Business News of Tuesday, 13 March 2012

Source: GNA

Vice President Mahama tasks Parliament to review procurement laws

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has called on Parliament and other relevant bodies to review portions of the procurement laws that would provide a quota for local manufacturing industries to flourish.

He said the current situation, where bidding and the tender systems were based on high capital injection was inimical to local companies and job creation in general.

Vice president Mahama made the call when he addressed the management, staff and clients of rlg Company during the 10th anniversary celebration of the corporate body on the theme:”A Decade of Pioneering Development in ICT and Job Creation.”

rlg, which started as an Internet Café 10 years ago, has grown to become a giant computer and mobile phone company training about 70,000 youth under the National Youth Employment Programme.

The company is currently training and selling its products in Nigeria, China and the Gambia, while other countries travel into the country to tap their expertise.

Vice President Mahama said much as the government had the responsibility of creating congenial environment for business to survive and flourish, various local industries also had the duty to put in place good and effective managements to yield the desired result for success.

He condemned the act of attributing people’s economic success to dubious and religious manipulations.

“We need to celebrate the success of local champions in the economic sphere, rather than attributing their success to supernatural powers,” he added

Mr Roland Gambire, Chief Executive Officer of the Company said apart from assembling laptop computers and mobile phones, the company had also been engaged in assembling desktop computers and provided kiosks for vendors and phone repairers to make them accessible to the public.

He said his company is targeting the provision of jobs for more than one million artisans in the coming years and called on government to create an enabling environment for the survival of local industries.

Mr Gambire announced that his company would within this year list on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

He called on the media to project positive activities that would accelerate the development and growth of local industries.

Mr Clement Kofi Humado, Minister of Youth and Sports commended the company for its collaboration with government and called for further cooperation that would lead to massive job creation avenues for the youth.