Veep allays fears of investor community

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

By Edmund Mingle

The Vice President Kwesi Amissah-Arthur yesterday allayed the fears of the investor community about the current political situation in the country, following the opposition’s legal challenge over the election results, saying investor need not worry.

The Vice President in a pose with Trudy Kernighan(second from left)
 and other officials from the Canadian High Commission

“Our election is not in dispute,” he said.

He said there was no need to harbour any fear of uncertainty because the business of government will continue to run in spite of the legal battle, which he was optimistic would end in favour of the government.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur gave the assurance to the investor community during a courtesy call on him by the Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Trudy Kernighan at the Flagstaff House in Accra.

According to him, the government does not expect the legal challenge to change anything because the President rightly won the elections.

“We are optimistic it would end in our favour, and for the Court to confirm that the President really won,” he said.

The opposition New Patriotic Party which lost the elections is challenging the results at the Supreme Court, claiming the election was rigged for President Mahama. But the government believes it is an exercise in futility since the claims are false.

 Analysts believe the case could have a negative effect of the economy because of the uncertainty it could create among investors.

 But the Vice President indicates that there is no cause for worry.  He therefore, urged businesses to take advantage of the congenial economic climate to increase their investments in the country, since Ghana’s economic prospects continue to improve.

“Ghana is moving on,” he said, and urged the business players to join the economic progress by exploiting business opportunities.

He urged the present and prospective investors, both within and abroad, not to be discouraged by the court case, and rather be inspired by the country’s positive economic and democratic credentials.

Touching on Ghana’s relations with Canada, the Vice President lauded the continued development assistance from that country in support of Ghana progress.

He cited development interventions supported by the Canadian government through the Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA) in various sectors of the Ghanaian economy, and described the assistance as exemplary.

The Vice President also commended the government of Canada for directing investments to Ghana, and gave the assurance that measures have been instituted to sustain the stability of the economy for the benefits of businesses.

He informed the High Commissioner that the government was aiming at encouraging investors to shift from portfolio investment to direct investment, believing that such a move would help to increase production and generate more jobs for Ghanaians.

Madam Kernighan, for her part, was happy about the strong bilateral ties between the two countries, saying the government of Canada remained committed to its friendship with Ghana because of the benefits that have accrued for their people over the years.

She said because of the growing economic partnership, the government of Canada continued to expand its assistance programme for Ghana, saying the Canada has over the years supported interventions in the areas of education, health, mining, water and business growth.

She announced the impending visit of the Canadian Minister of Trade to Ghana as part of Canada’s efforts to explore emerging opportunities from its economic partnership with Ghana.