The Chamber said it has intensified its engagement with key stakeholders to get the nation to channel its mineral resources towards sustainable development.

The Chamber of Mines is advocating for Ghana to adopt policies that will optimize the opportunities in the mining industry for sustained development.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Sulemanu Koney who was speaking at a  workshop for journalists in Kumasi called for a change of mindset about the mining industry.

“I don’t think that as a people we have leverage the mining industry optimally. There are opportunities for us to do this and the chamber is on course. The Chamber is waging a crusading engaging whoever will listen to us, we are engaging with the respective Ministers, we are planning to meet with the Economic management team of the country and hopefully we should have a very good conversation as to how to leverage out mining industry for a broader and sustained economic development”.

He indicated that Ghana must learn from South Africa and leverage its mineral resources for sustained development.

Mr Koney has also called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) as well as security agencies to help the regulatory agencies to sanitize mining activities in their respective areas.
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By: Hafiz Tijani/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Chamber of Mines intensifies promotion of Ghana’s mining sector appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to him, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), side-stepped parliament to sign the agreement.

Speaking on Eyewitness News on Monday, Mr. Akoto Osei said although some legislators in the minority of the previous parliament brought the issue before the house and threatened a court action, government failed to seek parliamentary approval for the agreement.

[contextly_sidebar id=”I7AohriG1h2Ik24leHpUrOHyZIQbzivY”]“Even though the IMF programme was signed by government, it was never approved by parliament… It is an executive arrangement between the government and the IMF, but the people of Ghana did not approve of it,” he said.

He noted that, it was in the interest of the IMF to ensure that its subsequent agreements received parliamentary approval.

“We raised the issue and we threatened to go to court, we didn’t go but it is still an issue. It is in the interest of the IMF that this type of thing is not done without parliament.”

The NDC government led by President John Mahama signed the deal for a 3-year Extended Credit Facility (ECF) Programme for Ghana with the IMF, for a total support of US$918 million in 2015.

The programme was among other things to help restore debt sustainability and macroeconomic stability to foster a return to high growth and job creation, through agriculture and infrastructure investment, while ensuring prudent social spending, and to help rebuild external buffers.

Following the swearing-in of a new government led by the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) Nana Akufo-Addo, calls have been renewed for a renegotiation of the deal, which many say has negatively affected the country.

Some key aspects of the deal which many have suggested for reconsideration is the freeze on the net employment of public sector workers.

But according to the former minority spokesperson on Finance, renegotiating the deal will not be new.

“A programme that runs any period of time will certainly come up for renegotiation either from government or the IMF. If the IMF finds out that we have met some targets, they will call for renegotiation.”

He emphasized that, the new government must prove to the IMF that it can reduce taxes and still meet the IMF targets.

He however assured that, the Ministry of Finance and the Economic Management team will look into the matter of a moratorium on employments into the public and civil services and take a decision.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post IMF program wasn’t approved by Parliament – Akoto Osei appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.