Asantehene wants government to stay off employment creation

The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has enjoined the government to wean itself off employment and job creation.

He says it should rather be the preoccupation of the government to come up with deliberate policies for private businesses to thrive.

“Policies must be put in place to help private sector to go into agriculture, to go into manufacturing, industrial development to create employment for the people. They [government] should come up with the right policies to facilitate private sector development”, he stated.

The Otumfuo was speaking in Kumasi at the grand opening of the corporate headquarters of Akuafo Adamfo Marketing Company, a subsidiary of Finatrade Group of Companies.

Managing Director of the company, Antoine BouDib acknowledged that “doing business in Ghana is getting more difficult on daily basis”.

Poor power supply is the topmost challenge restricting growth of businesses, according to the Association of Ghana Industries’ Business Barometer for the first quarter of this year. But the regular twin-challenge of difficulty in accessing credit and high cost of credit remains high.

According to the Asantehene, government should only come up with policy direction to address development challenges of private sector and not get involved in direct employment.

Tax incentives and concessions should be considered whilst empowering the banks to meet the needs of private businesses, he said.

“I know the banks alone cannot cope but there should be policies in place that would help advance private sector”, stated the King.

Story by Kofi Adu Domfeh