Accra, Jan. 21, - The 69th Annual
New Year School and Conference, organised by the School of Continuing and
Distance Education, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, has ended in
Accra.
The event which spanned January
15 – January 19, recorded an unprecedented number of over 320 participants,
which is the highest ever over the past decade. It ended with communiqué.
Full text of the communiqué:
Communique Issued at the 69th
Annual New Year School and Conference, Organized by the School of Continuing
and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, from 15th –
18th January, 2018
Communique Issued at the 69th
Annual New Year School and Conference, Organized by the School of Continuing
and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, from 15th –
18th January, 2018
Introduction
High unemployment rate hampers
economic development and it is seen as a threat to national security. It is
against this backdrop that, the School of Continuing and Distance Education,
University of Ghana organized its 69th Annual New year School and Conference
under the theme; “Job Creation for Accelerated National Development: The role
of the Private Sector”.
Overview
The conference started on Monday
15th January 2018, with an opening ceremony which was chaired by the Chairman
of the Governing Council of the University of Ghana while the Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Ghana, presented the welcome address. The Vice- Chancellor
stressed the need to enhance the entrepreneurial spirit among the youth to move
them from social dependence to self-sufficiency.
The Acting Provost of the
College of Education urged policy makers to promote development oriented
policies that support productive activities. The key note speaker, Sir Sam
Jonah called for strong government support in creating the requisite
environment for national capitalism so that Ghanaian entrepreneurs can deliver
growth to support sustainable development. The school was formally opened by
the Vice President of the Republic Ghana.
The theme for the New Year School
and Conference was further divided into eight sub-themes as follows:
Creating an enabling business
environment for private sector development
Developing and supporting
innovative entrepreneurship
Private sector participation in
local governance for job creation
Enhancing labour productivity
through skills development for industry
Attracting investment into the
agricultural value chain: the role of the private sector
Accelerated industrial
development for job creation
Innovative financial services for
business and SMEs development
E-business and job creation
At the end of the New Year
School, a collaborative effort by Ministers of State, captains of industry,
various union leaders and participants from all walks of life resulted in the
following recommendations:
As a way of ensuring Ghanaian
products are competitive domestically and globally, it is recommended that, the
government, through the Ghana Standards Authority and other regulatory agencies
strictly enforce international standards through local associations for the
production of goods and services. Government should use its purchasing power to
ensure compliance.
There should be a policy that
will mandate all state agencies to purchase made in Ghana products.
In ensuring that we attract
private investments into the agricultural value chain, the government through
the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Health and Education should strengthen
and make it compulsory the policy that requires government institutions to
purchase produce from local farmers.
Government should enforce the
Land Use and Special Planning Act (Act 925) through Land Use and Spatial
Planning Authority to ensure that all lands are properly planned before
permitting development on them. This should include the protection of lands
earmarked for industrial parks.
The Bank of Ghana should outline
a clear policy that will facilitate the reduction of the cost of doing business
by ensuring that, interest rates charged by banks are not overly higher than
the Bank of Ghana Monetary Policy Rate. There should be transparency in the
determination of interest rates by commercial banks
Government should intensify the
campaign to change the negative mindset of Ghanaians towards local products in
order to boost demand for locally produced products and reduce imports. The
action plan should include specific steps by government to provide subsidies to
local businesses to make their products competitive
The government through the
Special Development Initiatives should establish Agricultural Development Fund
in the various authorities. This fund should be used to develop appropriate
infrastructure to support cottage industries that will use local raw materials
and employ the youth in their localities.
In order to engender an
entrepreneurial culture among the youth, there is the need for them to be
exposed to international best practices. In particular the Ministry of
Education should promote visits to industrial sites (both domestic and
international), mentorship and entrepreneurship competitions in the educational
curriculum, particularly at the basic level
The government should expedite
action on bringing all its skills training centres, such as NVTI and ICCES
among others under the Ministry of Education as provided in the Council for
Technical and Vocational Education and Training Act (Act 718, 2006). A clear
deadline by which COTVET can begin to regulate all government Skills Training Centres
should be established and followed
The Association of Ghana
Industries (AGI) and all such bodies should as a matter of urgency collaborate
with and support tertiary institutions to train sector specific human resource
for the country’s emerging industry.
There is an urgent need for the
government and tertiary institutions to act to tackle the skills shortage by
adopting a more proactive approach to developing the skills of the future
workforce and graduates in areas such as critical thinking and creativity, to
give them an edge over machines and computers
Productive partnership should be
established between the government and the private sector to pursue the
government’s role as a facilitator more seriously and strategically. In
particular, the Local Government Ministry should strengthen Public Private
Partnership to create jobs at the local level.
Metropolitan, Municipal and
District Assemblies should encourage the participation of professionals and
local entrepreneurs in the crafting of development plans by coopting these
individuals into the various sub committees of the assemblies.
The Ministry of Trade and
Industry should organize regional based technology fairs and exhibitions
annually to attract local and foreign investors and encourage innovative
projects or inventions from local entrepreneurs
The government through the
Ministry of Education and GETFUND should resource technical/vocational
institutions in order to equip the youth with employable skills
The Ministry of Communications
should develop and expand specific ICT training modules for local and “emerging
local entrepreneurs” in order to strengthen, empower and accelerate private
sector participation in e-business
GNA
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