Mr. Otoo sounded the warning when he spoke on “labour issues in the oil and gas industry”, at a sensitisation workshop on the oil and gas find in Ghana.

It was organised by the TUC for members of the Central Regional and District councils of labour in Cape Coast.

He also asked the government not to focus solely on the development of the oil industry to the detriment of other important sectors of the economy, like agriculture and manufacturing, as has been the case in some oil-rich African countries.

Mr. Otoo expressed the need for Ghana to learn from the civil conflicts and other challenges in countries like Nigeria and Angola associated with the oil industry.

He expressed optimism that Ghana’s thriving democracy, vibrant media, strong civil society and the opportunity to learn from other oil producing countries, would enable the people to avoid such pitfalls.

Mr. Otoo said there was no reason why the country should fail in the oil industry that would attract the needed revenue to eradicate poverty.

He said the revenue to be derived from the resource required “a big push in transparency, a constant oversight and effective and democratic order”.

The Africa Regional Co-ordinator of the Revenue Watch Institute, Mr. Emmanuel Kuyole, said the oil find was not likely to lead to massive job opportunities for Ghanaians.

Mr. Kuyole explained that the total estimated revenue from the industry in 20 years is about $20 billion, whereas total government expenditure in 2007 was about GH¢ 5.6 billion and rose to GH¢ 7.8 billion, in 2008, an increase of more than GH¢1 billion.

He stressed that the estimated revenue of GH¢1 billion a year from oil production, “is nothing to write home about”, and asked Ghanaians not to expect too much from the oil industry.

The Secretary-General of the TUC, Mr. Kofi Asamoah, called on the government to introduce more initiatives to create jobs on a large scale, since it is the only way through which poverty can be reduced, adding that “the devil only finds work for the idle hands”.

He said the TUC also expected government to expand the tax net to cover the informal sector in order to reduce the level of taxation of public sector workers.

Mr. Asamoah urged the Internal Revenue Service to look for innovative ways to collect taxes from formal and informal sector workers on the same scale.

Touching on the Single Spine Salary Structure, which takes effect from January 2010, he reiterated the need for the harmonisation and unification of salaries in the public sector.

Explaining the New Pension Scheme, he said the Pension’s Regulatory Authority, would ensure that pension monies were properly managed.

Mr. Asamoah noted that the scheme also provides for people who are self- employed such as mechanics and traders.

Source: GNA

BP, the oil group, is considering a bid for one of Africa’s biggest offshore oilfields in a move that could pitch it into a direct battle for control with ExxonMobil, its arch US rival.

BP has held talks with Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) about a possible joint bid for a stake in the Jubilee deepwater field in Ghana, which reportedly contains up to 1.8 billion barrels of oil.

BP has not yet made a final decision but has hired Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, to advise it on a possible bid for the 23 per cent stake held by Kosmos Energy, a private equity-backed energy firm.

A bid from BP would threaten to derail a plan by Exxon to acquire the Kosmos stake for more than $4 billion. Kosmos unveiled plans to sell all of its Ghana assets to Exxon, the world’s largest oil company, on October 12.

BP could face problems because Exxon’s agreement to buy the assets from Kosmos is believed to be exclusive. However, Ghana shocked investors this month by declaring that Exxon’s deal to buy the stake from Kosmos was illegal.

GNPC has said that it wants to buy the stake and has the cash to do so, potentially by working with a foreign partner.

Phil Corbett, oil and gas analyst at RBS, said: “It’s anyone’s guess how this plays out, but it is clear that there is a strong level of industry interest.”

Both BP and Exxon declined to comment.

The Jubilee field is 35 per cent owned by Tullow Oil, a UK-listed company whose shares surged yesterday on reports of BP’s interest.

Other stakeholders include Anadarko Petroleum, another US group, with 23.5 per cent, and GNPC with just under 14 per cent.

The discovery of oil in the deepwater Jubilee field in June 2007 is set to propel Ghana, whose economy depends on cocoa exports, into one of Africa’s top oil exporting countries when production begins next year.

He said the benefits would be spread through the establishment of industries not only within the areas where the oil has been found but throughout the country.

The assurance was contained in a speech read on his behalf at Lawra in the Upper West Region, to mark this year’s Kob-Bine Festival of the chiefs and people of the.

