Special aide to Ibrahim Mahama, Rafik Mahama, has urged government to help local businesses in the country to attain higher heights rather than finding ways to bring them down.

According to him, instead of going in for foreign investors and contractors to execute projects, the government can give those contracts to local contractors who are equally good as those outside the country.

He explained that foreign investors who are awarded contracts by the government send their profits back to their countries without leaving a penny in Ghana. This he said is the reason why other countries are developed and Ghana is still undeveloped.

Speaking on Kasapa news Rafik Mahama called on government to support local businesses because their operations help in decreasing the unemployment rate in the country and helps the country generate internal funds.

“We have local businesses that are trying to improve the economic situation in Ghana and employ youth but instead of supporting them grow we end up undermining them”. He said

He said this on the back of the misunderstanding between the Exton cubic group and the environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where the EPA declared the activities of the Exton Group as illegal.

Rafik also made it clear that the Exton Group has given the EPA a time frame to release their machines and if the time elapses the EPA would be sent to court.

The Exton Cubic Group Limited had its bauxite operation declared as illegal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this month.

This occurred after the Ashanti Regional Minister, Simon Osei-Mensah, confiscated the heavy equipment belonging to Engineers and Planners because the company did not have any permit to operate on the concession.

He has however debunked claims by the EPA and other stakeholders that the Exton Cubic Group did not have permission to operate on concession and clearly stated that the Exton Cubic Group is not intimidated by the pull him down activities of the EPA.