These hurdles must be cleared
Businesses all over the world are expected to have either licences, permits or certification to be able to operate in a particular country and Ghana is no exception.
Aside helping the country to know the number of businesses operating, it also helps government generate some revenue from them in terms of taxes and levies.
It is however surprising that when it comes to Ghana, businesses are expected to have more than 145 different licences, permits and certifications to enable them operate. It is so clear that any business executive who wants to go through the process of acquiring all the licences would have to wait for a long time and that would definitely come with extra cost.
According to a study commissioned by the Private Enterprises Federation (PEF), an umbrella body of more than 10 private sector associations, the long period it takes to obtain licences tends to make the business environment in the country unfriendly and cost-laden, much to the detriment of the private sector. Meanwhile, six of the licences are cross-sectoral, affecting every single business concern in the country.
Businesses need permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the Town and Country Planning as well as the Office and Factories Inspectorate certification and interestingly, all these permits exclude registering at the Registrar-General’s Department and land title registration.
Although it should take between three and 90 days to obtain each of the legal requirements, inadequate staff and resources render the process a never-ending expedition stretching up to two years, in some cases, the study showed.
The lack of resources has also denied the agencies proper modern systems where licences could be applied for and received online. For instance, the report cited the GNFS as one of the agencies which was under-resourced and had only 50 inspectors for the entire country, instead of two in every district, which is what best practice prescribes.
For the past 18 months, PEF has been engaging the relevant authorities and has already presented position papers to the agencies involved and their supervising ministries. It has also engaged the relevant parliamentary select committees who have all agreed to that fact that urgent reforms are required.
It is therefore commendable that the PEF, with the support of the Business Advocacy Challenge Fund (BUSAC), is leading an effort to reform the licensing process to enable the issuance of permits and certification to be done quicker and in a much decentralised fashion. It is also calling for a one-stop shop for the issuance of (at least) the six licences, permits and certifications.
The GRAPHIC BUSINESS commends the association for this effort to bring reforms as it will help reduce the cumbersome processes associated with the acquisition of business licences in the country.
We support PEF in this endeavour.