He emphasized the need to train people to meet the varied expertise that would be required by such industrial establishments.

President Mills urged traditional leaders to encourage the youth in this direction to help in the transformation of the country’s development efforts.

He commended the Lawra Traditional Council for its programme towards developing a strategic development framework to take advantage of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority for the benefit of all.

The Regional Minister, Mr. Mahmud Khalid, asked the people to use the festival to mobilize the people to initiate development projects in the area.

He announced the Regional Co-ordinating Council had produced a draft strategic plan on the development of the region, which is now at its final stages to serve as a developmental guideline for the future.

“What we need to do as a region is to focus on our potentials and reach out for co-operation and assistance in harnessing our potentials”, he said.

“We also equally need to remain united and keep peace and allow our differences to result in any form of violence,” he added.

Mr Khalid appealed to the district assemblies in the region to initiate the required plans and programmes to improve the lives of the people.

He also implored the assemblies to provide proper layouts for the communities and ensure a streamlined development in all areas.

He called on the people to stay together and contribute their quota in ensuring that education, health and agriculture in the district received the desired attention.

Mr Ambrose Dery, Member of Parliament for the area, told the people to take the education of their children seriously to improve the human resource base of the district.

He said his priority areas are to improve education and empowerment of women in the district and have therefore invested his share of the common fund into these areas to help reduce poverty.

Source: GNA

The UK-based mobile company bought a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom (GT) and its assets for $900m (£570m) last year.

The report, seen by the BBC, said GT was undervalued and ultimately the price paid for GT was less than $267m.

President John Atta Mills had promised to investigate the controversial deal before his election last December.

The BBC’s David Amanor in the capital, Accra, says Mr Atta Mills’ National Democratic Congress party (NDC) had objected to the $900m price tag while they were in opposition last year.

Critics said it was too little for the assets, which included terrestrial, mobile and fibre-optic cable networks and an academy known as Ghana Telecom University.

‘Renegotiate’

The report said Ghana’s parliament had acted unconstitutionally in ratifying the deal without due process.

And it alleged that “through a complicated series of financial arrangements” the actual price released was less than $267m – far less than the annual earnings potential of GT.

It questioned why Vodafone’s bid was approved when other firms like Telkom South Africa were offering higher bids for a lesser stake, and says the government did not get value for money.

The report, compiled by a government review committee chaired by a retired appeal court judge, recommended a renegotiation of the deal with Vodafone.

It also said “although strong allegations were made about bribery and corruption” the committee “did not have the powers and resources to investigate these claims”.

The report comes in the wake of a corruption scandal which saw two government ministers resign over the weekend.

George Sipa Yankey, who was health minister, and Seidu Amadu, a minister of state in the presidency, are alleged to have accepted bribes from a British construction company.

The firm, Mabey and Johnson, was ordered by a British court last month to pay more than $7m in fines after admitting it bribed officials in Ghana in the 1990s, when the NDC was in power.

Credit:BBC

Nigerian energy firm Oando said on Sunday it was selected as a partner to develop Ghana’s natural gas infrastructure from its offshore Jubilee oilfields, a project worth $1 billion.

Oando said it was among three foreign energy companies selected to work with the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to build gas pipelines, processing facilities and liquefied petroleum gas and storage tanks.

“The choice of Oando … creates an opportunity for us to extend the success recorded in building Nigeria’s gas distribution pipeline system to other parts of West Africa,” said the firm’s Chief Executive Wale Tinubu in a statement.

According to Richard, Consumer goods are running at 110% of their official capacity, which means as a manufacturer, I will have to increase my capacity and to do that, I will have to pure out more money at a high interest rate. it is crazy for the cost of a capacity to be far under estimated in the economy.

Source:BusinessToday

ETI Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Arnold Ekpe, told brokers and journalists that the company had tremendous prospects as it would begin to reap the dividends of investments made in branch rollout and technology in the next few years.

“The investments that have been made will bring no immediate gains. The dividends will be in the future,” he told the audience at the “Facts behind the figures” programme of the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra.

The Ecobank group posted an all-round strong performance for the year as gross revenues rose more than 60 per cent from 697 million dollars in 2007 to 1.2 billion dollars in 2008.

