A social entrepreneur has urged the government to ensure that investors are properly scrutinised before their engagement in the agricultural sector of the economy.
According to Mr Issah Ouedraogo, indigenous lawyers and local banks, are constantly conniving to milk the country’s agricultural sector dry, hence the weak performance of the sector.
The founder of B-BOVID, who has suffered in the hands of institutions and people manning Ghana’s Agricultural value chain, in the last 17 years, claimed that until the Government of Ghana identifies these abnormalities and stem the tide, nothing significant would be achieved whilst the pockets of individuals fronting for fake foreign investors as lawyers and banks.
These irresponsible local banks, he stressed, would continue to whitewash the surface of the fiscal policy regime and beneath their activities, they would continue to connive with fake foreign investors to shortchange the country in various ways.
Mr Issah Ouedraogo, made this known when he was addressing participants at Ghana social enterprise forum organized on Friday at the British Council.
The event was the under the theme “Partnerships for sustainable development: social enterprises as catalysts for inclusive growth in Ghana”.
Mr Issa Ouedraogo pointed out that foreign direct investment into Ghana’s Agricultural sector appears good in the books, but lacks clarity, conformity, and integrity.
He cited his personal engagement with one French firm which came into the country as a social impact investor and cunningly took over the company he personally struggled to birth in the last two decades with his sweat and toil without the support of any government institution.
He told Angel news reporter Opanyin Darko that, the government must consider investigating the modus operandi of some of these firms to ascertain if indeed these companies are decent enough and do not hold Ghana sway in its underhand dealings with local and foreign partners.
“We can’t refuse foreign direct investors…when they are coming to invest we need to be able to do a background check as to whether they are credible or not. And if they are credible we need to identify whether or not that type of investment is what we need or not.
“If we don’t do it that way we will find ourselves wanting. and the right organization to do that is the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre. They have now established an office that provides after-care services in that after they have invested in the economy and they are challenged then they come in.
“But they have to check those they want to partner with and which area to invest in to be very clear for satisfaction on all sides.”
He again cited a bank for fraudulently engaging in unprofessional conduct to assist investors to cheat and milk the Agricultural sector dry.
He said, he negotiated with a bank in Sudan for an interest-free facility which had to passed through them but eventually the loan was given to him by the bank at a cutthroat interest rate, on the blind side of the central government.
This issue, he said must not be swept under carpet, and the government must cause serious investigations into some of these issues.
