BUSAC advocates government-private sector interplay
Mr Nicholas Gebara, Fund Manager of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund, has advocated virile and fluid government-private sector interplay.
He explained that this would actuate the private sector’s role in national development.
Mr Gebara made the call at the opening of a two-day sensitization workshop for public officers in the Volta Region, in Ho on Thursday.
He said it was important for the private sector to take the “driver’s seat” to nudge government to formulate policies that could help unearth the ‘bottled-up’ potentials of the private sector.
Mr Gebara said “The private sector should grow, produce goods and services, pay adequate taxes to government, ensure the growth of the economy and to reduce poverty”.
He appealed to the public and the private sectors to “create a common platform that will bring them together to establish constructive dialogue and mutual understanding on economic development”.
Mr Gebara said government’s performance in regulatory issues and provision of infrastructure affected the development of the private sector.
He said the Fund had since its inception in 2004 assisted 67 private sector organizations in the region with grants totaling Ghc 1.8 million, including processors of cassava in the Nkwanta area.
Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, observed that some districts were virtually “sitting on gold” and all they needed to do to come out of poverty, was lease resources to the private sector to exploit them.
Mr Philip Ankomah, a facilitator at the event, educated participants on the business environment, role of government in promoting business and business development strategies.
Mr Edward Ayime, Head of Marketing Department at Ho Polytechnic, said the lack of starting capital could not be the main reason for slow growth of the private sector in the region.
He said attitude, reflecting in lack of focus, poor planning, impatience and poor skills development affects businesses.
The BUSAC Fund seeks to empower business organizations, trade unions and the media, to influence public policy formulation by undertaking appropriate research, developing evidence-based policy positions and advocating those positions for redress to scale up growth of private businesses.
Source: GNA