Profit before tax, however, fell from 191 million dollars in 2007 to 162 million dollars in 2008.

Profit after tax was 65 million dollars as the bank declared a dividend of 0.2 dollar per share amounting to a total dividend of 17.5 million dollars.

The group’s asset base grew from 6.6 billion dollars to 8.3 billion dollars. The number of Ecobank branches and offices also increased from 450 to 610 across its vast network, and the group bolstered its steadily growing customer base from 1,202,271 customers in 2007 to 1,841,934 customers in 2008.

Mr Ekpe said the company would enhance growth through introduction of new and innovative products, increase efficiency in operations and skills of staff as well as leverage on the massive geographical coverage.

Besides, the company would streamline its processes and procedures and step up risk management to deliver the expected growth to shareholders.

Asked whether the company had any plan to raise additional funds after it failed to raise 2.5 billion dollars last year, Mr Ekpe ruled out any such plan.

He said the 700 million dollars raised through the offer was enough to finance banking operations.

Mr Ekpe said despite the 28 per cent depreciation of the currencies of countries in which Ecobank operated, the company was able to deliver a good set of results, strengthened its capital base and continued with its strategy of Pan-African coverage.

“We remain positive about the future prospects of the economies in which we operate despite the prevailing market conditions,” he said.

ETI currently operates in 27 African countries and is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) – the Abidjan-based BRVM.

Source: GNA

The Graphic Business research team looks at the effects of the high expectations from management on new and existing staff of some of the banks in the country YOUNG and enthusiastic employees, mostly graduates from some of the nation’s numerous universities have found it tough coping with life working as a banker in the country, Graphic Business has learnt.

In a research, which was mostly interview based, some of the new recruits, and existing ones complained bitterly about the “unrealistic targets” set by management for them to meet, in order to remain in employment. However, most of the staff interviewed spoke to Graphic Business on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs.

“After the necessary training, you are thrown into the deep end, basically. It doesn’t matter your level of knowledge of banking, you are given a very high target to meet, failing which you may find yourself out of job the next day”, a banker with one of the foreign owned banks in the country told Graphic Business. In fact, those who appeared seriously “disillusioned” about their work were the credit officers and “executives” who are at the forefront of deposit mobilisation for the banks.

The credit officers especially complained about how they are held personally responsible for bad loans that they had initiated.

“The practice [of holding credit officers personally liable for bad loans] is quite bizarre to an extent. As a credit officer, I can only recommend a client to the bank. I will open a file for the client who is in need of the loan or any other credit facility and do the assessment. After that, the credit report is submitted to my line manger who will then forward it to the credit committee for assessment, as to whether the advance should be approved or not. In fact, the risk management team will also do their own assessment by working on the file provided before the individual receives the credit. Yet, when the credit goes bad, that is if there is a default, you are held personally liable for the default. I have colleagues who have been on suspension because of this, some without pay until the client starts making payments”, a credit officer with one of the banks told Graphic Business.

According to him, “morale is so low that some of my colleagues have considered quitting their jobs several times but because the job market is too tight, they have not been able to do so”.

The level of frustration was not different among those leading the charge for more deposits. Deposits represents a very cheap source of finance for the banks, as a result of which with the general downturn in credit availability, most of the banks have invested heavily in human capital, mostly with the aim of using them to attract more customers to the bank, and therefore mobilise more cash. The problem is that those who are put in charge of this area of the bank’s operations are under real pressure, Graphic Business has uncovered. Especially, with regards to those working on premier banking products, which is an initiative by the banks to attract high net-worth individuals, sometimes it is more than just “ordinary business with some of the clients you meet”.

“It is very troubling sometimes. The high net -worth individuals are highly confident people and sometimes they want more than just doing business with the bank. Some would not like to open a premium account just because they want to do business with the bank. They seem to think that the pretty face in front of them can provide more than just banking services. When some of the new recruits are under so much pressure, we know that they end up in all sorts of problems with these individuals. The pressure is too much and the banks must ease the pressure on some of us”, another employee working within the premier banking unit of one of the banks told Graphic Business.

