Category: General

The first meeting of the fourth session of the seventh Parliament of the fourth Republic would resume of Thursday the 30th of April, 2020 after the second Deputy Speaker Joseph Osei-Owusu suspended the House indefinitely.

Sitting of the first meeting was suspend indefinitely in the wake of the fight against the spread of COVID-19 where the House had to be called for emergency sitting despite the fact that the House was supposed to adjourn sine die per its calendar.

Thursday’s sitting would consider waiver of VAT on donations of stock of equipment of goods for fighting COVID-19 and permitting the deduction of contributions and donations toward the fight of the disease.

And allowable expense for tax purposes and extending the due date for filling taxes from four to six months after the end of the basis year.

Director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Kate Addo in a statement noted that per the powers conferred on the Speaker, order 6 of the standing orders gives the Speaker the authority to direct that the House resumes notwithstanding anything to the contrary for the first meeting of the fourth session which commenced on Tuesday the 28th day of January, 2020.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The biggest steel manufacture, importer and exporter company in the West African sub-region, B 5 Plus, located at Prampram industrial enclave which employs close to ten thousand Ghanaians has given assurance that it would not fire employees in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mike Thakwani he believes government has put in measures to contain the spread of the disease and Ghana would emerge as a winner and be out of the pandemic soon.

“We would do all possible to retain our employees in this difficult times. Our only problem is that the erratic supply of electricity and water, needed help from government on this, we would be fine and not fire a single person”.

He further pointed out in an interview that with the constant supply of electricity, the company would rather employ more Ghanaians as they need to show sympathy in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

As to how the outbreak of COVID-19 is impacting on his company, he noted that it brought additional cost because precautionary measures had to be taken to ensure that workers are taken good care of.

In addition, he noted that the company has to house the workers to take care of their breakfast, lunch and dinner and again ensure there is wearing of facemask, with constant supply of water despite the fact that they are faced with a problem of supply of water by Ghana Water Company.

“We have to buy water outside which is really adding up to our cost, we are pleading with government to help us”, he lamented.

Mr. Thakwani again disclosed that B5 Plus Ltd has supported the COVID-19 fund with three hundred thousand Ghana cedis and donated medical equipment to health facilities in the Prampram enclave it operates.

As most of the workers are from the Prampram and Ashiaman the company provided them with food basket to be given to their families and they are provided with a day and half pay so that they would feel comfortable to work.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Erratic power supply at the Ningo-Prampram industrial enclave is affecting the operations of one of the biggest steel companies within the West African sub-region, B5 Plus Limited, under the One District, Once factory (1D1F) programme.

A visit by Ghanamps.com on Friday April 24, 2020 to the factory of the giant steel importer and exporter witnessed most of the workers idle because there was no power for the company to work because of its fluctuating nature.

This is after more than a month’s working visit by the Government Assurance Committee to the company on its field verification tour, tracking some promises made by the Trade and Industry Minister.

Mr. Mike Thakwani, Chief Executive Officer of the company in an interview pointed out that he would need one hundred megawatt of power yearly, but the current forty megawatt is also a problem.
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“You see people waiting to have electricity to work, the power fluctuation is so much and unbearable, we do not have electricity we were not informed in advance, so just imagine that we are running our machines and the power goes off”, he queried.

Unhappy with the situation, Mr.  Thakwani noted that B5 Plus is creating jobs, employing Ghanaians in thousands, paying taxes, saving foreign currency as most of the structures at the company are Ghanaian made.

He thanked the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurance but was worried that three issues he raised, electricity, water and land has unfortunately not been resolved.

“As an investor, when land has been gotten genuinely I should be free from land litigation among families so that I do not surfer as an investor”.
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“We are pleading with government to assist us have direct power supply as we are unable to run fifty percent capacity of our machines and no financial institution would be willing to support with funds to give new machines with the current situation”, he lamented.

Again, he noted that their production is down by thirty (30) percent because of electricity issues and added that another problem is supply of water which forces them to get water outside the Prampram enclave.

He stated however that despite the challenges, work has started on the ground with the hope that power supply would be boosted as promised by government, “We believe in Ghana and hoping for positive results”.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

The Authority of Heads of States and Governments would hold an extraordinary meeting today Thursday, April 23, 2020 through a video conference.

Heads of States would be discussing the situation and impact of the Coronavirus pandemic in the West African sub-region.

Ahead of the extraordinary summit, the Ministers of Finance and Governor of the Central Banks held a virtual meeting on Tuesday, April 21 of this year on same COVID-19 to assess its impact on the sub-region.

To address the COVID-19 pandemic, Finance Ministers and Governors of the Central Banks in the sub-region had to immediately make available financial support and assistance from international partners for the purchase of medical supplies and essential equipment for the fight against the pandemic.

As of April 20 this year, according to the West African Health Oraganisation (WAHO) data, the fifteen (15) member states have recorded five thousand, four hundred and seventy-four (5, 474) confirmed cases whiles one thousand five hundred and sixty-seven (1,567) had recovered with one hundred and forty (140) deaths and three thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven active cases.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) reaffirmed its solidarity with Member States and welcomed all the measures already taken to contain the spread of the pandemic and cure for the sick.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has said the one billion US dollars Rapid Credit Facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved by Parliament is to support growth, reduce poverty and push the transformation agenda to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

According to him, the IMF projects a global recession this year and for sub-Sahara Africa, a growth of minus one point six (-1.6)   and that of Ghana has been downgraded to one point five (1.5).

“The money would be made available to Bank of Ghana which would help address balance of payment”, he said.

After the debate to approve one billion dollars to tackle COVID-19, he told the House in winding up the debate that February this year, Ghana went to the International Market to raise three billion dollars before the market closed.

Mr. Ofori-Atta noted that on the African continent, no country has the physical space to confront the COVID-19 pandemic hence the need to be backed by effective financial policy system as government of Ghana would continue to look for resources to bridge the gap.

“These are extra ordinary times and extra ordinary measures should be taken to ensure that our people are protected, looking at the resources Africa has in these recession times we would not be able to protect our people without taking some serious measures”.

He further told the House, the world economy would move into a steep decline and then gradually rise; that of Ghana would be worse for two or three years and go through a sloping curve downwards before gradually recovering.

“We should get ourselves ready for that, Ghana and South Africa have been working with IMF where we can have some suspension of our interest payment and principal payment for this year.  We have about forty-four billion dollars that Africa has to pay this year with various interest I think we have made some progress and with the support of G20 interest, would be differed for nine months and at least we are going to push for two years in doing”.

The Finance Minister assured the House that he would be coming to the House anytime it is necessary in the mid-year to give account of what the Finance Ministry is doing as there are programme realigned to the budget with resources that he would leave no stone unturned.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com

Speaker of the Sierra Leone’s Parliament, H. E. Dr. Abass Chernor Bundu has served notice of resumption of the Parliament on Tuesday April 28, 2020.

According to the statement, in the light of quorum and following regulations of social distancing, leadership of the political parties are obliged to determine and limit the attendance of their membership as one-half of their numbers are expected in the Parliament and applicable to paramount chiefs and Independent members of Parliament.

Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com