Businesses must not succeed due to connections in high places but rather good governance must help businesses to thrive, according to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

The senior minister Yaw Osafo Marfo made the comments when he delivered a speech on behalf of the President during the CEO’s summit in Accra on Monday, May 22.

“Businesses must not succeed because we have connections to high places, because we have connections to custom officials, because we have connections to all sorts of places. Businesses must succeed because we have good governance prevailing in our country.”

Mr Osafo Marfo added “We should not put emphasis on connections to succeed, because when the connections are no more there what happens? Then you are likely to falter and fail”.

The senior minister also stated that the president has promised to fight corruption head on and called on captains of industry to help in his fight.

“As president, I will not sing the chorus of the problem without addressing it. I’m not naive about the enormity of the problem and how that continues to undermine efforts at development.

“We need to fight corruption collectively and the joint efforts of the captains of business will be most welcome. We need all hands on deck to fight corruption”.

“I will establish a business reporting bureau at which corrupt activities of staff and officers of state-owned enterprises, regulatory institutions, revenue agencies and public and civil service will be reported”.