U.S. delegation attended AU summit looking to play bigger role in Africa
By Kestér Kenn Klomegâh 3
Tuesday 21 February 2023 Issue No.17
A NEW THINKIN
Trade Min. designate promises to boost SMEs to compete globally By Eugene Davies
Minister-designate for Trade and Industry, Kwabena Tahiru Hammond, has resolved to revitalise small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to make them sustainable and competitive in the global value-chain.
Minority demands
He disclosed that a white paper already existed at the Ministry that deals with how to properly define and deal with the technical and economic aspects of these enterprises, and he plans to carry them out. By Eugene Davies
downsizing of gov’t to reflect austere times
The minority in Parliament have asked President Nana Akufo-Addo to downsize its ministerial portfolios to reflect the austere and economic crisis the country is facing.
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and Communication, Transport and Addressing the Parliamentary Press Railways, Chieftaincy and Tourism, Government announced six new Corps at Parliament House on Sanitation and Local government]. ministerial nominees to replace the old ones who resigned and Monday, the minority leader, Dr. Ato Forson said Ghanaians had hoped They also called for the immediate others reassigned respectively. that the seriousness of the economic reduction in the number of political According to the minority, given the situation would finally prompt a re- appointees at the Office of the Pres- The National Democratic Congress state of affairs with hyperinflation, duction in the size of government. ident as well as the immediate (NDC) directed its Minority memcedi depreciation and biting cost of scrapping of all amorphous cre- bers in Parliament to reject the living warrant that the president To this end, the minority is calling for ations and waste-pipe, new ministers appointed by Presire-aligns and merges some of the the immediate reduction in the job-for-the-boys’ appointments dent Akufo-Addo. ministries to make it more effective number of Ministers from 86 to 65, since the assumption of office of In a press release dated February and ensure cuts in expenditure. the merger of ministries [Information President Akufo Addo in 2017.
“We must make sure that our businesses are properly placed to be able to engage in competitions, and government is prepared to grant other financial incentives to our nationals, enterprises [SMEs] to be properly placed. He added that the country “should look at a particular type of product we are best in producing to gain competitive advantage,” he said this when he appeared at the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday for his vetting. On the need to ban second hand electricals, he maintained that he will wait
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Unlocking AfCFTA potential to Coups are not durable solutions to Africa’s boost agric industrialisation problems –Akufo-Addo 2
By Kenneth Ashiagbor
The African Continental Free Trade ticipation, has been consistently low, Area (AfCFTA) offers tremendous hampered by barriers to trade and opportunity for unlocking business competitiveness. potential across the continent and The AfCFTA removes many of these the world barriers and unlocks opportunities Historically, Africa’s foreign direct for Africa to join regional and global investment (FDI), as well as its re- value chains and integrate with ingional and global value-chain par- ternational businesses.
Josephine Anan-Ankomah appointed as new MD for Ecobank Kenya Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) has appointed Josephine Anan-Ankomah, a Ghanaian Banker as the Managing Director of Ecobank Kenya. 3
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has urged the international community to send a clear message to coup plotters that coups have never been, and will never be durable solutions to Africa’s political, economic and security challenges. According to President Akufo-Addo, “Statements condemning coups alone without corresponding action will, however, achieve little or nothing, as witnessed in recent times. This problem requires collective agreement, effective deterrence, bold action and, equally important, adequate preventive measures.” Delivering the keynote address at a side-event organised by the United Nations Development Programme 2
(UNDP), on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, in Munich, Germany, on Friday, 17th February 2024, the President stated that “there are those who still hanker after authoritarian, personal rule, because they claim Africa is underdeveloped and democracy is cumbersome, and we need to get things done in a hurry.” Quoting from the 2019 any other continent, which, he said, is “an unsavoury Annual Risk of Coup statistic”. Report, he indicated that Citing the case of Ghana, President Akufo-Addo noted Africa has experienced that political instability described much of the early demore coup d’états than cades of the nation’s life as an independent nation, and