Lack of a symbiotic relationship between members of
the Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI) and officials of Metropolitan,
Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Northern Region is making it
difficult for businesses to grow, a new research has revealed.
The private
sector is often touted as the engine of growth to Ghana’s emerging economy
considering its role in employment creation, foreign exchange, source of raw
materials for medium and large scale industries, improvement of standard of
living especially in rural areas, among others.
However,
unfavorable fees being charged by officials of MMDAs in the region in the form
of tax seemed to make it difficult for many of these businesses to survive in
the phase of many challenges in the nation’s economy.
According to a
research report on the involvement of Private Sector Organisations (PSOs) in
taking decisions which affect them at the MMDAs level – A Case study of the East Mamprusi and West Gonja Districts, and the
Tamale Metropolis; there was lack of education for PSOs on the fee fixing
process by MMDAs.
Also, the report
said fees paid by PSOs affect their businesses with the most cited effect being
a reduction of their business income. This was because, the fees paid by PSOs
were too much whereas staff of MMDAs thought it was okay, Saeed Abdul-Moomen, Chairman
of the Northern Regional chapter of ASSI disclosed these to the media at a
press conference in Tamale.
He explained
that the research gathered that PSOs were not involved in the fee fixing
process at the MMDAs whilst Assembly officials involved in the fee fixing
lacked the knowledge in that aspect.
The report he
said highlighted the presence of ASSI in the districts which was known to their
members but largely unknown to other persons in each district. Besides, ASSI
members thought that the MMDA authorities did not respond positively to their
request whenever they approached them, and described the level of satisfaction
of services rendered by government establishments as low.
Thus, the report
recommended that a dialogue process be started in each MMDA between ASSI and
the MMDAs staff who had the power to take decisions. Adding, it said their
dialogue should intend to project ASSI’s image in the MMDAs whilst ASSI members
should also consider organizing some events such as voluntary work in the
spirit of corporate social responsibility, town hall meetings and inviting
other stakeholders to their functions, especially MMDA staff, media, among
others.
It also
recommended the involvement of PSOs by MMDAs in decision making regarding the
thorny issue of fee fixing and organizing more training programs for PSOs on
public-private partnerships and other business skills, among others.
The research was
commissioned by the ASSI and Kalo Consult, a Ghanaian firm offering consultancy
services in the area of development including social and business research. The
research was conducted between 7th and 18th December,
2011.
The overall
objective of the research was to indentify the extent to which PSOs were
involved in taking decisions that affected their businesses at the various
MMDAs in the region. To this end, there was the need to assess the presence of
PSOs in the districts, the adoption of some elements of group dynamics such as
regular meetings and key discussions.
The research
also set out to assess the level to which the PSOs knew the processes and the
people involved in making decisions at the district levels as well as the
impact of these decisions on the business of the PSOs.
Other specific
objectives were to find out how services to PSOs could be improved as well as
the benefits of involvement of PSOs in decision making at the MMDAs.
The methodology
and tools used for the research included focus group discussions, key
informants, interview with private sector operatives, Assembly members, staff
from the MMDAs, secondary data collection from MMDAs as well as desk review.
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