Road shows and conferences on investments into the country have made little progress on the economy – Alliance of CSOs
Members of the Alliance of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) operating in the extractives, anti-corruption and good governance space have expressed worry about government delegation who travels to abroad to woo investors christened “road shows and conferences” have made little progress on the investment drive of the economy.
According to the Alliance, between 2009 and 2023, agencies in the trade and investment sector particularly Petroleum Commission attended 21 conferences and road shows in America, Europe and Asia for the primary purpose of attracting investors but nothing came out of these frivolous investment travels.
Addressing a news conference on CSOs review of the extractive sector in 2022 in Accra, a Lead Member of the Alliance, Dr. Steve Manteaw suggested that government must review its investment portfolios as well as its investment attraction strategy and said that the current investment drive is not realising the desired impact and results.
He however urged government to engage in deeper consultations with players in the investment space as well as share strategies with stakeholders for their inputs in a win win situation through discussions and deliberations.
He again advised government to use its good offices to enhance its relationship with existing investors and was quick to recall government inability to manage relationship with investors which brings to the fore investors taking challenges of their investment programmes and initiatives to court for redress.
“These challenges create antagonistic relationship with investors which makes the country business unfriendly”, he said and pointed out that such moves involves government ability to conduct robust political economy analysis before embarking on investment tours.
Turning the spotlight on the Mineral Income Investment Fund (MIIF), he said much of the MIIF is not open for public scrutiny and citizenry inputs saying that section 36 of the MIIF Act commits to transparency.
“In the year 2022, MIIF received a total of US$ 196,901,998.52 mineral royalties with functional cedi value of Gh 1,119,528,105.74”, he said and asked how the said money was used and what returns it has generated to transform the economy.
“The Alliance is therefore calling on Parliament to examine transactions in these regard to enhance transparency and prudent management of the extractive sector.
Source:Ben LARYEA/johnawuniktv@gmail.com
