin said he does not think and cannot see Accra in the next ten years getting anywhere near Rwanda Kigali, which is known as the cleanest city in Africa.
According to him Rwanda after their genocide sat together to put a programme in place immediately coming out of their genocide, worked as a team and made statement trying to improve their system.
In an interview with Ghanamps.com on the side line at the just ended 145th General Assembly of the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Rwanda- Kigali, responding to whether Accra can be clean like Kigali, Speaker Bagbin pointed out that as we move around in Kigali they had map out areas where people are not to build houses.
“You see people growing vegetables; in Accra the small, small streams we have, they have all been filled with garbage and we are living by the Akuapem ridge when there is rain, the water does not have anywhere to go than to run down and try to run into the sea. There were hold on ponds created around, when there is heavy rain they enter those ponds and try to fill the ponds before moving off; now all the places have been covered, so the water just come down”, he lamented.
The former health Minister gave historical antecedents of efforts to get Accra clean by previous and current governments, saying “we say cleanliness is next to Godliness, and this was one of the core values of the Gold Coast or Ghanaians”.
Kigali Rwanda
And recounted that in the earlier days, Gold Coast (Ghana) had town council officers who moved around to ensure Ghanaians had clean environment; “we took care of our health in the schools, early in the morning we were busy cleaning the areas”.
He said the concept of cleanliness was so cherished that even personal hygiene including the inspection of body, clothing, and teeth was a major issue for teachers. “It has always been with us, but along the way we got a number of interruptions. That is one of the areas that we have some difficulties; life is about evolution, usually when there is a revolution there is some destruction, people do not take time to cost”.
Accra Ghana
The benefit is always bigger than the cost; it’s only when you have that sharp evolution then you take time to recover, then there may be some changes that you try to inculcate in the people that can last for some time. That was not the case in Ghana; we were having frequent changes, evolutions and so some of the core values then got lost, he stated.
He also attributed our difficulties to coups, stating that all these coups and counter coups add up to it; “by the time that we came to constitutional rule we have lost focus, it is now difficult for us to crawl back, we have lost discipline and order”. And the kind of harmony we used to work together to ensure there was cleanliness, orderliness is not existent.
Rt. Hon Speaker Bagbin pointed out that after the change of government in 2000, because, “Rawlings has been there for a long time, people were not really appreciating the process that Rawlings put in place”.
Then came the government of former President John Agyekum Kufuor, who establish a Ministry called the ‘Beautification of the Capital City’. It caught on because it’s one of the serious concerns of Ghanaians; “how to get back that value”.
“Late Jake Otanka Obetsebi-Lamptey was put in charge of that Ministry, in spite of all the talks, things got worse”, he lamented.
After that there was transition and former President, John Evans Atta Mills came and also brought about a ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ trying to improve on all those things.
Then currently we have President Nana Akufo-Addo’s government also talking about making, “Accra the cleanest city in Africa”.
“I listen to these things and I laugh because, many of them do not know the magnitude of the problem; the kind of investment made into it; that is why some of us underscore the importance of long term vision where we will seat and agree that, “in this number of years of time this is where we want to be, how do we get there?”.
The Minister for Employment and Labour Relations Ignaius Baffour Awuah has underscored the importance of the Country having a labour market information system as it will help in policy decision making.
According to him having a functional market information system is very critical stating that as a Ministry they are supposed to turn out information on labour statistics to government and the general public; but lamented that they are either non-existence or there are scanty information which is useful for policy formulation.
And further lamented that in this modern age in the 21st century where the world is driven by technology, “we continue to use manual system for gathering information”.
Participants
He made this remarks at the launch of the national action plan on labour market information system in Ghana.
He added that he looks forward to its outcome and reminded the actors and consultants that they have a lot to do, because six years down the line since he became a Minister of that Ministry, one of the things he was lectured on was Labour Market Information System.
“ So I thought we were almost there, I got the assurance it would be launched half way and it was going to be lunched six years down the line, it is yet to be launched. I do not know if the program is dead”, he lamented.
