GHANA'S ADVOCACY, MODEL FOR EMERGING ECONOMIES IN AFRICA (PAGE 21)

AN eminent expatriate has described the Ghanaian model of advocacy as an excellent one which can serve as a model for other emerging economies in Africa.
He said many business associations had succeeded in advocacy so there was the need to encourage healthy and solid dialogue that could provide foundations upon which progress is made to propel the nation towards the middle income status.
The expatriate, Dr Dale Rachmeler, who is the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) fund manager in Ghana, made the observation at a workshop for district chief executives and presiding members from the southern sector of the Volta Region at Ho last Tuesday.
He said after advocacy, there was the need to cultivate business practices that would augur well for the growth of business, adding that there must be the political will to resolve problems and barriers facing them so that at the end of the day, their incomes could increase.
Dr Dale said so far 360 beneficiaries of the BUSAC fund had gone through a designed method to achieve final results, adding that research was the first step once a grant was obtained through a competitive process.
He said a successful business association was the one which was able to present its case, persuade the decision maker to listen to the solutions proposed and then agreed to a plan of action to resolve that problem.
In an address read on his behalf, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, stated that 49 associations out of 360 in the region received a total of GH¢1,338,534 of grants since the inception of the project in the region from 2006 to date.
The beneficiaries included farmers’ associations, a radio station, organised unions, market women, traders’ association, fishermen associations, garages association, porters’ association, dressmakers’ association, association of small scale industries and chemical sellers’ association.
Mr Amenowode re-affirmed the government’s determination to make it possible for the private sector to effectively partner the government and for that matter, the public sector, to work assiduously for the development of the nation.
“There is no gainsaying the fact that the government alone cannot shoulder the entire burden of developing the nation hence the need for an effective public-private partnership”, he stressed.
The regional minister, therefore, urged the participants to take the chance and make use of every opportunity to improve upon the business environment for their benefit and that of the nation.
He gave the assurance that the Volta Regional Co-ordinating Council, together with the 18 municipal and district assemblies in the region, would do everything in their power to promote business in the region.