By Dominick Andoh The Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) is bedevilled by a myriad of issues that make it unfeasible for it to issue corporate bonds to raise funds for investment, a source at the utility has told the B&FT. Below-market tariffs, consumer indebtedness and illegal connections are major problems affecting the electricity distributor. About one fourth of the population is without access to power, and those that have it contend with intermittent -- and oftentimes unannounced -- power outages every day. The ECG needs massive investment, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been urging it to consider the option of selling corporate bonds to investors on the capital market. However, the power distributor says it is currently not in a position to issue bonds. “ECG’s cost of operation outweighs the revenue that it makes. Until such a time where these concerns are addressed and the company is able to at least break-even or make profit, I don’t think the company will be issuing bonds -- otherwise it will not be able to pay back,” the source said. Ghana’s power demand is around 1,800 megawatts each year, and is growing at a 10 percent rate per annum. The Greater Accra Region alone requires 450 megawatts per annum -- enough to power the whole of the Upper East and Upper West with surplus. “The ECG last year petitioned the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission to revise tariffs. But the PURC refused, citing the load-shedding programme. However, they are currently looking at reviewing electricity tariffs,” a source close to the negotiations told the B&FT. Last year, the government announced GHȼ179.7million in consumer subsidies for electricity and water, a move that effectively suspended a quarterly rate-adjustment formula that had been introduced in 2011 following pressure from the International Monetary Fund. ECG continues to grapple with supply problems. On Monday, the company began an “emergency load-shedding programme” due to what it called a “generational shortfall”. The public’s patience for the inefficiencies of the power utility is running out, andPresident Mahama has promised to end “load-shedding” by the end of 2013 -- when additional power will be generated from the Bui Dam and other projects to augment the existing level of supply. There is also rising enthusiasm and interest from investors in renewable energies after Parliament passed a renewable energy law that targets 10 percent of power generation from renewables by 2020.                    

By Konrad Kodjo Djaisi The Fair Wages and Salaries Commission (FWSC) has so far migrated about 98 percent of public sector workers onto the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS). At the tail-end of 2012, the public was informed that the FWSC had migrated about 99 percent of all public sector workers onto the scheme. However, Earl Ankrah, Head of Public Affairs of the Commission, told B&FT the reason why the figure keeps changing is that as they proceed more and more public sector agencies, which previously were not billed to be on the scheme, have been migrated onto it. The FWSC should have rounded-off its migration activities by September last year but for the agitations of a number of unions like POTAG (Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana), Pharmacists and others in the course of migration. However, the Commission is hopeful that by the end of the first quarter of this year it will have completed the migration process. In a related development, graduate teachers have given government up to Friday, January 25 to resolve all outstanding issues relating to their grievances -- which include market premium for teachers as well as categories two and three allowances among other concerns. In a swift rebuttal, the FWSC said the market premium is meant for what it describes as “critical skills in short supply” and that a document is at the Cabinet level awaiting executive approval and sanction, while categories two and three are not in the purview of the Commission. The Commission made it clear that market premiums are not up for negotiation; it is purely left to the employer’s discretion. The Commission made it clear that those category two and three allowances are in the domain of the Public Services Joint Standing Negotiations Committee, of which NAGRAT is a member. Hence, the Commission said it is at a loss as to why NAGRAT is laying the blame at the doorstep of the FWSC. The FWSC is mandated to ensure fair, transparent and systematic implementation of government’s public service pay policy, and to establish principles for matching wage increases to productivity.

Professor Robin Jarvis, ACCA’s special adviser on small business issues, and professor in accounting at Brunel University, has been awarded the prestigious British Accounting and Finance Association (BAFA) Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the advancement of the accounting and finance academic community. This award is given to individuals who have made a substantial and direct contribution to UK academic accounting and finance over the course of their careers. Such contributions would have been made through research, teaching or public service. Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA, said: “We at ACCA are incredibly proud of what Robin has achieved for ACCA over the years and we are all very pleased to hear that he has been given this award. It is truly deserved. He has always worked to champion the role of accountants in supporting small businesses and colleagues have always been impressed by his knowledge, passion and concern for this vital sector of the economy.” Professor Robin Jarvis commented: “The role of accountants in providing business support to the SME sector has been my lifetime passion and seeking to understand this relationship through high quality evidence based research and responding to knowledge gaps has always motivated me to support academic efforts in this area. While I am somewhat surprised to receive this recognition from BAFA, I am also really pleased to be considered a worthy recipient.” The awards will be presented at the 2013 BAFA Annual Conference in Newcastle, from Tuesday 9 April to Thursday 11 April.