He further pointed out that the system of gathering labour information, sometimes you get a labour officer who is lazy and does not capture the information well, and will not give out accurate information.
When you get an officer who gets accurate information captured, “sometimes you get people questioning how authentic information on the labour market is; and we ourselves do lack the confidence to even defend those figures”.
Mr. David Marcos, an officer in charge of the International Labour Organisation noted that the mismatch and imbalance between the demand and supply of skills contributes to the costly economic inefficacies, resulting in difficult transition from education to productive, employment and under-utilisation of existing skills at the work place.
And limited portability of skills and qualification across countries, regions and the continent as countries that have succeeded in linking skills to productivity gains, increase employment and enhanced development have targeted skills development policies towards matching supply to demand for skills.
Mr. David Marcos officer in charge of ILO
The ILO through the SIFA-Skills Anticipation Programme component conducted a study in Ghana in 2020 to map existing labour market information system and practices and to establish the extent to which the system has institutionalized skills anticipation as an integral part of the national LMIS system.
The research study aimed at mapping the existing data sources or providers, and reviewing current practices, capacities and institutional arrangements for labour market information and skills anticipation in Ghana.
The main objective was to inform the Skills Anticipation Component of the Africa Union Commission (AUC), which aims at facilitating the identification and anticipation of skills as an integral part of national labour market information systems (LMIS).
This was important to ensure that skills supply and skills demand in African labour markets can be matched effectively to help deal with the unemployment challenge and threats faced by respective governments of targeted AUC Member States.
The study provided concrete recommendations for the improvement of existing systems and structures of labour market information databases in Ghana and, thereby, supporting effective skills anticipation processes.
The study established that there are insufficient organizational structures and human resources to centralize labour market information and provide evidence for making education and training more responsive to current and future skills needs.
It is examined different institutions involved in data collection activities and concluded that the MOELR, in terms of its mandate as the government agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of policies on employment planning, should have the overall responsibility for any possible future skills matching and anticipation system in Ghana.
Based on the foregoing the study concluded that Ghana does not have a well-functioning skills matching and anticipation system in place and proposes a framework for better matching and anticipation of Ghana’s skills needs to meet the growing digital skills for up skilling the workforce for the emerging Africa’s single market.
The mapping exercise, therefore provided an overview of the Ghana Labour Market Information system, its data sources, its, capacities and institutional arrangements. The report also highlighted strengths and weaknesses of the current system including the fact the Country does not have an institutionalized process of anticipating labour market skills needs.
Subsequently, in 2021, a National Task Team was formed that worked to develop a National Action Plan for improving and strengthening Labour Market Information and Skills Anticipation Systems in Ghana.
He noted that launch event is yet another success story of effective collaboration among ILO projects in the Africa region. The SKILL UP Project and the SIFA Skills Anticipation project have been working in tandem to strengthen the skills anticipation system in Ghana.
And these collaborative efforts, SIFA have supported the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations to develop a National Action Plan for strengthening and improving Labour Market Information and Skills Anticipation System in Ghana which is being launched today.
The National Action Plan which has been duly costed will serve as a resource mobilization tool for the Ministry and other collaborators to be able to harness the needed resources towards the implementation of the recommended actions.
“I am glad to note that the development of the National Action Plan is timely as the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project, funded by the World Bank, will support the implementation of key recommendations of this National Action Plan”.
He further pledged the continues support of the ILO in pursuit of this noble dream of improving and strengthening the Labour Market Information System with the view to promoting decent work and social justice.
Unemployed citizens of Ghana who are hopeful of getting employment into the civil and public services will have to abandon that dream at least in 2023 as government has announced a hiring freeze for civil and public servants.
This measure was long anticipated by some members of the public since the announcement by government that it was engaging the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a support Programme.
The freeze on employment constitutes one of many other measures the government has adopted towards expenditure rationalization.
The Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta presenting the 2023 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government for the Year ending 31st December, 2023 revealed among others these additional measures that take effect from January, 2023:
● All MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs are directed to reduce fuel allocations to Political Appointees and heads of MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs by 50%. This directive applies to all methods of fuel allocation including coupons, electronic cards, chit system, and fuel depots. Accordingly, 50% of the previous years (2022) budget allocation for fuel shall be earmarked for official business pertaining to MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs; ● A ban on the use of V8s/V6s or its equivalent except for cross country travel. All government vehicles would be registered with GV green number plates from January 2023;
● Limited budgetary allocation for the purchase of vehicles. For the avoidance of doubt, purchase of new vehicles shall be restricted to locally assembled vehicles;
● Only essential official foreign travel across government including SOEs shall be allowed. No official foreign travel shall be allowed for board members. Accordingly, all government institutions should submit a travel plan for the year 2023 by mid-December of all expected travels to the Chief of Staff;
As far as possible, meetings and workshops should be done within the official environment or government facilities;
● Government sponsored external training and Staff Development activities at the Office of the President, Ministries and SOEs must be put on hold for the 2023 financial year;
● Reduction of expenditure on appointments including salary freezes together with suspension of certain allowances like housing, utilities and clothing, etc.;
● A freeze on new tax waivers for foreign companies and review of tax exemptions for free zone, mining, oil and gas companies;
● No new government agencies shall be established in 2023;
● There shall be no hampers for 2022;
● There shall be no printing of diaries, notepads, calendars and other promotional merchandise by MDAs, MMDAs and SOEs for 2024;
● All non-critical project must be suspended for 2023 Financial year
Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta in presenting the 2023 budget statement on the floor of the House has hinted that government has received several proposals for the review of the Electronic Transfer Levy.
According to him they are working closely with all stakeholders to evaluate the impact of the Levy in order to decide on the next line of action which will include revision of the various exclusions.
As a first step, however, the headline rate will be reduced to one percent (1%) of the transaction value alongside the removal of the daily threshold.
And to this end, the income tax regime will undergo reforms to among others, review the upper limits for vehicle benefits and introduce an additional income tax bracket of 35%. 2023 BUDGET STATEMENT 20 Expenditure Measures.
Mr. Speaker, key expenditure measures will also be pursued to support the fiscal consolidation process.
In this regard, it is proposed that Government:
i. Reduce the threshold on earmarked funds from the current 25 percent of Tax Revenue to 17.5 percent of Tax Revenues;
ii. Migrate all earmarked funds onto the GIFMIS platforms and ensure they use the GIFMIS platform to process all their revenue and expenditures transactions. v. Continue with 30% cut in the salaries of the President, Vice President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MMDCEs, and political office holders including those in State-Owned Enterprises;
iii. vii. Place a cap on salary adjustment of SOEs to be lower than negotiated base pay increase on Single Spine Salary Structure for each year;
Mr. Speaker, Government has consistently indicated its intention to improve the revenue collection effort by leveraging technology to enhance tax administration, identify and register taxable persons and improve tax compliance.
In all thirty journalists from the English speaking West Africa member states and French speaking member states are being hosted in Abuja Nigeria for this training programme.
He said there is good opportunity for the region to enhance the integration process and the journalists should be the first point of contact to communicate to citizens of the member states and to the private sector.
The Chairperson of the AFC, Cristina Pedreira who made the Presentation before Members of the Parliament’, said that the Committee came up with the draft budget and recommendations sequel to the 32nd Meeting of the AFC which held from November 14 – 21, 2022.
For him, the Minority took serious concerns about the absence of the finance Minister in the House.
The Majority that is supposed to push the agenda of government appears not too keen in the debate as their turn-up was so low.
He made this remarks on Monday, November 28, 2022 in Abuja at the opening of the second Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Parliament when he gave his message as a distinguished guest.
On the issue of election of Members of the ECOWAS Parliament by Direct Universal Suffrage, he recounted that he gave Nigeria’s assurance to support the process, provided it is conducted with minimum or even at no cost at all, to the Community.
As a first step, however, the headline rate will be reduced to one percent (1%) of the transaction value alongside the removal of the daily threshold.
Mr. Speaker, key expenditure measures will also be pursued to support the fiscal consolidation process.