Akufo-Addo promises to revamp business industry
The Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, last Saturday announced a number of visions aimed at revamping the business industry of the country and providing the needed support for economic turnaround.
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Addressing separate gatherings of people in the Ahanta West, Kwesimintim, Takoradi, and the Essikado-Ketan constituencies in the Western Region, he said when given the nod, the head office of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) would be relocated to Takoradi, the energy hub of the country.
Nana Akufo-Addo also said the Value Added Tax charged on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) would be reduced from the current 17.5 per cent to three per cent.
He said it used to be three per cent which made businesses in the SME sector quite buoyant and productive but the extraordinarily high increase under the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had adversely affected the operations of enterprises that sector.
Boost for rubber sector
Another pronouncement that sent the crowds into instant jubilation was the plan to set up a new factory that would serve the purpose of extracting oil from rubber seeds.
In addition, support for out-growers in the rubber industry, which existed under the administration of former President Kufuor, will be restored in order to ensure the vibrancy of that sector for the creation of more jobs to ease the prevailing high rate of unemployment in the country.
Addressing artisans at Kokompe in Takoradi, he said the vision of the ‘’one district, one factory’’ would require the crucial role of operatives in the sector in view of the plan to build vehicle assembly plants in key areas of the country, including the Western Region.
He said the NPP was of the firm belief that since job creation was essentially a private sector activity, the number one priority for the next NPP government would be to put in place, the policy framework that would help businesses expand and create jobs, as well as promote the growth of entrepreneurship opportunities for young Ghanaians in particular.
Job creation agenda
The agenda for job creation, according to him, would be underpinned by pursuing aggressive industrialisation and value-addition to agricultural produce, providing tax and related incentives for manufacturing businesses in sectors such as agro-processing, light industries, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, as well as garments and textiles, among others.
A government under his leadership, he said, would be committed to providing a reliable and cost-effective mix of energy supply for businesses and providing the necessary incentives for private sector participation in all aspects of the economy.
Nana Akufo-Addo also said focus would be placed on pursuing policies that would reduce interest rates, reduce the cost of doing business, stabilise the currency and provide incentives to the hospitality and creative industries.
Such moves, he said, would enable his government to create jobs while it continued to invest in skills training and apprenticeships, and promote exports, especially of value-added agricultural produce.
Bringing back the smiles
The NPP, he said, had the real blueprint for the economic transformation of the country from its current state of bleak and hopelessness to one which would bring smiles back to the faces of Ghanaians.
The NDC, he said, had clearly demonstrated that its vision for the country was for its leadership to enrich themselves at the extent of the ordinary Ghanaian and for which reason it would do all within its power to cling on to power in order to worsen the plight of Ghanaians.
The party, he said, was committed to increasing its votes in the 2016 elections.
In the 2012 Presidential elections, the NDC had 582,193 representing 54.42 per cent and the NPP had 488,517 representing 43. 80 per cent of the total votes cast in the Western Region.
Securing more votes
However, this time round, he said, the NPP would not allow that to happen again since it was ready to secure more than 75 per cent of the votes.
Nana Akufo-Addo first paid a courtesy call on the two paramount chiefs of Lower and Upper Discove in the Ahanta West Constituency.
The two leaders, the Vice-President of the Western Regional House of Chiefs and the Omanhene of Lower Discove, Nana Kwesi Agyeman IX and Obrempong Hima Dekyi asked Nana Akufo-Addo to reconstruct their roads when voted to power.
Nana Akufo-Addo outdoored Mr Kojo Kum as the NPP Parliamentary Candidate for the Ahanta West Constituency.
At the Takoradi Constituency, Nana Akufo-Addo introduced the NPP Parliamentary Candidate, Mr Kobby Otchere Darko Mensah, who also sold his message of hope to the people amid shouts of acclamation.
Mr Alan Kyerematen, who gave an address at Kokompe, told the traders that the NPP government would help people establish their own businesses in order to redeem them from the untold hardships that had been brought about by the Mahama-led administration.
