SARPONG'S BLOG

Ghana Post Company Limited is collapsing and it will need the intervention of Government of Ghana to save it from dying, says the Union Chairman of the Ghana Postal Service Workers Union (GPSWU), Mr. Emmanuel Addo. According to him, the company needs recapitalization in order to survive. “We need fresh money to be injected into the company,” he added. “What we are doing now is purely manual but if we are networked, we can get these agencies a lot of work to do, such as dispatching and receiving telephone bills, electricity and water bills for the operators like Vodafone, Ghana Water Company and others,” Mr.Addo emphasized. Accrabased Adom FM’s political show, ‘Burning Point’ Mr. Addo said the lack of a networked infrastructure within Ghana Post is making it impossible for the company to assure existing and potential clients of its ability to meet parcel delivery targets; causing them to stop using Ghana Post’s services. “All these entities fade off from our operations...

The Finance Minister, Seth Terkper has revealed that majority of the recently issued $1 billion Eurobond, is owned by investors from the United States of America with a total stake of 60%. According to him, investors from the United Kingdom also purchased 21% of the bond while those from Europe also bought 15%. He also added that Asian investors own 2% shares of the bond, with 2% coming from elsewhere. Hon. Terkper stated that on April 2, 2013, Cabinet approved the initiation of a second Eurobond transaction by the country. He indicated that based on the financing needs and anticipated market conditions, a transaction size of up to US$1,000 million was indicated. The Finance Minister announced this at the Flagstaff House (the seat of government) on Tuesday when he presented the details of the Eurobond transaction to the media. Giving further details of the Eurobond transaction, the Minister said part of the bond proceeds will be used to refinance maturing domestic de...

The Chairman of Ghana’s National Biosafety Committee (NBC), Professor Erick C. Quaye has emphasized that, the National Biosafety Authority (NBA), which will supervise the implementation of genetically modified (GM) crops in the country would soon be established. According to Professor Quaye, everything is in order for the establishment of the Authority, adding that the sector Minister is aware and working towards it. He also noted that the authority will be the implementing agency in Ghana. Genetically modified foods according to the World Food Organization (WHO), are foods derived from organisms whose genetic material (DNA) has been modified in a way that does not occur naturally, e.g. through the scientific introduction of a gene from a different organism. Most existing genetically modified crops have been developed to improve yield, through the introduction of resistance to plant diseases or of increased tolerance of herbicides. However, per WHO’s guidelines, ...

The use of smartphones among Ghanaians is killing the operations of Internet Cafes in the country, according to the National Communication Authority (NCA). The regulator of the telecom industry says gradually, internet cafes are reducing in number due to the usage of smartphones by majority of Ghanaians. PaaRock Vanpercy, the Director General of NCA disclosed this at a media workshop in Accra last week. According to him, data penetration is currently about 37%, which indicate an improvement. Previously, Ghana had a data penetration of 5%. “Thankfully due to the advent of smartphones, which has allowed more Ghanaians hooking on the internet by the use of their smart phones,” he added. Mr. Vanpercy stated that the number of Internet Cafes in Ghana dropped from 35% in 2011 to 20% in 2012, adding that this was a result of many people using smartphones which enable them access to the internet on it. However, Accra has the majority of the cafes, compared to the few ones i...

The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has denied allegations that telecom operators have deducted Communication Service Tax (CST) from customers but have not paid to government. There have been several media publications over the past few weeks stating that mobile operators made CST, otherwise known as Talk Tax, deductions from customers, but have failed to pay them on to the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as required by law. The Telecom Chamber said “this information is incorrect.” It therefore stated that even though the 6% talk tax was by law meant for customers to pay, each of the operators did not pass it on to their customers, so they continue to it to GRA on behalf of consumers. However there is a contention between operators and the GRA over another 6% tax the GRA sought to place on termination rates they pay to each other based on where a call terminated. Under the interconnect arrangement between telcos, when a call is made from one network to the other, the n...

Story by: Fred Yaw Sarpong Residents and commercial drivers at Mallam and Gbawe surrounding areas have complaint bitterly about the deplorable state of the Mallam Lorry Park. The users of the lorry park find it difficult to go to the station to pick cars when ever its rains. These make the drivers parks along the main road and pick passengers, and it usually brings huge traffic to the area. On the course of looking for the managers of the Mallam Lorry Park, both the Ga South Municipal Assembly and the Ghana Private Road Transport (GPRTU) unit at station refused to accept to be in charge of the station. In an interview with the Chairman of the GPRTU unit at the station, Mr. Ephram Sack1ey explained that the Ga South Assembly brought them letter barely a year now, and indicated to them that the assembly supposed to take in charge of every lorry station in the municipality. ‘So we had discussion with them and they agreed to develop the station with the revenue they will gen...

Story by: Fred Yaw Sarpong Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal and Togo are the only countries in the West Africa sub-region that have biosafety legislation in place that can allow the handling of genetically modified (GM) crops up to commercial release. Nigeria, the fifth country has a cabinet approval for the handling of GM crops up to the confined field trial level . However, Nigeria law to allow commercial release passed in 2011 by its Senate and currently waiting Presidential assent. Among these countries, only Burkina Faso is handling a GM crop (Bt cotton) at the commercial level in West Africa. Their project started in 2008. But on the entire continent, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Egypt and Sudan have laws permitting commercialization of GM crops. Prof. Walter S. Alhassan, a member of National Biosafety Committee (NBC) said this at a one-day workshop for the media on the process of biotechnology and biosafety policy development and way forward . It was held at the Sc...

Story by: Fred Yaw Sarpong Under the mandatory Tier 2 Pension Fund of the new Pensions Law, 2008 (Act 766), Ghana Association of Microfinance Companies (GAMC) decided to set up its own Pension Scheme to effectively and efficiently manage the 2 nd Tier pension contributions of member companies on behalf of their employees. The association opted to run a hybrid scheme which will enable the Association’s Pension/Provident Fund to be an autonomous scheme with its own Board of Trustees and outsource the regulatory requirements to either a Corporate Trustees or a Master Trust (Umbrella) Scheme. The Executive Secretary of GAMC, Richard Amaning announced this at the association’s 2012 Annual General Meeting held in Accra last week Friday 16 August, 2013. He stated that the underlying objective of the GAMC Pension Scheme is to provide a long term savings vehicle for retirement planning for employees of member companies. ‘Membership to the scheme is therefore limited only to empl...