The Swiss Ambassador’s prescription

Last week, reading the unusually blunt views of a diplomat on why Ghana is not the ideal investment choice, as being touted, the question that came to my mind was: so do the sector officials know this?

As reported by the Daily Graphic a week ago, on October 16, under the headline, ‘Ghana unattractive for foreign investment’, the Swiss Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gerhard Brugger, assessed the business environment thus: “the high cost of doing business in Ghana continues to make Ghana an unattractive spot for foreign investors”.

Diplomats usually speak diplomatically. However, addressing a business breakfast meeting in Accra, Mr Brugger apparently did not sugar-coat his words. He said the bureaucratic business climate in Ghana, particularly for those wishing to establish an enterprise, as well as the high cost of production, discourages many potential investors from coming here.

The meeting was organised by the Swiss-Ghanaian Chamber of Commerce under the theme: “Innovation in trade facilitation and E-government” to discuss challenges obstructing their operations and also link young businesses.

Mr Brugger called on the government to remove the barriers, including the difficulties in clearing goods at the country’s ports, since that is one of the disincentives. 

Not surprisingly, he also mentioned difficulties in the acquisition of land, unavailability of power and high interest rates as some of the other obstacles putting off foreign investors.

He underscored the need for the Ministry of Trade and Industry and other stakeholders to facilitate the required conducive framework. “The system should be made leaner, smaller and less cumbersome.” 

For his part, the Chairman of the Swiss-Ghanaian Chamber of Commerce, Nortey Omaboe, cited the challenge of the instability of the country’s currency. He noted that the instability had resulted in many businesses recording little growth this year.

Dr Omaboe, therefore, appealed to the Ministry of Trade and Industry to ensure that businesses received the needed support to expand their operations and employ more people.

Minister of Trade and Industry Ekow Spio-Garbrah who was also at the meeting “called on the business community to partner the government to address challenges hindering the country’s development.”

Mr Spio-Garbrah noted that the high interest rates were one of the main reasons why businesses were not recording growth and, therefore, “urged trade industries to join the fight” to address those issues, said the Graphic.

I see Mr Brugger’s comments as friendly advice from a concerned observer, someone who wishes to help bring about improvement. And evidently he knew what he was talking about.

My understanding is that the problems described by Mr Brugger were precisely the reasons why the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) was established. In fact its mandate was updated by Act 865 in 2013 (replacing Act 478 of 1994) to make Ghana more competitive as a place to do business. 

Among other things, the GIPC is to “provide for the creation of an attractive incentive framework and ... facilitating environment for investments in Ghana”. 

I cannot claim any expertise or knowledge in investment, economics, business, trade or related-whatever, but I doubt that I have misunderstood what the Ambassador is reported to have said. Clearly it can be summed up as: given the present sector conditions, Ghana is far from being investment-friendly.

Unfortunately, the Ambassador’s diagnosis of the malady is depressingly representative of the experience in other areas.

Similarly, a recent case that I’m familiar with is yet another example of the frustrations some of our offices and departments put people through. 

For the past one month, a colleague has been trying unsuccessfully to obtain from the Registrar-General’s Department a form to register a non-governmental organisation. The answer every week is the same: “We have run out of the forms.”

In this day and age, how is it excusable for such a department to run out of a basic form for a good four weeks? Yet, this is a form which when completed is submitted with payment of a fee, meaning that each submitted form puts money into state coffers.

Is the situation truly a reflection of challenges at that department, to the extent that it cannot even make registration forms available for weeks?

But surely, if departments and agencies have hindrances, the GIPC of all bodies should not have that problem as investments are supposedly central to Ghana’s economy. Also, no doubt its importance is the reason why the GIPC is directly under the Office of the President.

As I was reading Mr Brugger’s indictment, I was expecting that the next paragraphs would be a robust defence, or at least an assurance of corrective measures being taken. Therefore, I found Mr Spio-Garbrah’s contribution, as reported, quite disappointing.

But maybe the solutions are more the duty of the GIPC Chief Executive Officer, Mawuena Trebarh, appointed in 2013.  However, the Graphic report did not say whether the CEO was present, or whether any representative from the GIPC was at the breakfast meeting.

If after more than 20 years of having an agency dedicated to making Ghana attractive, preferred, to foreign investors, the informed prescription is still that the investment procedure needs to be “leaner, smaller and less cumbersome,” what has the GIPC been doing all these years?

The Writer is a columnist (Thoughts of a Native Daughter) in a The Mirror newspaper