Friday, February 6, 2009

MUSLIM WOMEN IN BUSINESS COMMEND PRESIDENT MILLS (15)

THE executive of Muslim Women In Business (MWIB) in the Zongo communities in Kumasi has congratulated both President John Evans Atta Mills and the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, on their collaborative efforts to entrench democracy in the country.
She congratulated President John Evans Atta Mills on his victory and appealed to the newly elected President to initiate prudent measures that would reduce duty on imported products into the country to promote business.
She explained that duty paid on products imported into the country over the years was too high, and this caused importers to pass such bills onto the consuming public, thereby raising the prices of imported products.
She noted that high prices of products always militated against any form of expansion in the private sector "and this also affects the growth of the national economy".
Explaining further, she said reducing duty on imported products would have positive impact on the national economy, because it would not only encourage the business community to compete favourably with their foreign counterparts, but would also make it possible for them to expand their businesses and employ new hands to reduce the unemployment problems among the youth.
She also commended Nana Akufo Addo and pointed out that it was his commitment to the promotion of peace that made him to graciously accept defeat at a time that tension on the presidential results was building up, creating the impression that "there was going to be a head-on collision between the leadership of the NPP and that of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and their respective supporters".
Speaking to journalists at a press briefing in Kumasi, the Vice-President of MWIB, Hajia Ramatu of Mr and Lady Enterprise, pointed out that it was by accepting the defeat and assuring the numerous supporters of the NPP to calm down and refrain from any action that had the potential to create confusion in the country "that peace prevailed, thereby making it possible for the international community to recognise Ghana as one of the most peaceful nations in the world".
She said it was also that initiative, that sustained the democratic dispensation in Ghana, that peace-loving Ghanaians now live in harmony.
Hajia Ramatu, therefore, appealed to the supporters of the two major political parties in the country "to put the last general election behind us and collaborate in a way that will sustain the peace in the country to enable the citizenry focus on ventures that would accelerate the pace of socio-economic development".
She announced that the MWIB was initiating moves that would enable the business community in Ghana to explore the possibility of extending their businesses to the United States of America (USA).
Explaining, she said the business community in Ghana seemed to have concentrated its foreign transactions on some countries in Asia and the Far East, with a little transaction between it and itscounterparts in the USA.
Hajia Ramatu noted that plans were far advanced for the MWIB to begin active business with the USA and, therefore, appealed to the government to support them in that line, especially when it came to acquisition of visas.
For her part, the General Secretary of MWIB, Hajia Hamida Sulemana of Ham Florals Enterprise, noted that women in the Zongo communities in the Kumasi metropolis had a crucial role to play in collaboration with the government, to initiate measures that would accelerate the growth of the economy.
Hajia Hamida also appealed to the supporters of the two major political parties in the country to put the last general election behind them and collaborate in a way that would sustain the peace in the country to enable the citizenry to focus on ventures that would accelerate the pace of socio-economic development.
She, however, admonished a section of the public who indulged in pockets of violence in certain parts of the country to stop and not create the impression that NDC and NPP were at each other’s throat.
She assured the nation that MWIB would collaborate with the leadership of the Zongo communities to sensitise their youth to refrain from any action that had the potential to cause violence in the Kumasi metropolis and its environs.
She said they would also collaborate to sensitise the youth to appreciate the need to build employable skills in an effective and efficient way so as to make them gainfully employed.
This, she said, would help them contribute more meaningfully towards sustainable socio-economic development.

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