Customers of banks that are connected to the gh-link platform can access 996 ATMs across the country with their local cards. This is because these ATMs belong to 17 banks that are connected to gh-link and therefore share a common electronic platform. Gh-link was launched in November last year by Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) to enable the banks to interconnect. The interconnectivity makes it possible for their customers to use each other’s bank ATM. The service is currently available to customers who use the local cards of their various banks, as GhIPSS is still in talks with Visa and MasterCard to enable their branded cards to also be hooked-on to the platform. Speaking in an interview, the Manager in charge of Projects and Communications at GhIPSS, Kwaku Tettey, said the intention of the initiative is to make more ATMs available and accessible to bank customers. “Hitherto, customers with local cards could only use their own bank’s ATM -- and we all know the frustration when your bank’s ATM is down. Today, you have almost 1,000 ATMs and counting at your disposal”.  Mr. Tettey therefore encouraged the public to enjoy the “new freedom powered by gh-link” by using the ATMs of any of the 17 banks, which include most major banks operating in the country. Between 1,500 and 1,700 people are using other bank’s ATM every week, according data available to GhIPSS and the figure is expected to increase in the coming week, Mr. Tettey indicated. He said three additional banks, including Fidelity, are almost through with the processes and will soon be connected to increase the number of banks on the gh-link platform to 20. The Project and Communications Manager said the data also showed that customers of bigger banks are using ATMs of banks considered to be relatively small, possibly because of the strategic location of their ATMs. Mr. Tettey added that GhIPSS has begun discussions with Savings and Loans Companies with ATM cards, to enable them be connected to the platform so their customers can also access ATMs of the commercial banks. It is anticipated that all banks issuing ATM cards will be on gh-link by the end of the first quarter, which will mean that all cards work in all ATMs. GhIPSS is also hopeful that Visa and MasterCard branded ATMs will also come on board shortly. The 17 banks on the platform are Ghana Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Barclays Bank, Zenith Bank, Agriculture Development Bank and UT Bank. The others are Ecobank, Stanbic Bank, Access Bank, SG-SSB, Unibank and HFC Bank. The rest are Prudential Bank, United Bank for Africa, Guaranty Trust Bank, Bank of Africa, and Energy Bank.

  After two months of undertaking various life-changing projects that made positive impacts in the lives of many across the country, 50 participants under the third edition of the Vodafone Foundation’s World of Difference programme have wrapped up their activities on a successful note. The World of Difference programme offers financial support to life-changing opportunities for participants, who then share their skills and energy with selected NGOs and communities around the country. The participants spent not less than two months with their chosen beneficiaries so they could implement the change they sought in and around their communities. The Foundation earlier this week, in Accra, brought together the participants from across the regions to officially announce the closure of the 2012 World of Difference programme, and also to congratulate them for helping touch lives in their respective communities. From November 2012, participants have worked in various sectors to improve and enrich lives; some of these including health and wellbeing. The project covered areas such as personal development among women and children, catering and vocational training, child care and development, waste management, agriculture, ICT training and development, and much more. A participant, Sarah Nsiah -- working with Strength of Women Foundation, an NGO that focuses on women’s health issues, poverty reduction, malaria education and reduction -- worked tirelessly to educate people and reduce malaria cases to near-zero with great effect at Ho in the Volta Region. Community members are now better informed with a noticeable reduction in malaria cases. Another participant with a life-changing outcome was Baffour Akwasi Agyeman, whose many years of giving blood to people that needed it most spurred him to work with the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in building a digitised blood bank system, which revolutionised the way in which people give and receive blood. Samuel Kudzawu, a laboratory technician who also worked on Tuberculosis (TB), succeeded in raising much awareness within the community of Esikuma Odobe Braka District by using public health facilities, creating advocacy locally with council members and youth forums, and building a functioning TB lab that helped reduce TB cases in the district. “We are proud of the participants, who dedicated their time and energy to work on projects that will have a positive impact in their communities. “Vodafone Foundation World of Difference is all about making a difference in the community and making it a better place for all. We say a big “thank you” to all participants of 2012 and to the NGOs for truly changing lives for the better,” said Carmen Bruce-Annan, Head Corporate Communications for Vodafone. “In its third year running, the World of Difference programme has to date positively transformed communities with impactful and sustainable projects across the country by supporting participants with resources needed to execute their life-changing projects.”  

The Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), with technical and financial support from the U.S. Government through its USAID Agribusiness and Trade Promotion project, will host a conference on regional trade in locally-produced food commodities in Accra, Ghana, January 29-31, 2013.  â€œFood Across Borders: Improving Regional Trade for Food Security in West Africa” will bring together stakeholders -- ministers, government officials, regional organisations, business associations, regional trade companies, farmer associations, financial institutions, and development partners -- to analyse the importance of regional trade to food security in West Africa as well as current obstacles to trade. The conference will then help spur consensus between the public and private sectors on the way forward, and will produce an agenda for increasing regional trade and food security to benefit millions of West Africans.   Food security continues to elude West Africa, particularly in its Sahelian countries. The region’s trade in staple commodities, while significant, is an underestimated, underappreciated contributor to food security, meriting reflection by national and regional stakeholders. To set the stage for discussion, this conference will present the outlook for food security in the region, and data on the current contribution of regional trade to food security.   The three-day conference will include a Forum for Private Sector Action and Public-Private Dialogue.The Forum will give private sector actors opportunities to discuss challenges and solutions to regional trade and develop an advocacy plan. In the Public-Private Dialogue, stakeholders will learn about West Africa’s food security outlook and regional trade, so as to best agree on priority actions within an agenda for removing challenges to regional trade in West Africa. During breaks, participants will be able to visit an onsite Business Fair that will enable suppliers and buyers to meet, discuss, and establish business relationships. This collective effort by ECOWAS and USAID will bolster commitment by key stakeholders to increase regional trade and augment food security in West Africa.