Credit history and multiple loan applicants

Investigations by Graphic Business also revealed that some criminals are actually making life seriously unbearable for some of the banks in the country. What most of these people do is that they use fictitious documents to secure loans from the banks, making it extremely difficult for some credit officers to operate efficiently. Even when the documents are genuine, the same document is often used to secure loans from other banks because of the lack of adequate credit history on applicants. The disjointed nature of credit files on individuals means that banks are not able to share information on loan applicants to determine whether they have the means to repay back such loans.

“This [lack of credit reference bureau] is a major problem in the country. The passage of the credit reference bill was expected to make things easier, but unfortunately progress has been far less encouraging”, an analyst at Databank Financial Services told Graphic Business.

An effective credit reference bureau is able to keep records on the credit history of all individuals. This makes it easier for the banks to manage delinquency because the ability of even the most liquid borrower to repay back a loan could be hampered if such an individual has taken several loans from other banks.

“At present you can borrow from Barclays and move to Zenith Bank for example to borrow as well. People have several loans in the system, and not even guarantees from employers have helped to ease this problem”, a credit manager told Graphic Business. Competitive drive in the sector Over the past five years, the banking industry in Ghana has undergone tremendous transformation. The introduction of the universal banking licence, and the foray of foreign banks, especially the Nigerian owned banks into the country have increased competition in the sector. The aggressive deposit mobilisation strategies in particular have forced most of the other “traditional” banks to respond. In fact, this has come at a heavy cost to some of the banks. In fact, records indicate that some of the banks, like Barclays Bank have witnessed reduced earnings in recent years because of the aggressive branch opening strategies to respond to the competition. Some of the managers of the banks believe strongly that it is the competition that has made the banks more aggressive, and therefore the high performance target is not an attempt to put undue pressure on anyone.

“As a manager, I am equally under pressure. In fact, the very existence of this bank is threatened by the competition. So, it is only a case of all of us working hard to stay ahead. It is true that some staff complain about their jobs, but it is the same everywhere, if you speak to people from the other sectors as well. I am also of the view that if people feel so much pressured, no matter how much you pay them, they will leave. I am more than happy to say that from our records, we do not have that high staff turnover to suggest that we are enslaving people so they are leaving. It is high ethics and rewarding emoluments that work in life”, a human resource manager with one of the banks explained to Graphic Business.

Mr Osei-Bonsu observed that the banking sector had not only become very competitive but also risky and therefore urged RCBs to initiate policies to help them identify, assess, monitor and control risks.

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the 24th Annual General Meeting of the South Akim Rural Bank Limited held at Nankese, near Suhum on Saturday.

Mr Osei-Bonsu announced that Apex Bank would soon automate its star product, the Apex Link Money Transfer, to make it more efficient, fast, safe and secure.

He said to enable the South Akim Rural Bank to operate efficiently and remain dynamic to innovative products in the sector, it would need more investments.

He therefore urged shareholders to buy more shares to enable the Bank to increase its capital base to purchase new equipment.

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank, Mr William Kwadwo Boateng, said despite the heightening competition and pressures, it achieved remarkable improvement in its financial performance in 2008.

He said the Bank made a profit of 108 percent over 2007 operations, adding that dividend per share of the Bank also increased by 75 percent.

Mr Boateng said as a result of the performance of the Bank, the Board of Directors of the Bank had recommended bonus shares to all shareholders as of the year ending December 31, 2008.

Source: GNA

Harvesting of the first 80 acres started on Wednesday and is expected to yield 200 tonnes of paddy rice or 140 tonnes of milled rice.

Tim Rasta and John Paul Barre, American Harvester Operators, are operating the combine harvesters to appraise their technical state after years of abandonment.

The two would also train Ghanaian employees of the Prairie Volta Limited (PVL), the new American managing partners of the project, on the use of the harvesters.

Mr Everestt Anderson, Managing Director of PVL, said it would take four days to complete the harvesting of the entire 80 acres. He said the company had so far planted 300 acres with another 300 acres almost ready for planting.

Mr Everestt said the first bag of rice would be auctioned before business on the open market commence. Mr Kobby Woyome, Member of Parliament for South- Tongu, who was on a familiarization visit to the farm, expressed joy about progress of work, saying the project represented a major boost to economic activity in the area. He appealed to the management to assist local rice producers, millers and marketers to improve their expertise. About 80 permanent and 86 casual workers are currently engaged on the project, which is projected to cultivate 3177 acres of land.
Source:
GNA