Mahama pledges to work with business community

The flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), former President John Dramani Mahama, has pledged his commitment to engage business leaders and captains of industry regularly to enable players in that space to share ideas, voice their frustrations, if any, and also make suggestions where necessary in a bid to maintain a friendly business climate for them to thrive.

What is expected to be a major annual luncheon with the business community is also geared towards the creation of a positive business environment where the private sector will be made the real engine of growth to accelerate the development of the country.

The pledge comes at a time when the business community continues to raise issues about the present business climate and the challenges, including the introduction of a heap of taxes, which has raised the cost of doing business.

“I will personally chair such meetings because I want to ensure that the government and businesses have a direct engagement where we can be frank with each other, all towards ensuring that we have a business climate where there is a win-win situation.

“I want to have firsthand information on the critical issues so that I can direct for actions to be taken and where we, as government, also have concerns, we can raise for businesses to address on their side,” former President Mahama said.

Speaker Series

He was speaking to a packed house of captains of industry at a forum dubbed: ‘Distinguished Speaker Series’.

The forum was on how to attract Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to boost the economy. It was put together by a consortium of reputable trade associations and chambers for the various presidential flagbearers to share their perspectives on how to take FDI inflows into the country to the next level when a new administration takes over the mantle of government.

They include the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in Ghana, Ghana Netherlands Business & Culture Council, Spain-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Ghana South Africa Business Chamber, the Canada-Ghana Chamber of Commerce, Japan External Trade Office and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry, France.

He said once the NDC government believes in the role of businesses in economic transformation, all efforts will be put in place to ensure that the business environment is smoothened to enable them to thrive.

He said it is the private sector that can help employ more people while paying taxes and, therefore, every assistance should be accorded to them to operate and deliver on their obligations to the state as well.

Module

Former President Mahama said the government of the NDC will revisit the era when projects were executed by the private sector on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) terms.

That, he said, was necessary for the country to have technological transfer and also own such projects after a while.

He said many such projects were under the previous NDC regime and helped to reduce the stress on government capital expenditure, yet yielded the necessary results.

AfCFTA

Former President Mahama also touched on the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) and noted that the NDC government will ensure that businesses leverage the opportunities available.

He said the business environment would be made flexible in a manner that would allow for increased production to meet local demand and also for export into various African countries under the AfCFTA.

Stimulus

Former President Mahama said the NDC government will deliberately offer incentives to indigenous Ghanaian companies, purely based on their capacity and potential, to enable them to grow to become giants in their respective industries.