Tema, Oct. 1, GNA – The Tema Regional chapter of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has organized its Annual General Meeting on the theme “Repositioning Local Industry to Leverage AfCFTA” in Tema.
In attendance were a cross-section of Tema AGI members and some participants who joined via zoom.
Dr George Dawson-Ahmoah, AGI Tema Regional Chairman, noted that though the COVID-19 pandemic had made the activities of industries not to be normal they made some strides as the challenges brought about some positive opportunities.
Highlighting some of the challenges he stated that industries and companies recorded high production cost especially companies that depended so much on raw materials from abroad cost of importation of the raw materials.
He added that during the COVID-19, container vessels were not available and when they were available freight charges were increased which affected production cost.
Mr Dawson-Ahmoah who is also the Executive Secretary of the Cement Manufacturers Association said that another worrying factor most of the companies encountered were the issues of Port operations.
“Companies whose operations were linked to the port started realizing this challenge. Some of us witnessed high demurrage minimum being $500,000.00 and maximum over $1.5 million. All these things happened during this COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
He however stated that there were a lot of collaboration among stakeholders such as Ministry of Transport, Trade and Industry; the Ghana Shippers’ Authority; Ghana Standard Authority; and Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA).
He called for the collaboration to be sustained so that the relevance would be felt and encouraged every company to be part of the noble association.
Ms Domtie Afua Sarpong, a Principal State Attorney who represented Mrs. Jemima Oware, the Registrar General, educated participants on the new Companies Act passed in 2019.
She noted that the old act, Act 179 which was used for over 50years had a lot of redundancies whereas the new act promoted means of doing business and corporate governance.
According to her, the Corporate Insolvency Act, Act 1015 complemented the companies Act saying, “In the past, when a company is insolvent, the only option they had was to go into official liquidation, there was no restructuring or opportunity to go into administration. But the current Act has given options.”
Ms Sarpong noted that there were new waves to businesses stating that there was an opportunity to choose Limited (Ltd); Public Limited Company (PLC); Limited By Guarantee (LBG) which made it easy to distinguish which entity they were.
Mr Felix Nii Annang-La, the immediate past Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, expressed his gratitude for the corporation received from AGI during his tenure adding that he gained experience from his interactions with the industries and asked for the same corporation to be extended to his successor for to strengthen the bond of collaboration between the Assembly and the AGI.
He said security was an important factor for businesses to thrive and to ensure this was achieved, there was the need for more police presence and reminded AGI of an appeal to assist in getting many police posts doted across the metropolis.
GNA